A note on the words: yakiniku is meat you grill yourself at the table. Gachi-chuka is the recent wave of Chinese restaurants in Japan that cook for Chinese customers rather than adapting to Japanese tastes. Mala is the Sichuan combination of chili heat and the tingling numbness of Sichuan pepper. Garlic scapes are the tender flower stalks of the garlic plant, and water spinach is the hollow-stemmed green known in Chinese as kongxincai. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Hitsuji Kizoku Shiki Kou, Ikebukuro North Exit, on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
I want something good to eat today too. This is Hangover Meshi. I had been hunting for somewhere interesting in the gachi-chuka line when I found a place in Ikebukuro with what looked like a whole roasted hunk of lamb planted on the page, and off I went. I booked, walked to the address — and it is right next door to Shiki Kou! Which makes sense: I had not noticed it at all, but the name is “Hitsuji Kizoku Shiki Kou, Ikebukuro North Exit”. Shiki Kou has the word in it. So this is the lamb-focused shop from that gachi-chuka place, Shiki Kou. Even for a branch, being literally next door is something. I expect plenty of people mix the two up.
Step inside and they ask you: “Are you grilling the lamb?” Your fate is decided right there, by whether you are seated at a table with a grill or without one. Decide later and there is no grill; take the grill seat and not grill and you half expect to be told off. So make up your mind before you walk in.
Right. Ordering roughly, with the grilled lamb leg at the center of it.
Orders go through the tablet on the table.
This is three to four servings. They bring it out first, and just as I was wondering whether we grill it exactly like this, they asked if they could take it back and cut it up. Ah, of course. As it stands it will not cook, so they cut it small for you.
And here is what came back
Three to four servings, so it is a fair volume. A proper mountain of it.
There is a real chance this alone fills you up and ends the evening there.
The grilled meat is eaten with BBQ sauce and a spicy powder. Yes — good!
Looking at the menu, there are a great many side dishes, and every one of them is tempting.
This one you absolutely want: garlic and green chili. Good raw, good grilled.
Garlic scapes, grilled on the same grill.
As we ate on it started to feel like there was room for a little more, so we added other dishes.
The classic: stir-fried water spinach. Water spinach is on the pricey side, is it not. Delicious, though.
And then, deep-fried squid legs!
The quantity, honestly. I had thought 1,980 yen was a bit steep, and in the photo it looks like a modest amount, but the real thing is far more — three times as much, it felt. The batter is generous, and with the mala sauce and the spices on top it is delicious. This is the best way to eat fried squid legs.
Last, the green beans, Sichuan style. Everything is seasoned with a gentle heat and it is good. The garlic coming through clearly is a pleasure too. It may be because Shiki Kou proper is a Hunan restaurant, but the heat here, while genuine, is mostly of the mild and tasty kind, and I think even people who are not strong with spice could enjoy it.
So: we ordered a range of things, but from beginning to end it was fundamentally grilled lamb. It simply never ran out. Adding the garlic and green chili was, I am sure, the right call. It is delicious, but with only the sauce and the mala powder the sheer volume gets hard. Some sort of extra seasoning to change the flavor makes it easier going. We were three this time; with four we could have taken a run at more of the menu.
Hitsuji Kizoku Shiki Kou, Ikebukuro North Exit (Chinese / Ikebukuro Station, Kita-Ikebukuro Station, Higashi-Ikebukuro Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
