Kameido Hormone Head Shop

During my stay in Tokyo, I had an uncontrollable craving for hormone yakiniku (grilled organ meat), so I went to Kameido, a downtown area that is said to be the “holy land” of hormone in Tokyo. There is a concentration of so-called “famous” restaurants specializing in hormone here, and recently, women who are particular about their beauty tend to gather here in droves to enjoy the collagen-rich hormone.

Well, that’s all well and good, but the question for me was, “Which one among the many famous restaurants should I choose?” 

I checked on the Internet and found that there are three restaurants called “Gosanke”: Hormone Aoki, Shodai Yoshida I and Kameido Hormone Head Shop, which I am going to introduce this time.

Hmmm, what should I do… I remember that Hormone Aoki is an affiliate of Hormone Masaru, where I had a divine cosmetic yakiniku lunch before…

After a few minutes of thinking and worrying, I decided to go to Kameido Hormone Head Shop, which is said to be the most famous restaurant in Kameido. I left the hotel so that I could arrive at the restaurant before the opening time, but…

Note that the customer service is not as good as the online reviews say… Kameido Hormone Head Shop is such a restaurant.

I took the wrong train on the way to the restaurant and was quite late. I took the train with a “Oh no…” thought in my mind, and arrived at Kameido Hormone Head Shop 15 minutes before the opening time. I had heard that the line is always quite long, but fortunately it was a weekday and I was able to get pole position.

The restaurant has a retro Showa-era atmosphere, and when I counted the number of customers, there were a total of 31 seats, including 7 counter seats. The fact that there are counter seats means that the restaurant can accommodate a lone customer like me. It’s a great place to get together with friends, but it’s also a great place to relax by yourself with a beer in the hand….

However, the waiter here has a very strong peculiarity that made me feel a little down. There are a lot of reviews on the internet saying that the customer service is bad, but I felt like it was just as well. I was required to order everything I would eat that day on my first order, and when other customers tried to order more, they were refused, saying they were busy, or told, “We won’t accept any more orders (on the way) from you next time!”… I looked and saw that all the waitstaff are serving customers like this. 

This seems to be the culture of the restaurant. “If I had known this in advance, I might not have chosen this restaurant…” I regretted it. So, if you decide to go to this restaurant in the future, I think you should be prepared for the attitude of the waiters (also, please keep in mind that the restaurant is available for two hours).

But customer service and the taste of the hormone are another thing… How was the five items on the menu at Kameido Hormone Head Shop, to be honest?

But I thought to myself that the service and the taste of the hormone are two different things, and I ordered five items from the menu at Kameido Hormone Head Shop that day. I will now tell you how the five items tasted, in order…

Salted Hormone and Salted Striped Intestine

The first two items brought to the counter were salted hormone and salted striped intestine (both priced at 800 yen including tax). I’m not sure if the above image conveys the dish well, but there are five pieces of each hormone, each cut into fairly large chunks, and for this price, it seems like a pretty good deal.

And the taste is really like a natural saltiness. Pure saltiness with no other extraneous flavors. The striped intestines, in particular, are fatty and you can enjoy the juice of fine fat with a hint of saltiness. On the other hand, I thought it might be too simply seasoned, and the peculiar smell of the intestines might be noticeable, but there was nothing of the sort. As one would expect from a famous restaurant, the preparation is perfect.

Abomasum

Next, the fourth stomach of the cow, the abomasum (priced at 880 yen including tax), was brought in front of me. This is also about 1.5 times larger than the amount served at other restaurants, and the appearance alone is quite satisfying.

The taste of the abomasum itself is light, but the sweet and spicy miso sauce used for seasoning attracts white rice and beer like the devil. And since each piece of abomasum is cut into fairly large pieces, you can enjoy not only the plump and firm texture, but also the unique stimulation when the folds of the gastric mucosa hit the inside of the mouth. It is really strange how the taste of yakiniku can vary so much depending on the way it is cut…

Skirt steak

Just before finishing the abomasum, a skirt steak was placed in front of me (priced at 1,650 yen including tax). 

It is a large piece of meat like the Garibata King Kalbi I had at 298 Sannomiya Branch, and a bit difficult to grill. However, since the knife is finely mesh-knifed, even if you grill it as it is, the heat will penetrate to the center. The taste of the meat is very rich. It is a bit expensive, but I think it is a must-try at Kameido Hormone.

Negi-Shio Tongue Sashimi

The last dish of the day was the Negi-Shio Tongue Sashimi (price: 850 yen including tax). The beef tongue is sliced into thick slices and topped with chopped green onions and salt sauce…this is another dangerous dish that is quite appetizing just by looking at it.

The thick tongue has a unique crunchy texture, and the fat oozes out from the cross section of the meat. The beef tongue itself has a very rich flavor, but it is covered with a salt sauce with green onions that makes it refreshing to eat. Tongue sashimi is often ordered as a snack at the beginning of a meal, but this negi shio tongue sashimi leaves no aftertaste, so it was a good way to cool down after a meal of yakiniku.

The bill was for the above five dishes and two drinks. The total price was a little over 6,000 yen for all this food, which was quite satisfying not only in terms of taste but also in terms of cost performance. That being said, I feel that the wait staff’s attitude toward customer service is really unfortunate…. If you keep coming back and get to know the staff well, it may be a different story, but if not, you may want to wait until you get a chance to be brought to the restaurant by a regular customer.

Examples of other menu items at Kameido Hormone Head Shop (prices include tax)

• Wagyu beef top halami: 1980 yen
• Mixed Hormones (daily special, salt or sauce) 1980 yen
• Hormone introductory salt-roasted 3-piece set (Hatsu, salted hormone, pork tongue) 1,680 yen
• Kalbi: 1,400 yen
• Top rumen 880 yen
• Liver 880 yen
• Breasts 880 yen

Nine branches in and around Tokyo, including Ebisu, Kagurazaka, and Yurakucho… Access to Kameido Hormone Head Shop is a two-minute walk from the nearest station, Kameido Station on the JR Sobu Line.

In addition to the main branch, Kameido Hormone has nine other branches around Tokyo, including Ebisu, Kagurazaka, and Yurakucho. I think I’ll try one of these branches next time… The quality and volume of the meat is at a level that I can recommend, if only they would at least provide normal customer service…. Well, seeing that many customers still gather here, it must be a comfortable place for the regulars.

Now, here are the details of the restaurant…