Drank too much last night? Here’s where to eat. Today: how nomihodai — all-you-can-drink — actually works in Japan, tested on a yakitori course in Shinjuku.
Quick Facts
| Nearest station | Seibu-Shinjuku 2-min walk; JR Shinjuku west exit about 5 min |
|---|---|
| Budget | Lunch ¥1,000–2,000; dinner course ¥4,500 (¥6,000 with all-you-can-drink) |
| Cash or card | Cards, IC cards (Suica etc.), iD/QUICPay and QR pay all accepted |
| Smoking | Non-smoking |
| Reservations | Accepted — online or by phone |
| Hours | Weekdays 11:30–14:30 and 18:00–22:30; Sat evenings only; closed Sun & holidays |
| Seats | 22 |
Nomihodai, Explained
Nomihodai is a fixed-price all-you-can-drink option, usually added to a set course and usually running 90 or 120 minutes. It is one of the most distinctly Japanese things about eating out here, and travellers routinely miss it because it is priced as an add-on rather than advertised. At Goto the add-on is ¥1,500 on top of a ¥4,500 course — ¥6,000 all in for nine courses of yakitori and unlimited drinks, two minutes from Shinjuku.
A practical note for the west side of Shinjuku Station: it is a construction site at the moment and the walkways keep changing. Allow more time than the map suggests.
What Nine Courses of Chicken Looks Like
It opens with a five-item appetiser plate and chicken ajillo — chicken and vegetables in hot garlic oil — then moves to the charcoal. Shiro-reba, the pale chicken liver, is the standout: soft to the point of being a mousse, and nothing like the liver most people brace for. Negima, thigh and spring onion, comes properly charred. Seseri is neck meat. Chouchin is an unlaid egg on a skewer, which bursts — order it for the story if not the flavour.
Then a whole young chicken, deep-fried and cut into three, and chicken soup. The course closes with the restaurant’s signature oyakodon — chicken and egg over rice, the name means “parent and child”, and it is one of the great Japanese comfort dishes. It is billed as “ultimate”. It is not ultimate. It is very good, and at lunchtime prices it would be a bargain.
Access & Practical Tips
- Two minutes from Seibu-Shinjuku, five from the JR west exit.
- Closed Sundays and public holidays, and Saturdays are dinner only.
- Book online or by phone — 22 seats.
- Every payment method works here, which is rare and useful in Shinjuku.
- Lunch is ¥1,000–2,000 if the course is more than you want.
Hangover Recovery Index
My completely unscientific Hangover Recovery Index: 4 out of 5 — for the oyakodon at lunch, which is soft, hot, savoury and requires nothing of you. The all-you-can-drink course scores considerably lower the following morning, and I say that with the authority of experience.
Eat well, drink better, and see you at the next hangover.
