More than half are within five minutes
Of the 560 shops with a walk time, 344 are within five minutes (61%) and 194 within three. Only 62 are more than ten minutes out.
Nagoya's restaurants cluster around stations. The subway is the skeleton of the city and the shops grew attached to it. The situation where you give up on a place because it is too far from a station rarely arises here.
Counted by station
Stations with the most shops inside five minutes: Nagoya 39, Sakaemachi 32, Fushimi 26, Kanayama 24. Then Kokusai Center 15, Yabacho 12, Imaike 10.
Nagoya and Sakae dominating is no surprise, but Fushimi in third place might be. It is one subway stop between the two, and being an office district it runs thick with lunch trade. Worth getting off for on a connection.
Kishimen: 79% within five minutes
By dish the gap is stark. Highest share within five minutes: izakaya 85%, tebasaki 81%, kishimen 79%, Nagoya Cochin 77%, kushikatsu 75%.
Kishimen ranks high for a reason. As the standing counters on the shinkansen platforms suggest, this dish grew up alongside the stations as something eaten in transit. For a short connection, kishimen is the most rational choice on the menu.
Miso-nikomi udon asks you to walk
At the other end: miso-nikomi udon 26%, yoshoku 26%, ramen 38%, curry 42%.
Miso-nikomi simmers in a clay pot for the better part of twenty minutes, so tables turn slowly. That suits station-front rents badly, and most shops sit a little further out. If this bowl is the goal, budget for a ten-minute walk. The flip side is that people keep walking there, which is why the shops survive.
Making thirty minutes work
To turn a layover into a meal you need three things: within five minutes, works for one person, served fast. Kishimen, ramen, teishoku and standing counters all qualify.
What to avoid: anything simmered in a clay pot, anything grilled to order. Miso-nikomi udon and hitsumabushi can consume the full thirty minutes in waiting alone.
How to read the walk times
Every shop page lists the nearest station and the walk. These come from HOT PEPPER Gourmet listings and shift with your pace and which exit you take — the underground passages make it shorter, surfacing and going around makes it longer.
Nagoya Station in particular is enormous. "Three minutes from the station" can still mean another five from the ticket gate to your platform. Add that in when you are working against a connection.