Sekai no Yamachan Main Store

Tebasaki — crisp, deep-fried chicken wings lacquered in a sweet-savoury glaze and dusted with black pepper and sesame — are one of Nagoya's defining bar snacks, and Sekai no Yamachan is the chain that made them famous nationwide. The company began in 1981 with a single stall run by a founder nicknamed Yamachan, and the Imaike main store carries the origins of a brand whose cartoon mascot in comically thick glasses now appears on izakaya signs across Japan. The honten is a lively, slightly rowdy tavern of the sort Nagoyans fill after work, and it is the ideal place to try the wings where they started.

The wings themselves are small and double-fried for a shatteringly crisp skin, then brushed with a secret sauce that is sweet, salty and faintly caramelised, and finished with a heavy hit of coarse black pepper and white sesame. The seasoning is deliberately assertive and designed to keep you drinking; a plate of tebasaki and a frosted mug of beer is the classic pairing. Eating them has its own etiquette — regulars grip the wing at both joints, snap it, and slide the meat and skin off the two bones in a single practised motion, leaving a neat pair of bones behind. Staff are happy to demonstrate for newcomers.

Beyond the signature wings, the menu is a full izakaya spread of Nagoya specialties and drinking food: doteni (beef tendon simmered in miso), tenmusu (shrimp-tempura rice balls), miso-glazed dishes, fried skewers, edamame and a long list of shochu, sake and highballs. It is the kind of place where a group can settle in for an evening, ordering in rounds as the plates and empty bottles accumulate. The atmosphere is loud, cheerful and unmistakably local, with the buzz of after-work crowds and the constant sizzle from the kitchen.

The Imaike location is a short subway ride east of the central Sakae district and easy to reach, though several other Yamachan branches are scattered around Nagoya Station and Sakae if you prefer to stay downtown. Because it is popular in the evenings, a short wait is possible on weekends, but turnover is quick. Prices are typical izakaya level — very reasonable per plate, with the total depending on how many rounds of wings and drinks you order, which in practice tends to be more than planned.

For visitors, Sekai no Yamachan offers something a little different from Nagoya's sit-down specialty restaurants: an authentic, unvarnished slice of the city's nightlife built around one perfect, moreish snack. It rounds out the Nagoya meshi experience with the flavour Nagoyans reach for at the end of the day, and it does so with the noise, warmth and good humour of a real neighbourhood tavern. Come hungry, order a first plate of wings, and you will almost certainly order a second.