A note on the words: kabayaki is eel split, skewered and grilled in sweet soy tare; shirayaki is the same grilled plain. Tanzaku and kurikara are belly and back cuts on a skewer, and kaba-no-ho-yaki is the chunk-cut ancestor of kabayaki. A nabe is a one-pot dish — u-nabe the eel version, yanagawa-nabe the classic of loach simmered with burdock and bound with egg. The otoshi is the small starter every izakaya serves, shiokara is salt-fermented squid, and takana a pickled mustard green. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Izumo, Ikebukuro on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Drinkers, this is Hangover Meshi!
Everyone, thank you for waiting! This time, eel in Ikebukuro! Is it, at last, Kabuto?! It is not. (I want to go!!!) This time I finally visited a place I had long been curious about — an eel-skewer izakaya, one might call it — “Izumo, Ikebukuro”, in front of the station’s west exit. I charged in without a booking and only just managed to get a seat. Lucky.
The ground floor is mainly counter seating, the first floor tables. Smoking is permitted throughout, so anyone sensitive to cigarettes may find it hard going.
Ordering is done by QR code from your own phone! And there are plenty of tempting things on it!
Let us order!
First, naturally: beeer!
The otoshi is chosen from several options! A good system!
Shiokara and takana edamame, I think. We shared both, and they were good!
Grilled liver — even at a proper eel restaurant this is the sort of scarce item they say “if we have it” about! Being able to order it as a matter of course is a joy!!
The fresh-grilled liver skewer hits you with the toastiness of the charcoal and the sweet-savoury tare, and the moment you bite down, that offal bitterness blooms softly. The crunch of the stomach and the sticky, melting texture around the intestine coexist on a single skewer — and it goes tremendously well with beer!!! After the bitterness, deep savour rises up. A grown-up flavour!!!!
The menu called it “[Secret technique] eel kaba-no-ho-yaki”, and the question of what makes it secret is rather overtaken by: what on earth is kaba-no-ho-yaki?! A skewer whose name gives no clue whatsoever!
So what is a “kaba-no-ho”? Looking it up: the flower spike of the cattail plant. The shape of eel on a skewer apparently resembled it, and this is said to be the origin of the modern word “kabayaki”…
So the etymology of kabayaki turns up on a skewer menu! Before today’s split-and-grill style, eel was originally cut into chunks and skewered whole — which makes this kaba-no-ho-yaki the ancient prototype of kabayaki. What a splendidly old-school skewer!!!
Eating it: the outside is grilled quite crisp, but the inside is moist and fluffy. From the thick chunks of flesh that only a chunk-cut allows, fat and sweet tare burst out with every bite — genuinely delicious. Excellent even without dipping it in the sauce!
Incidentally, the “secret technique” is that the bones have been removed by a “closely guarded special method”. Very easy to eat, and very welcome!
After the wonderfully archaic kaba-no-ho-yaki, the orthodox eel skewers.
The top two are tanzaku grilled with the tare — the royal road of sweet sauce and eel. Crisp skin, plump flesh, and moist fat and the body of the tare bursting out with every chew. Well, this is delicious however you do it!
The bottom one is the white tanzaku, grilled with Japanese dashi. The same cut, done in the “salt camp” style. With no sweetness of tare to hide behind, the eel’s own savour and the toastiness of the skin come out directly, and the pickled wasabi stem served alongside doubles the edge and freshness. Not a shirayaki, note — it is grilled with dashi, which gives it depth.
There was also a spicy kurikara, and as a lover of heat I was tempted — but my companion dislikes spicy food, so I matched them and took this one^^ “Kurikara” is a skewer using the eel’s back meat, apparently named because the skewer resembles the dragon coiled around the “Kurikara sword” carried by the deity Fudo Myoo. Who knew…
The tanzaku uses the belly meat, they say, while this back-side cut is marked by firmer flesh and springier skin!
It is prepared with the tare, and biting in, the skin crackles first, then the solid savour of the back meat and the sweetness of the fat come chasing after. Against the belly-meat tanzaku, kurikara is all about chew and toastiness. Delicious^^
I spotted the words “Ikebukuro branch exclusive”, so of course I ordered it: eel with egg. Looks good, does it not?!
I have had u-nabe in Kansai — is this close to that? If anything it might be the eel version of “yanagawa-nabe”. Kabayaki eel simmered lightly in dashi-soy and gathered softly together with half-set beaten egg.
In the mouth, the sweet-savoury broth, with the tare-soaked eel fat dissolved into the dashi, floods out first, and the soft half-set egg wraps gently over it. Delicious! Wonderful! The firm savour of the eel, the creaminess of the egg and the gentleness of the dashi are irresistible. Breaking up the kabayaki with your chopsticks and folding it through the egg changes the intensity with each bite, so it never grows dull.
I was getting quite full, but chose one final skewer.
Its name: eel butter! Outrageous! I saw the table next to us order it and could not resist.
A tare-grilled eel skewer, with softly whipped butter heaped on at the table — visually bold, and a fun experience too!!! Butter and eel? you think for a moment — and then it turns out to be simply delicious!
The instant you bite, the sweet-savoury toastiness of the tare-grilled eel rises, and then the butter melts over it and lays on a milky richness. Eel fat plus butter is a doubling-down on fat and very rich indeed — but paired with a highball it lands just right.
Ah, that was good! Completely full, thoroughly satisfied!
Truly, eel eaten this casually — drop in, have a few with your drinks, go home — is a fine thing! Apparently this shop is known for an enormous rice bowl combining eel with a great thick omelette; I saw several people that evening eat only that and leave, but it looked far too much for me, so I passed! I might like to try it once, though.
May you meet something good to eat today too.
Izumo, Ikebukuro (izakaya / Ikebukuro Station, Higashi-Ikebukuro Station, Toden Zoshigaya Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.6
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
