Taiwan ramen
Invented in Imaike in 1975 by a Taiwanese cook who over-seasoned a staff meal, and still made there past midnight. It is minced pork, chilli and garlic over noodles, and it is hot in a way that catches people out. Order rice with it. Several of the shops that make it never close before two.
Tebasaki and beer
The wing houses in Sakae and around Nagoya Station run late and are busiest after nine. Wings come in orders of five, the seasoning is pepper-forward rather than sweet, and nobody will mind if that is the entire meal.
The last train, and what happens after it
Subways stop just after midnight. After that it is taxis, which are metered, take cards, and are not expensive across the central wards. Every restaurant page on this site has a card you can show a driver with the address in Japanese — that is what it is for.
Mazesoba, the newer one
Taiwan mazesoba was invented in Nagoya in 2008 — no soup, a raw egg yolk, minced pork, chives and garlic, mixed hard at the table. Ask for the small serving of rice at the end and put it in the empty bowl. That is how it is finished here.
Sundays, and the nights around holidays
Sunday is the quiet night: many izakaya and nearly all the old family-run places take it off, and the ones that open close early. The chains, the wing houses and the ramen counters carry the night instead. If your only Nagoya night is a Sunday, aim at Sakae and expect the second choice, not the first.
The nights before public holidays run the other way — Friday-loud, everywhere, book-or-queue.
What is not open
The old shops — the udon houses, the eel restaurants, the kissaten — close early, often by eight, sometimes by three in the afternoon when the day’s stock runs out. Late night in Nagoya is a different set of restaurants, not the same ones later.