A note on the words: yoshoku is the Japanese take on Western cooking, a genre of its own since the nineteenth century; omurice is fried rice wrapped in a thin omelette, usually with demi-glace over it; gyutan is beef tongue, a speciality of Sendai; Tabelog’s Hyakumeiten is its annual list of the hundred best restaurants in a genre. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Chamorro on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Drinkers, thank you for waiting. It is Hangover Meshi time.
I had business at the Westin hotel in Ebisu from midday, and it is rare to find myself in Ebisu at that hour — so I decided to go for lunch at the beef-tongue omurice shop I had wanted to visit for ages.
A few minutes on foot from Ebisu station. A mixed-tenancy building with a weathered orange sign reading “Chamorro”. Down the stairs to the basement, and there is the warm, nostalgic air of an old yoshoku dining room. Founded in 1973, it has supported the eating culture of Ebisu for more than half a century. At one point it came close to closing, but it was revived in 2023.
I arrived a little before 11:30, with one customer ahead of me!
Before queuing you go down the stairs to the basement, where there is a board to write your name on; then you go back up and queue on the pavement outside the shop, on the road side.
With only one person ahead of me, it looked as though I would be eating soon. Good!
Tender thick-cut beef tongue omurice (limited quantity) — 1,900 yen
Chunky stewed beef tongue omurice — 1,700 yen
Simple demi-glace omurice — 1,000 yen
Sausage omurice — 1,400 yen
Parmigiano cheese omurice — 1,400 yen
Hamburg steak omurice — 1,800 yen
I stood in the queue wondering what to have. In the end — the limited-quantity tender thick-cut beef tongue omurice, surely! Being second in line means anything is still available.
Inside there is a counter and about three tables. Being alone I was given a counter seat, and I ordered the “tender thick-cut beef tongue omurice”!
You can choose large, medium or small on the rice, and I chose small. Salad and miso soup come first.
Oh my. That looks good!
The moment it lands on the table, the sheer look of it gets you!
Soft, golden egg covers the butter rice, and sitting squarely on top is a slab of beef tongue over about seven centimetres thick. The instant the fork goes in, it gives way with astonishing ease. It simply falls apart.
So tender!!
Stewed for more than eight hours, the tongue has savour worked into every last fibre, and with each bite the sweetness of the meat and a deep richness fill the mouth.
The word “tender” does not begin to reach it.
It is closer to “melting”.
The glossy demi-glace is one of the leads in this dish too.
Weighty with acidity, sweetness and what tastes like all the savour of the meat drawn into it, it suits the tongue perfectly and harmonises beautifully with the butter rice wrapped inside. The way the four elements — tongue, demi-glace, egg and butter rice — lift one another so that it never palls before the last mouthful is splendid; the fruit of a yoshoku cook’s craft polished over many years.
Incidentally, this signature dish is said to have begun with a regular customer saying he wanted to eat the stewed tongue and the omurice together. Since that is how a dish this good came into the world, we owe thanks both to that regular and to the shop that actually made it.
1,900 yen, with salad and miso soup. It is popular enough that an hour’s wait at weekend lunchtime is not unusual, but a weekday, right at the 11:30 opening, may be the moment to aim for! And since they open only for lunch, eating here takes some effort — though once you know this taste, of course you think “I would queue for that!”
It keeps its place among Tabelog’s hundred best yoshoku restaurants, and I would very much like you to experience that for yourself with the signature “tender thick-cut beef tongue omurice”!
May you meet something good to eat today too.
Chamorro (yoshoku / Ebisu Station, Daikanyama Station, Nakameguro Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.8
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
