【Awards】 Tabelog 2026 SILVER AWARD Tabelog 2025 Top 100 Yakiniku in the EAST 【Tabelog Rating (as of posting date)】 4.38 【Location】 About a 5-minute walk from Musashi-Shinjo Station 【Reservations/Reservation Method/Reservation Timing】 Available/Unknown/Unknown 【Wait Time】 None 【Number of Visitors】 4 people 【Seating】 Table 【Overview and Chef's Background】 A highly popular and hard-to-book yakiniku restaurant in the Musashi-Shinjo area. The owner, Shoichi Sawaishi, attended Keio University and started working at a local bank after graduation, but left within a year to enter the food industry. He initially worked for a company in the izakaya business before moving on to "SATO Burian" in Asagaya. After that, he dedicated himself to offal processing at the "Tokyo Meat Market," gaining skills and connections in preparation techniques. He then served as the head chef at "Sumibi Yakiniku Horumon Urara" in Tama-Plaza, rapidly gaining popularity, and opened this restaurant independently in August 2023. In February 2026, he opened a second location, "Sawaishi Mini," in the same Musashi-Shinjo area. Reservations are accepted through Omakase and Table Check (with slightly different opening days), but the limited slots fill up instantly, making it very difficult to visit. 【Atmosphere】 Lively 【Cost/Person】 JPY 24,000 【Order】 Omakase Course (tax included ??? JPY) 【Details】 ◆ Tracheal Cartilage Sashimi ◆ Outside Skirt Sashimi ◆ Omasum Sashimi ◆ Salted Tongue ◆ Salted Outside Skirt ◆ Salted Hanging Tender ◆ Liver ◆ Pickles ◆ Top Blade with Sauce ◆ Top Sirloin with Sauce ◆ Hanging Tender with Sauce ◆ Outside Skirt with Sauce ◆ Salted Cheek Meat ◆ Salted Upper Tripe ◆ Salted Sweetbread ◆ Salted Colon ◆ Sauced Lower Tongue ◆ Sauced Abomasum ◆ Salted Knuckle Main Muscle ◆ Salted Under Top Blade ◆ Sauced Knuckle Main Muscle ◆ Sauced Under Top Blade ◆ Cold Noodles ◆ Vanilla Ice Cream ◇ Lemon Sour ◇ Sparkling Water ◇ Draft Beer x2 ◇ Tiger Makgeolli Bottle x2 【Impressions】 I was invited by a super regular customer for my long-awaited first visit. When Mr. Sawaishi was at "Urara," I could still manage to get a reservation if I tried hard, but since he became independent, it has become nearly impossible to book, so I was grateful. The super regular customer is a grilling pro, so this was a luxurious gathering where everything from ordering to grilling was left to him. In the beginning, we enjoyed several types of sashimi. The Tracheal Cartilage Sashimi, which is hard to find elsewhere, had a cute appearance with its white, small, and spiky look, and its crunchy texture was quite addictive. Then, the Outside Skirt Sashimi appeared. Naturally, this was not served to other guests, and it’s rarely seen in past reviews, making it a very rare menu item. To be able to eat the highly praised Outside Skirt as sashimi at this restaurant... The Outside Skirt, glistening with its own rich fat, was as delicious as it looked, and everyone was in awe. From here on, we simply enjoyed the yakiniku. Indeed, the restaurant's Tongue, Outside Skirt, and Hanging Tender are the best. Beautifully presented meat is always delicious. The Outside Skirt and Hanging Tender were thick like steaks, and it requires considerable skill for an amateur to grill them well, but having someone who can perfectly cook them is a huge advantage. No matter how wonderful the meat is sourced and presented with perfect preparation and cutting, if an amateur messes up the final grilling step, it ruins everything... That’s why full-service grilling is trending, but it raises the price and doesn’t allow you to eat at your own pace... After that, an incredible amount of meat kept coming out. I wonder how many grams each person ate in total? Even just two pieces each of Outside Skirt and Hanging Tender is quite a lot, probably around 500g. But all the meat was truly delicious. I ate so much that even standing up felt like a chore, but the bill was surprisingly low at JPY 24,000 per person, which was another surprise. What a wonderful experience I had. Of course, there are many other yakiniku restaurants I’m curious about, but I could almost consider my personal best yakiniku journey complete with "Sawaishi" and "Kousen."
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