A note on the words: horumon means offal, and nikomi is offal simmered long and slow, here in a sweet miso broth. Yakitori are grilled skewers; negima is chicken thigh alternating with leek, and tsukune is a ground-chicken meatball. Karaage is the Japanese way of dusting something in starch and deep-frying it, used here on octopus rather than chicken. An onsen egg is poached slowly at low heat, so the white stays barely set and the yolk soft. A highball is whisky and soda, the standard Tokyo drink to switch to once the beer is gone. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Book a table at Nikomi Horumon Terubo-zu on AutoReserve (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
I want to eat something good today too. This is Hangover Meshi. Shinbashi. I fancied a quick drink, so I wandered about looking at places. Touts kept calling out to me — I would rather choose for myself, thank you. Still, that is what a nightlife district is, so I dodged them politely, and what I found was Nikomi Horumon Terubo-zu. A look inside suggested there were seats free, so in I went.
Whereupon: the place is in fact full of reservations, but an hour would be fine.
Well, an hour and then briskly out is no hardship, so I took it.
Plenty of nikomi and things to pick at with a drink. There is a clock on me, so I chose only what I actually wanted.
Beer to begin with.
Five yakitori skewers, chef’s choice.
Negima, skin, liver, tsukune and pork belly, I think. Skewers run about 180 yen apiece, so the set of five works out very slightly cheaper ^^
The style is to pull them off the skewer and pick at them. The yakitori itself is thoroughly ordinary yakitori. Good!
And here is the house specialty: Terubo-zu nikomi.
It carries the shop’s own name, after all. This is a nikomi shop, so expectations are high. One mouthful and — yes, that is good.
Horumon simmered long and slow in a sweet miso sauce. Several different cuts are in there, and every one of them is tender enough to melt. The onsen egg is another fine touch. The seasoning is on the strong side, but the egg keeps it clean and easy to eat. Very nice indeed.
Around here I switched to highballs.
Still a bit of time left, surely? — and then last orders for food.
One more thing then, we said, and ordered the octopus karaage.
With octopus karaage in front of me I could take another two highballs. The mayonnaise on the side is a small pleasure ^^
After that, last orders for drinks came round as well, and I was out at exactly the hour.
An hour goes faster than you would think. But it gives the evening a shape, and I rather felt every place could put a one-hour limit on it. In a drinking quarter like this the fun is not settling into one shop but taking a little from several. Nikomi Horumon Terubo-zu looks useful for a night out in Shinbashi. I shall remember it.
Nikomi Horumon Terubo-zu (Izakaya / Shinbashi Station, Shiodome Station, Uchisaiwaicho 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?
