A note on the words: horumon means offal grilled over fire, and a horumon shop is where you go to eat it; shichirin is the small charcoal brazier set on your table; yagen nankotsu is the arrow-shaped cartilage from a chicken breastbone; shimacho is the large intestine of beef, the fattiest and most popular cut. Mouko Tanmen Nakamoto, next door, is a Tokyo ramen chain built on chilli heat. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
Horumon Ryochan Kami-Itabashi on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
I want to eat something good today as well. This is Hangover Meshi. So: Ryochan, the horumon place a step from Kami-Itabashi station. You can see it plainly from the platform, and more to the point it is next door to the Nakamoto main shop. I had long wondered what sort of place it was, and at last the chance to drop in arrived. From outside it always looks fairly full — but what is it actually like?
Inside there are a few customers scattered about. It is fairly smoky, but that atmosphere is exactly right.
The menu looks to have a good deal on it, but since I am here I shall eat mainly from the grill.
Right, let us order. Order anything for the grill and they bring you a shichirin.
Charcoal! Marvellous.
Yagen nankotsu is a favourite of mine. If it is on the menu I order it without fail. Finished on the crisp side is best.
Take your time over the charcoal; when the edges blacken and begin to char a little, that is the signal.
That crunching texture is good. Anything straight off the grill is good.
Chilled tomato while the grilling goes on.
Something from the pig, I think, but I have entirely forgotten which.
This is what horumon means. Thoroughly fatty, and the flame leaps up all at once.
I like it grilled until it shrinks a little and turns crisp. It holds a great deal of savour and fat, and it is good.
This one you also leave alone and wait until it goes soft and floury.
And generally you forget it and nearly burn it. Smoke rises and you notice in a hurry.
Finish with the liver. One way and another I stayed until closing.
So: picking at bits and pieces, I no longer remember how many highballs I got through, but I left thoroughly satisfied. Very good value, too. Above all, it works not as a place to go and eat hard but as an easy sort of place to talk, drink and pick at a little horumon. Being right by the station is the best thing about it, and I intend to use it whenever an occasion arises.
Kami-Itabashi Horumon Ryochan (Horumon / Kami-Itabashi Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
