Yakitori is often a quick and dirty snack eaten on the fly at some busy Tokyo train station. We’re told the general rule is that as long as you’re still eating and drinking, you can stay, but that most of these tiny establishments push you out the door as soon as you’ve finished chewing.

We met up with Mr. Rab’s aunt (mom to the JC) and his cousin for dinner, so we ended up at a higher end yakitori bar, but still a place with a very authentic and local feel. The JC told us that this place had appeared on the Japanese version of Restaurant Makeover, and it was indeed a very pretty small space, a triangular room with a bar for perhaps ten people and one square table (where we sat) that could have accommodated about six.

Yakitori was explained to me as “chicken on a stick,” which, finally, sounded like a relatively unchallenging meal. But that proved not exactly true. First, the Japanese have a liking for certain chicken bits that most Westerners find difficult. Heart, skin, liver, gizzard, and something called “soft bone” (cartilage) are all big sellers.

But the big surprise is that some of the chicken was actually served raw like sashimi; a definite zag for Westerners who are led to believe that raw chicken is the fast track to salmonella. Much like we might cook ahi tuna, this chicken was seared on the outside but raw in the centre. To the Japanese, this is a sign that the chicken is really fresh. It’s actually quite tasty, but the concept was initially somewhat shocking.

To start, we had some chicken livers on sticks, served with a great bbq-like sauce.

These were followed by minced quicken skewers, again in the same sauce, and probably the most palatable to a Westerner.

Next up was a chicken salad with avocado and a light wasabi mayonnaise. This was the first dish where we noticed that things were not going to be uneventful at this dinner. The chicken was quite raw save a light searing. The JC assured us that the chicken was absolutely fresh and that the Japanese have been eating raw chicken for years without much trouble. It just didn’t seem like the right time to be a big baby, plus I’d already had one beer, so I gave in to my inner food-safety prejudices and really enjoyed this dish. This is also when the raw chicken sashimi arrived.

More skewers followed: raw-in-the-middle chicken alternating with leeks.

Duck and leek (fully cooked and wonderful!).

Asparagus wrapped in pork, chicken gizzards (crunchy, not pleasing to me). The aforementioned soft bone (Mr Rabbit ate it before I could get a picture).

And chicken with sour plum and shiso (that leaf you often see in sushi restos). By the time we got to the raw chicken with shiso combo, I was over my initial trepidation enough to thoroughly enjoy the dish. Another beer probably helped too (the Japanese are big beer drinkers and it works well with much of the food).

To finish, we had some yaki-onigiri, absolutely delectable rice balls, grilled with seaweed and sesame seed. We washed it down with a big bowl of nigori (unfiltered) sake.

After yakitori, we went to the Rabat wine bar. Mr. Rab and I had agreed to eat Japanese during the duration of our stay, although the JC kept reminding us that Tokyo is a world class city offering excellent interpretations of most Western cuisines as well. But the one thing I found myself really missing was wine, so after a couple of beers at yakitori, I became weak. When the JC suggested Rabat, it seemed like it was meant to be. The Japanese have actually become very interested in Western wine, and it’s not at all unusual to see people drinking it, even in some of the more more traditional restos.

The Rabat wine bar was a charming spot, complete with a large piece of jamon, which made Mr. Rab’s eyes light up like it was Christmas. A glass of red and a couple glasses of champers later (did I mention that the Japanese are big drinkers?), I’d had my fix of Western liquor, and we happily napped it off on the commute home in the company of the drunken salarymen.

Posted on December 9th, 2007 by rabbit
Filed under: Japan