Torishiki Alternatives: The Torishiki Family Tree and ICHIMON Counters (2026)

Torishiki is the yakitori counter visitors ask about most, and one of the hardest tables in Tokyo to win. Its reach goes well beyond its own counter: its owner has trained enough cooks to fill a group of his own, and others have left to open counters under their names. This guide sets out who they are, where they cook now, and which of their counters you can realistically get into.

Torishiki in Meguro

Yoshiteru Ikegawa, born in 1972, trained for seven to eight years at Toriyoshi in Nakameguro before opening Torishiki in 2007. The evening is one cook at the grill and skewers arriving one at a time at the pace he sets, and the omakase stays under ¥20,000, a fraction of what the city’s other impossible counters charge. That combination is what makes it so hard to get in.

Why it is so hard to get in:

• Phone only, in Japanese.
• One reception day a month, 17:00 to 19:00 Japan time, announced on the restaurant’s Instagram. That window sells the month two months ahead; October 2026 opened on Wednesday 12 August.
• Three guests at most per booking.
• Hundreds of redials are normal, and the month is usually gone inside the two hours.

The current rules are on the Torishiki release page, and our Torishiki booking guide walks through the call itself.

The family tree

Ikegawa has organized many of the cooks he trained into Torishiki ICHIMON, a group of yakitori brands run under one roof. Others trained at Torishiki and left to open counters of their own. Each line gives the counter, its area, and the training and opening dates we have on record.

• Torishiki (Meguro) — Yoshiteru Ikegawa, 7 to 8 years at Toriyoshi in Nakameguro; opened 2007
  • ICHIMON brand counters, run within the group
    • Torikado (Meguro) — opened 2016; since about February 2023 a training counter in Torishiki’s own room, open Sunday to Tuesday, with young cooks of the group taking turns at the grill (official manager Takumi Kobayashi)
    • Torioka (Azabudai Hills) — opened March 2024; a different restaurant from the earlier Torioka in Roppongi
    • Torikaze (Aobadai, Meguro)
    • Toriyoshi Ebisu (Ebisu‑nishi) — Shinobu Iida; opened March 2023, with wine pairing. Not the Nakameguro Toriyoshi where Ikegawa trained
    • Toritsuki (Ebisu‑nishi) — Tatsuya Nagaoka; opened March 2023
    • Toriyaki Ohana (Ebisu) — Shintaro Sato; opened January 2022
    • Torisora (Kamiosaki) — the group’s casual counter
    • Torimachi (Nakameguro, Harajuku, Shibaura and Karuizawa) — four shops on the group’s official brand list
    • Bird Lab. (Aobadai, Meguro) — on the group’s official brand list, which does not describe what it serves
    • Azabudai Torishiki (Azabudai Hills Market) — a yakitori deli that Ikegawa oversees himself
    • Torien (New York) — Hideo Yasuda
    • Torikaze Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei — the group’s counters in Asia; the Hong Kong counter opened in Central in October 2025 with Ryo Matsui as chef
  • Chefs who trained at Torishiki and opened their own counters
    • Yakitori Omino (Oshiage) — Masayoshi Omino, joined Torishiki at 32 and stayed 6 to 8 years (the accounts differ); opened March 2017
      • Omino’s group counters (Kamiyacho, Kyobashi, Shibaura and Yaesu) — Kamiyacho, Kyobashi Tsubaki, Shibaura and Yaesu Shizuku, run within Yakitori Omino’s group; the second generation of the family
    • Kurosaki (Shirokanedai) — Noriyuki Kurosaki, 8 years at Torishiki, in charge of the earlier Torioka in Roppongi; opened September 2022, moved to Shirokanedai in October 2023
    • Eiki (Ebisu) — Kohei Onoda, trained at Torishiki and was the first manager of Torikado; opened February 2019. The second character of the name comes from Yoshiteru Ikegawa’s given name
    • Yakitori Takahashi (Nihonbashi) — chef Takahashi, 5 years at Torikado, three of them as its second manager; opened October 2022
    • Akasaka Himeno (Akasaka) — Masahiro Himeno, 5 years at Torishiki, then 2 years as manager of Torikaze; opened February 2025
    • Hamagurizaka Maekawa (Nomachi, Kanazawa) — chef Maekawa, trained at Torishiki and was head chef at Torien in New York; some accounts also describe him as Torishiki’s second chef; opened 10 December 2020
    • Yakitori Abe (Kamiosaki, Meguro) — Tomohiko Abe, trained at Torishiki; opened 2016
    • Torisaki (Karasuma‑Oike, Kyoto) — chef Hata, trained at Torishiki; opened November 2019. Its operating company announced it as a noren‑wake, a name shared with a former cook, but it does not appear on the group’s official ICHIMON list
    • Toritomi (Ikejiri, Setagaya) — chef Tsuchiya, trained at Torishiki and Torikado; opened November 2018

Points that are often misreported:

• The Torioka in Azabudai Hills is a new ICHIMON brand that opened in March 2024. The earlier Torioka in Roppongi was the counter Noriyuki Kurosaki ran; he now cooks at Kurosaki.
• Torikaze has counters in three cities abroad: Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei.

Counters that are easier to book

These are the counters in the tree where a seat realistically comes up. Each is its own restaurant with its own cooks; none of them is a way into Torishiki.

Yakitori Abe

• The chef: Tomohiko Abe, who trained at Torishiki. Opened in 2016, first under the name Gallus. Bib Gourmand (MICHELIN Guide Japan 2026).
• Price: about ¥10,000–⁠15,000 per person, plus a ¥750 seat charge; fourteen seats, ten of them at the counter.
• How to book: online on Tabelog or Hot Pepper, or by phone in Japanese, about a month ahead with no fixed release day. Closed Sundays and Mondays. See the Yakitori Abe page.
• Through us: yes. It is in our collection, so the fee is ¥6,000 per seat, charged only if we secure the table and you approve it.

Torikado

• The chef: young cooks of the ICHIMON group in rotation; the official manager is Takumi Kobayashi. The counter opened in 2016 and since about February 2023 has run in Torishiki’s own room.
• Price: not yet in our records. Card or e‑money only.
• How to book: the restaurant’s own online booking page, linked from its Instagram, is the only door. The following month is said to open around the middle of the month, with no day or time published. Sunday to Tuesday only, two seatings at 17:00 and 20:00, twelve seats, guests 20 and over. See the Torikado release page.
• Through us: yes. It sits outside our collection, so the fee is ¥12,000 per seat, charged only if we secure the table and you approve it.

Yakitori Omino

• The chef: Masayoshi Omino, who joined Torishiki at 32 and stayed six to eight years. Opened March 2017 in Oshiage.
• Price: not yet in our records; we confirm the current figure when we reply to a request.
• How to book: on the first business day of each month, OMAKASE opens the month two months ahead; the phone, in Japanese, takes only the current and next month. Closed Sundays and holidays. See the Yakitori Omino release page.
• Through us: yes, by phone in Japanese for dates in the current or next month; ¥12,000 per seat, charged only if we secure the table and you approve it.

Torisora

• The chef: the casual counter of the ICHIMON group, in Kamiosaki.
• Price: about ¥8,000–⁠15,000, à la carte skewers.
• How to book: online on Tabelog. See the Torisora release page.
• Through us: yes; ¥12,000 per seat, charged only if we secure the table and you approve it.

Torioka

• The chef: an ICHIMON brand that opened in Azabudai Hills in March 2024.
• Price: not yet in our records. Card payment only; cancellation costs 30% from a week before and 100% on the day.
• How to book: OMAKASE only. The whole following month opens on the 1st at 16:00 Japan time. Lunch seatings at 12:00 and 13:30 (a shorter course), dinner at 18:00 with everyone starting together; closed Mondays and holidays. See the Torioka release page.
• Through us: yes, in the name of the guest who attends, at ¥12,000 per seat, charged only if we secure the table and you approve it. The person who books must attend and show ID. We do not book from your account; our desk phones the house and asks. If the house declines a booking arranged on a guest’s behalf, we will tell you and nothing is charged.

Other counters in the family

The rest of the tree, including the counters that are as hard to book as Torishiki.

• Eiki — takes no new phone bookings. A few seats are sold through an auction‑style booking site; otherwise the room is regulars and their guests.
• Hamagurizaka Maekawa — eight seats in Kanazawa, on OMAKASE only, one booking per account per month. The following month opens on the 1st.
• Torisaki — the restaurant’s own online booking page opens the month two months ahead on the 1st at 11:00 Japan time, and it fills within minutes.
• Kurosaki — books on Ikyu; seats are hard to come by.
• Yakitori Takahashi and Akasaka Himeno — the counters of a former Torikado manager and a former Torikaze manager.
• Torikaze, Toriyoshi Ebisu, Toritsuki and Toriyaki Ohana — ICHIMON brands in Meguro and Ebisu.
• Torimachi, Bird Lab. and Azabudai Torishiki — more brands on the group’s official list: Torimachi’s four shops in Nakameguro, Harajuku, Shibaura and Karuizawa, Bird Lab. in Aobadai, and a yakitori deli in Azabudai Hills Market.
• Omino’s group counters — Kamiyacho, Kyobashi Tsubaki, Shibaura and Yaesu Shizuku, run within Yakitori Omino’s group.
• Torien and Torikaze abroad — the group’s counters in New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei. We do not request restaurants abroad.
• Toritomi — opened in Ikejiri in 2018; we have not been able to confirm that it is still open.

Where we fit

Torishiki opens bookings once a month, by phone only; our desk calls that day, and nothing is charged if we do not get a table. Torioka we can request in the name of the guest who attends. Where a counter in this tree can be requested, we have said so above: send the restaurant and your dates on the request form, and we will tell you plainly what is achievable. Yakitori Abe is in our collection, alongside other counters we request at ¥6,000 per seat, charged only if we secure the table and you approve it.

SHOKU NOREN research, checked October 2026.