We love food on a stick and both agree with the line in Something about Mary that there should be more meats on sticks. Theres something about non candy items on sticks that blends childhood nostalgia with adult eating wonderfully, so when we were faced with a menu containing over 75 types of Yakitori there was as you’d expect a little excited hyperventilation.
The big glass window showing off the guns on the grill drew us in, a good metre and a half long and near full of tasty stick treats. So with the “ya don’t know if ya don’t go” attitude in we went. The place is jumping, packed with all walks eating, drinking and talking, the wait staff yelling their orders over the top of it all. It had this vibe, we were welcome and we wanted to stay.
The room is sporadically divided with swiss cheesed partitions so you’re on your own but in the middle of all at the same time. With so many choices we ordered a couple of beers and some edamame while we perused. The menu is huge, with three chicken sections, minced, breast, and all the bits, a pork section, a beef section, a seafood section, a veg section and an all the rest section. How’s a guy supposed to decide??
We end up choosing 6 sticks to start, first up eggplant wrapped in caul fat, the outside grilled crispy, the fat adding richness to the creamy interior.
The next a porky platter with bacon wrapped mochi, pork cheeks and kim chi wrapped in pork. I love the gooey texture of hot mochi and wrapped in bacon, I mean what’s not good wrapped in bacon. The pork with kim chi, tasty tasty tasty and the pork cheek well, the fat grilled golden and cruchy, oh man it’s love on a stick.
Sticks 5 and 6 arrive, a minced chicken with green onion and a decadent stick of chicken skin concertinaed up and spaced with negi. You know how good roast chicken skin is?? This way you don’t have to roast a whole bird to get the goods. Sweet.
We stop for a quick beer refuel this time trying a half half, a mix of half dark half light yebisu. The result, a beer with the flavour of the dark but not so heavy.
After the beer break we were ready for round two ordering up another 4 types.
The cryptically titled “mayonnaise of the lobster” turned out to be small school prawns with seeded mustard mayo.
And finally minced chicken with ume and shiso, the sour plum goes so well with the smoky grilled chicken and herbal shiso.
We’d had ten types of stick food when we decided to make a move, that being the case we’d have come back seven more times just to try everything on the menu, so I guess this is just part one…..
To be continued….
4 comments:
I am just drooling here! The chicken skin, the aubergine in caul fat, the bacon wrapped mochi!!! I doubt you can get any of that at the few yakitori places here!
And yes, I agree, more food on sticks!
I know how good is it?? The problem's going to be not eating the same things when we go back. ;)
I'm not sure the reading of the name, but the first character can be read as 'kan', 'ken', 'sen', or 'kushi' and means spit or skewer; the second character can be read as 'chou' or 'tori' and means chicken. Maybe 'kushitori'? Yum!!
Wow thanks. Kushitori sounds about right and makes sense. Cheers.
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