A note on the words: horumon means beef and pork offal grilled over charcoal, and horumonyaki is the genre of restaurant built around it; the cuts are named individually in Japanese, which is why the list further down reads the way it does. Otoshi is the small appetizer that arrives with your first drink and is charged for — it is not a scam, it is the cover charge. Motsu nikomi is offal simmered slowly, usually in a miso-based broth. Shochu is a Japanese distilled spirit, here made from barley and served long with soda. Yakishabu means thin shabu-shabu-style slices cooked briefly on the grill instead of in a hot pot. Kurobuta is Japanese black-hair pork. Caul fat is the lacy membrane of fat that is wrapped around meat so it bastes itself as it cooks.
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Horumonyaki Rukuma Tokyo on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Right, this is Hangover Meshi. Today it is Rukuma Tokyo in Ebisu, a horumon grill famous for being stylish and delicious! The rating is seriously high, after all. Looking forward to it! I made a reservation and headed over, and the atmosphere is nothing like your typical horumon place! There is a counter, and the room feels good. With the glass frontage and all, it is stylish!!!
By the way, they take your coat and keep it in the back, and the smell inside did not really bother me!
Standard Course 5500 yen
Tasting Course 4500 yen
Standard Course with all-you-can-drink plus curry 10000 yen
There are various courses, but this time some of us were not drinking, so we went with the Standard Course and
figured we would add something if it turned out not to be enough.
The first thing I ordered was barley shochu with soda!
When I ordered, they brought pickles as the otoshi.
Pickles as the otoshi at a horumon grill — stylish!
Prosciutto, salami, roast ham!
The prosciutto is sliced paper-thin!! It practically melts in your mouth.
If ham and salami are coming out as the starter, then… ! And from here I switched to wine.
This is a place known for wine going nicely with horumon, after all.
A little bowl of simmered offal.
The offal is cut generously and has a firm, springy bite. A gentle, miso-based simmered offal. Delicious.
While we were eating, the charcoal arrived! Nice and compact. ^^
Huge!
A seriously big mushroom. When I first saw it I thought it was a bread roll, ha.
They grill the big mushroom slowly over charcoal, and when you turn it over the liquid inside comes welling out,
so it is like a soup served in a bowl made of mushroom.
First I drank the mushroom broth: sooo good!
Then I bit into the mushroom itself — very succulent and juicy. This is delicious.
Next up, the horumon!
Now, they explained what every single one was, and I remember absolutely none of it!
Probably these are the nine carefully chosen from this list. ^^;
◇ amireba (liver)
◇ nankotsu (windpipe)
◇ kashira (temple)
◇ nodobue (vocal cords)
◇ tan (tongue)
◇ pai (udder)
◇ hatsu (heart)
◇ gatsu (stomach)
◇ harami (diaphragm)
◇ chire (pancreas)
◇ sagari (diaphragm)
◇ teppo (rectum)
◇ shikin (esophagus)
◇ shiro (large intestine)
By the way, the staff grill everything for you, so you can relax. You can even ask for things well done, which is nice!
They got started right away.
This one is the amireba.
Wrapped in a luscious coat of caul fat and cooked to an exquisite point, the liver has no off smell at all!
In your mouth it spreads into a melting texture and a deep savor. This one was really good.
The house-made bacon I ordered as an addition.
Bite in and the meat juices and the smoke come at you in a torrent. Thick-cut, yet the sweetness of the melting fat and the savor of the lean are in exquisite balance.
Goes with wine too!!
A short breather here with the salad.
Last comes the yakishabu! They grill it beautifully for you, of course.
Thin slices of Amagi kurobuta pork with lovely marbling, seared briefly and then coated in rich egg yolk.
The sweetness of the fat becomes one with the body of the yolk, a blissful taste that melts in the mouth.
The exquisite judgment of the grilling, drawing the savor of the meat right out, is superb too! A fine piece of meat to finish on!
And here we decided we wanted to drink a bit more, so we asked for extra horumon.
I was about to look at the menu and order, but the staff offered: shall we bring you three or so that differ from what you have had? So I gladly took them up on it!! That kind of fine attention is lovely.
I think these are the pai, the nankotsu, and something else, ha.
But the texture aside, every one of them is packed with savor, so they are perfect alongside a drink.
So then: I had been drinking quite a bit, and what exactly was what is a bit hazy, but amireba and the like were cuts I had never eaten before and were very good, so it was a very fine experience. Not one of the horumon had any off smell at all, all of it cooked to an exquisite point, and they adjusted to each person on how well done they wanted it, and helped us think through the extra order at the end. The horumon being delicious goes without saying, but I thought the place itself was a very comfortable one to be in! The high rating makes sense. I plan to come again!
Horumonyaki Rukuma Tokyo (Horumon / Daikanyama Station, Ebisu Station, Naka-meguro Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.9
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
