A note on the words: hane-tsuki gyoza are pan-fried pork dumplings cooked with a flour-water slurry that crisps into a delicate, lacy winged skirt connecting the dumplings. Chahan is wok-tossed Chinese-style fried rice, here studded with char siu roast pork and crunchy garlic scapes. Ebi chili is shrimp simmered in a sweet and spicy chili sauce, mapo tofu is diced tofu and minced meat braised in a spicy sauce, and chuka-don is a stir-fry of meat and vegetables bound in a thick savory sauce served over steamed rice.
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Nihao Ikegami on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. Having an errand to run in Ikegami, a neighborhood in Ota Ward, Tokyo, I was looking for lunch and stumbled upon “Nihao Ikegami”. Nihao was a famous gyoza restaurant, if I recall… So I decided to pop in. It was close to 1:00 PM, and the shop was completely full, requiring a short wait. Extremely popular!
Are they the creators of the original hane-tsuki gyoza, I wonder? If so, no wonder it gets crowded.
Set meal A: ebi chili — 680 yen
Set meal B: stir-fried vegetables — 680 yen
Mapo tofu over rice — 600 yen
Chuka-don — 600 yen
Pan-fried gyoza and ramen — 600 yen
Pan-fried gyoza and chahan — 700 yen
Wait, that is cheap!
Gyoza and ramen for 600 yen! What unbelievable value. Even chahan and ramen is 700 yen, ha.
For now, I thought gyoza was an absolute must, so I went with the gyoza and chahan.
After a short wait…
The portion of chahan is massive!
Egg, scallions, garlic scapes, carrots, char siu pork. It is quite heavily seasoned, and the crisp crunch of the garlic scapes is wonderful!
Yes, it is a delicious fried rice, but in any case the sheer amount is huge, ha.
The soup is huge too! This is a seriously hearty set meal. And all this for 700 yen…?
The gyoza.
Naturally, they come with the winged skirt. The plump dumplings have thin skins, and when you bite into them, the savory meat juices spill right out.
The garlic is restrained, making them very easy to eat.
They balance out the strongly seasoned chahan delightfully well.
In any case, the portions are massive and the food is good — that much was crystal clear. You sometimes come across these proper Chinese places that are incredibly cheap yet serve heaps of food. This is exactly that kind of restaurant, ha. With this much food at this price, no wonder it is packed. Whenever you are starving, this is where you should come, ha.
Nihao Ikegami (Chinese / Ikegami Station, Chidoricho Station, Musashi-nitta Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.4
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
