A note on the words: ikizukuri is fish or squid butchered and plated so fresh that parts of it are still moving; geso are the squid’s tentacles; otoshi is the small appetizer you are charged for on arrival, which is a cover charge rather than a scam; shime is the dish that closes a night of drinking, usually rice or noodles; hamo is pike conger, and yubiki is the blanching it is given after honekiri, the hundred fine knife cuts that deal with its many small bones. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
Ika Center Shinjuku Sohonten on Tabelog (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. Ika Center in Shinjuku. How many years ago was it — I have a memory of going a very long time back, but it has been ages since. Squid ikizukuri once in a while, why not? So this time, off to Ika Center’s Shinjuku main store. The location feels unchanged from back then. Into one of those cramped elevators you always get in a mixed-tenant building, and up to the front desk.
I wonder whether they split the floors between smoking and non-smoking. I had asked for non-smoking, and up we went to the fourth floor, the one with the live tanks.
There seemed to be all sorts of set courses, but this time we ordered a la carte, whatever we felt like.
Beer first, and with it, the otoshi.
Naturally, the squid ikizukuri went in with that first order as well.
And then they brought it over! The “here it is” presentation, where they carry the squid to your table first.
The day’s fresh sashimi. Sea bream, kinmedai (splendid alfonsino), kanpachi (amberjack), buri (yellowtail), octopus, namero (fish chopped and pounded with miso), tachiuo (beltfish), and more besides. A lavish spread of all sorts.
Fresh and good! Seafood here is exactly what you would hope. Not squid alone!
The geso arrived first!
Into the mouth while they are still moving! That feeling of the suckers gripping on is quite something.
But they are fresh and good! You can taste the sweetness!
Even so, they do move, so anyone squeamish about that will find it hard going.
Leave it a while and they stop moving, at which point it turns into ordinary fresh squid sashimi, which may be easier to face.
The fried squid rings came out ahead of it.
Thickly cut squid! On top is tartar sauce. A squeeze of lemon, then a bite.
This is good! Crisp outside, chewy inside. Cooking squid seems to bring the sweetness out more strongly. The tartar sauce is excellent too, and where a sashimi-led meal can end up feeling light, this is the substantial thing that goes perfectly with beer.
The translucent flesh looks wonderful. This one, apparently, is kensaki-ika (swordtip squid).
Well, this is what I came for. You can eat squid this raw if you go somewhere like Yobuko, but being able to taste it in the dead center of Shinjuku is a pleasure. A little pricey, mind. Ika Center — not bad at all.
Hamo. That distinctive texture that comes of honekiri is an interesting thing.
Perhaps they dry it overnight and then grill it? The flavor is properly concentrated and it is good.
And it comes with a sauce made from the squid’s liver, and eaten dipped in that liver it is gooooooooood!
Which is where I switched over to sake.
They said the scallop was a recommendation, so I ordered it. Scallop sashimi is good!
When it is all raw things, you do start wanting something deep-fried like this!
It goes with sake, this one.
By now I am fully in drinking-snack mode. The mode where you have had enough seafood.
The shime at the end was fried rice! Stomach full, thoroughly satisfied.
Ika Center lives up to the name. That the squid is fresh and good is more or less the point, but the rest of the fish is properly good as well. They have live tanks, after all, so sashimi and ikizukuri are going to be the thing they do best. There are plenty of drinking snacks for the person whose seafood gauge has filled up, and rice dishes like the fried rice are well covered too, so I came away thinking it is an easy place to use. I shall come again.
Ika Center Shinjuku Sohonten (Seafood / Shinjuku-nishiguchi Station, Seibu-Shinjuku Station, Shinjuku 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?
