Sekai No Yamachan Honten: Nagoya’s legendary izakaya chain

Sekai No Yamachan (世界の山ちゃん) is a Nagoya-based izakaya chain specializing in Nagoya comfort food. Here’s what Sekai No Yamachan Honten/original store (世界の山ちゃん本店) looks like.

Founded in 1981, Sekai No Yamachan is now one of Japan’s most popular izakaya chains. The original store ‘Sekai No Yamachan Honten (世界の山ちゃん本店)’ is located at the heart of Nagoya ‘Sakae (栄)’ which means “thriving” in Japanese.

The storefront of Sekai No Yamachan Honten.

Unlike the name of the neighborhood, Sekai No Yamachan Honten was nonchalant yet lively for an izakaya chain, which I appreciated. My patient Japanese waiter had no issue taking orders from greedy me trying to cover a medley of Nagoya comfort food.

Sekai No Yamachan’s signature Nagoya chicken wings. 550 yen / $4.20.

Tenmusu (天むす) Japanese onigiri rice balls with shrimp tempura. 300 yen / $2.30.

Taiwanese-Nagoya style fried sprouts and garlic chives with spicy miso. 530 yen / $4.

Misokatu (deep-fried pork tonkatsu with sweet miso) skewers. 290 yen / $2.20.

I believe these four dishes are the representatives of Nagoya dishes. These were perfectly executed and totally worth it. And I never forgot to try non-Nagoya classic izakaya repertoire.

Potato croquette. Exquisitely homespun. 450 yen / $3.50.

Panko-fried cheese skewers with honey. 450 yen / $3.50.

French fries with assumingly the same pepper powder on the signature chicken wings. 450 yen / $3.50.

Ginger-flavored, downright classic karaage fried chickens. 580 yen / $4.50.

Sekai No Yamachan, as a low-budged Japanese izakaya chain, may or may not look lowbrow. But it’s near impossible to find an alternative with the same quality for the same price. I found it phenomenal.