Yakitori
Photo: 水餃喵 · CC BY 4.0

History

Yakitori began as Edo-period street food and became a postwar yokocho staple. Toshihiro Wada's Bird Land moved to Ginza in 2002 and helped kick off the high-end overhaul with shamo free-range chicken from Ibaraki and binchotan grilling. Today the form runs the full price spectrum, from 200-yen sticks in Omoide Yokocho to 30,000-yen omakase courses in Ginza basements.

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Common allergens: Soy (tare), Gluten (tare)

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 30 minTotal 45 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 600g boneless chicken thighs, skin on, cut into 3cm cubes
  • 200g chicken livers, trimmed (optional)
  • 100g spring onion (negi), cut into 3cm batons
  • 16 bamboo skewers, soaked in water 30 minutes
  • 120ml shoyu
  • 80ml mirin
  • 60ml sake
  • 30g caster sugar
  • Sea salt, for shio skewers

Method

  1. Make the tare: simmer shoyu, mirin, sake and sugar in a small pan for 8 to 10 minutes until reduced by a third and syrupy. Cool.
  2. Thread chicken and negi alternately onto the skewers. Brush half with the tare, season half with salt only.
  3. Heat a binchotan or charcoal grill until the coals are white-hot (or use a hot griddle pan).
  4. Grill skewers 3 to 4 minutes per side, basting the tare ones twice with extra sauce. Internal temperature should reach 75C.
  5. Serve immediately, with shichimi togarashi and an ice-cold beer.

Tip from the editors. Binchotan is the difference; supermarket charcoal will not reach the same dry heat. Soak skewers thoroughly to prevent burning.

Where to eat yakitori

Yakitori in Tokyo

Bird Land Ginza ★ 4.7

¥¥¥¥ YakitoriGinza

Toshihiro Wada's Bird Land in Tokyo Ginza grills Ibaraki shamo over binchotan, the basement that invented elevated yakitori. One Michelin star.

OrderThe omakase course closing with the oyakodon rice and silken liver pate as the opener.

TipClosed Sundays, Mondays and public holidays. Reservation by phone only, six weeks out.

Directions

Omoide Yokocho yakitori alley ★ 4.4

¥¥ JapaneseUntil 00:00 (varies by stall)Cash only

Omoide Yokocho in Tokyo's Shinjuku runs 70 yakitori and offal stalls until midnight, the post-war alley north of the JR west exit. Bring cash and a friend.

TryYakitori sticks, motsuyaki offal, beer

TipMost stalls seat six to eight; arrive by 22:00 for a counter seat before the last-train rush.

Directions

Harmonica Yokocho ★ 4.0

¥¥ Japanese

Harmonica Yokocho is post-war alley behind kichijoji station with 100 stalls, locals only, most of tokyo's tourists never make it this far west.

Why locals goPost-war alley behind Kichijoji station with 100 stalls, locals only, most of Tokyo's tourists never make it this far west.

TipThe alley density makes any stall a discovery; after 19:00 the standing yakitori counters fill with locals.

Directions

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