[Special]Hot pots are the symbol of winter! Three recommended hot pot restaurants perfect for families in Ota City!

Long-established restaurant with almost 50 years of service! Exquisite Omori specialty large Chankonabe with a history of great taste since the Showa period!

After a 3-minute walk from Heiwajima Station on the Keikyu Line and crossing the Daiichi Keihin (Route 15) road, Rikishi is located along the historic former Tokaido road. The Chankonabe restaurant has been loved by locals for almost 50 years.
The essence of their Chankonabe hot pot is its large portion size that can be seen right away. The portion in the picture is just two servings! The ingredients include pork, chicken, gizzard, white fish, sardine balls (handmade by the owner), scallop, blue crab, fried tofu, etc. The abundant amount of meat, seafood, and vegetables are sure to fill you up! You are guaranteed to experience the flavor of Chankonabe to its fullest.


Look at the ingredients almost spilling from the bowl! This is authentic Chankonabe, which is the primary diet of sumo wrestlers (rikishi). They call this amount two servings, but most customers split this order between a group of three to four people. This bowl is priced at 3,000 yen, so essentially it costs 1,500 yen per person. With such a sizable portion, the cost is still quite reasonable. They also have a smaller portion (1,600 yen) for one person.


Of course, it’s not just because of the large portion size that Rikishi is loved; the taste is also why the restaurant has been in business for almost 50 years. The secret of their flavor, the soup is based on exquisite chicken broth with soy sauce. The soup alone is so refined and flavorful that you’ll want to drink it up on its own! Because of this soup full of umami, it is easy to eat the entire bowl even though the portions are large. It has a hint of ginger, which is one of the reasons why it has such an excellent taste. How should you enjoy the last bit of the soup?

There is a choice of udon (400 yen) or rice soup (400 yen). In the flavorful soup containing all kinds of ingredients, whichever choice you make will be perfect for finishing up this dish. This will be a very hard choice to make though!


Rikishi was started by Tomie Nakamura (top left picture), who used to be a female sumo wrestler. In the early years when the restaurant had first opened, they also had a chef who used to be a sumo wrestler; it is no wonder they boast an orthodox and honorable taste. In fact, many of the customers consist of active sumo wrestlers. When we visited Rikishi, we also saw many local patrons there. For reasons beyond the taste and portion size, we believe that the owner’s hospitable personality also plays a strong role in its popularity.

Boasting ingredients obtained directly from the farmers that produced them!
An excellent line-up of Mizutaki hot pot with Amakusa Daio chicken, Motsunabe hot pot with Japanese Black wagyu beef, and Horse Shabu Shabu!


Ishiguro Shop features local cuisine in the form of several types of hot pots that offer fresh ingredients shipped directly from the farmers in Kumamoto, Kyushu.
From Mizutaki hot pot with Amakusa Daio chicken (free-range chicken from Kumamoto) and Motsunabe hot pot with Japanese Black wagyu beef, to Shabu Shabu with fresh horse meat (sashimi) that is shipped fresh by air from their partner ranch, all hot pots are exquisitely filled with the allure of Kumamoto.


Shown here is Mizutaki hot pot (1,780 yen per serving/two-serving minimum) which uses abundant amounts of Amakusa Daio chicken for both the ingredients and the broth. Amakusa Daio chicken is said to be the rare free-range chicken of Kumamoto. Amakusa Daio, shipped directly from a chicken ranch accredited with the JAS certification is well fleshed with concentrated umami. In order to draw out the flavor of such high-quality meat with no additives, Mizutaki hot pot is prepared with no artificial flavors. It is smooth yet full of rich flavor.


Motsunabe hot pot (1,480 yen per serving/two-serving minimum) using generous amounts of Japanese Black wagyu beef chitterlings loaded with collagen is another signature dish of Ishiguro Shop. The secret of the taste that goes head to head with the genuine Motsunabe hot pot from Hakata, the heart of Motsunabe, is in the broth used for the soup. The triple broth made from simmering chicken meat, chicken bone, and seafood for two days is rich and flavorful and will not disappoint you with its taste! You can choose from soy sauce with fish broth, mixed miso from Kyoto, or salt as a flavor.


Kumamoto is famous for horse sashimi, which is rare to find. Ishiguro Shop also specializes in horse sashimi. The high-quality Shabu Shabu (3,000+ yen per serving) that uses fresh horse meat sashimi is another recommendation we’d like to make. The meat is directly shipped from their partner ranch in Kumamoto. The horse meat for sashimi can be somewhat expensive in Kumamoto, but at Ishiguro Shop, you can enjoy it for a reasonable price.


“It has been 5 years since I started this restaurant in Ota City. Other than the hot pots, we also have horse sashimi and various a la carte dishes using organic vegetables, free-range chicken, Japanese Brown beef, and seafood as well as artisanal sake (shochu and sake), and they’re all priced very reasonably compared to Kumamoto. Come try our authentic horse sashimi, carefully prepared Motsunabe hot pot and Mizutaki hot pot to experience the spirit of Kumamoto!” (Ishiguro, owner of Ishiguro Shop)

A hot topic in China!　Spicy hot pot without soup, “Ma La Xiang Guo” in Kamata!

A Chinese dish, Ma La Xiang Guo has been gaining popularity in Japan recently. Originally a local cuisine in China, it’s a hot pot without soup and became a hot topic in Beijing about 10 years ago. Some of you might remember when it came to Japan a few years ago and attracted attention.
We have a restaurant specializing in Ma La Xiang Guo in Kamata. The name of the restaurant is exactly the same as the name of the dish, “Ma La Xiang Guo.” Let’s take a look!


Ma La Xiang Guo is a hot pot without soup with any ingredients of your choosing cooked in a pot with an original sauce made from chili pepper, sansho (Japanese pepper), flavored oil, and herbs. The ingredients can be anything from meat and fish, to vegetables. Each restaurant distinguishes themselves by their sauce, which shows their individuality.
At Ma La Xiang Guo, which is named after the dish itself, of course what sets them apart in flavor is their original sauce.
About 20 different herbs are mixed in their homemade Ma La oil, which is the base of the sauce. The distinctive flavor and tingle of sansho plays a starring role in drawing out the full flavor of the ingredients.


At Ma La Xiang Guo, you can choose the sauce from Pirikara Shisen (spicy with sansho) and Umakara Yakuzen (spicy without sansho), and you choose from over 70 kinds of ingredients. Just put a check mark on which items you’d like on the order sheet. This time, we tried the restaurant’s recommendation: Pirikara Shisen sauce with 12 ingredients (beef tendon, sausage, shrimp, squid, fish balls, quail eggs, lotus root, wood ear mushrooms, cabbage, broccoli, garlic scapes, and baby corn). In general, 3 to 4 different ingredients make up a portion for one person. So the recommended hot pot in this case makes 3 to 4 servings.


Now it’s time to try it out! One bite, and the right amount of spiciness from the sansho and the flavor of their original Ma La oil spread in the mouth, stimulating your appetite and making you come back for more.
The vegetables such as lotus root and garlic scapes are especially crunchy and delicious! Some of the ingredients are fried beforehand, and then quickly cooked at a high heat. This allows the ingredients to keep their moisture and freshness, making them as juicy as they can be.
We tried the second spiciness level out of four this time, but it wasn’t very spicy, so we can definitely recommend the dish for those who don’t care for spicy food.


We spoke with one of the Chinese patrons that happened to be there, and they mentioned that the Ma La Xiang Guo here is better than what is available in China and that they come here every week. The staff of the restaurant (Sai, Ga, Yi, Rai from left to right) strive to create a cozy and friendly atmosphere.

If you choose only 3 to 4 ingredients, you can easily eat the hot pot on your own. Ma La Xiang Guo is definitely worth a trip to try it out. Especially recommended for those who love the flavor of Mapo Tofu!