Chankonabe (ちゃんこ鍋) - Feasting Like a Sumo Wrestler in Japan

Chankonabe (ちゃんこ鍋) is a Japanese sumo wrestling food. Check out my full Tokyo travel and food guide here:

When I was in Tokyo, unfortunately it was not during the time of the year when sumo wrestling fights taking place in the city. However, that still doesn't mean that you can't go to the sumo area of Tokyo and walk around and of course eat. So one day we headed over to Ryogoku and first we went to the sumo stadium, where we walked around the small but free museum. And that's where I found the "sumo food map" - which happens to be available to any tourist or anybody who grabs it at the stadium.

I was pretty thrilled, after walking around for a few more minutes, I studied the map, and decided to walk around the neighborhood to discover some of the sumo restaurants available in the area. A few of them looked to be closed, but then finally I settled on a restaurant by the name of Chanko Tomoegata (巴潟). From the outside of the restaurant, you could see some sumo wrestler flags waving, but the restaurant actually didn't look all that busy. So we stepped inside, and using whatever communication we could, the receptionist told us that the restaurant was full. At first I was pretty disappointed, but then she just said to wait a few minutes and there would be space. Little did I know that the main part of the restaurant was upstairs, so we didn't even know how busy it was until some people started coming down.

The good news was, the wait only took about 15 minutes or so, and we were led up the staircase into sumo food heaven. The restaurant was actually a little bit on the expensive side, and I had no clue what I was ordering or what I was doing, all I know is that I needed to try a dish known as chankonabe (ちゃんこ鍋), which is like a sumo stew. It's supposed to be hearty, filling, calorie rich, and just overall delicious - I guess that's why Chanko Tomoegata (巴潟) was so busy. Unfortunately, there were no sumo wrestlers eating there, but mostly just business men and women... but anyway was still pretty cool. Everything in the restaurant was sumo themed, even our teacups had pictures of famous sumo wrestlers on them. I immediately loved the restaurant as soon as we walked in.

At first I was going to order a beautiful amazing and giant looking hot pot of soup with like 20 different ingredients in it, but then I realized that that was a little bit out of my price range, and would've cost about $30 per person - originally I had thought that it would be $30 for the whole pot. So the waitress kindly directed us to their lunch special known as Sumoheyafu Higawari Chanko, which is think was a type of chankonabe (ちゃんこ鍋) in a set. Ying and I both decided to go for, but she got just the normal platter, and I got the one with an extra dish of sashimi on the side.

Chankonabe (ちゃんこ鍋) is a sumo wrestlers meal. The version I got was like a big hot pot of miso soup, boiled with nice pieces of thin pork, a lot of napa cabbage, and some other vegetables and herbs. My meal came with an entire tray, so along with the chankonabe (ちゃんこ鍋), there was also different side dishes including a bowl of sashimi which was incredibly delicious. Since it was so cold outside when I was visiting Tokyo, this sumo feast was incredibly comforting and a warming meal. The miso soup broth was so smooth and so flavorful, and the mix of vegetables and meat and herbs was just marvelous. The other side dishes were equally delightful, and the entire meat at Chanko Tomoegata (巴潟) in Tokyo was excellent. It was just so cool to eat food like a sumo wrestler!

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Price: 1,890 JPY ($18.60), but without the sashimi it was 1,260 JPY ($12.40)

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