We’re back with a new Straight From Japan installment! First we had our Okonomiyaki post, and then our Ramen post, and now it’s time for another favourite that you might find is popping up more and more in Sydney lately. Yakitori can be split up into yaki 焼き meaning to grill or fry, and tori 鳥 which means bird (but in this case specifically chicken), and it comes out in English as chicken on a stick. But, in reality, when you go to a yakitori restaurant, it’s not just chicken.
According to a meat consumption analysis, Australians eat on average 111.5kg of meat per person as of 2009. And no Australian will ever dispute our love for meat! Japanese people consumer less than half of that amount, with 45.9kg per person in 2009. So you might come to the conclusion that yakitori joints are where Japanese people get a little meat crazy and eat a lot – but that’s not the case at all.
When we first sat down at the counter of the bar area at Tori Tetsu, a small but friendly yakitori joint in Shinjuku, we were greeted with otsumami お摘み, a generic term for foods eaten while drinking. You can argue that yakitori itself is a type of otsumami, as it’s not something you’d grab for a quick meal, but more something you eat slowly while having a couple of beers after work or on the weekend. We were presented with house made tofu served warm(which they were incredibly proud of); raw, plain cabbage served with three sauces (red miso paste, vinegar with wasabi and ginger, and okonomiyaki sauce with kewpie mayo); and good old salted edamame. Notice no meat so far!
I’ll admit, my friend and I were pretty keen for a meat heavy meal, and when the otsumami came out we were a little disappointed by the idea of eating plain old cabbage. But I have to say, it was really good! It went well with the drinks we were having, didn’t make us super full, and prevented us from over eating. Japan has perfected mindless snacking with tofu, cabbage, and edamame.
We did however, order some meat after that. Over the whole night, we ordered several types of chicken, pork, beef, fish, and vegetable based dishes like bacon wrapped asparagus (but in Japan when they say bacon they really mean ham, don’t get fooled by this), rice cakes, and the absolute must have, tsukuneつくね minced chicken.
Japanese minced chicken meatballs are unlike any other minced chicken dish. They hold up as a solid ball when they’re cooking and when they’re served, but as soon as you take a bite it will melt away and fall apart like an expensive, premium grade wagyuu! Add cheesy sauce and it’ll have you skipping and singing love songs on your way home.
For drinks, we ordered anything and everything that sounded strange or wacky, pretty much anything on the menu that made us think “oh, Japan…”. We ordered acai beer, whisky, highballs, and one of my favourite uniquely Japanese concoctions, yoghurt and sake! Yes, for real. Think yakult, a milky consistency yoghurt, and they mix it with anything you want, but it goes well with traditional Japanese alcohols like sake and shochu. We mixed ours with yuzu flavoured sake, but at other izakaya style bars I have had it mixed with vodka and other spirits, plus the yoghurt itself can sometimes be flavoured (like blueberry!). It’s a nice change of pace, but with all milky alcohols you can’t have too many of them before they’re a bit sickening.
I recommend that if you go out to eat yakitori, whether you’re in Australia or Japan, that you intersperse your meal with vegetables, order edamame, pair with Japanese drinks, and do not leave until you have a stick of tsukune.
If you’re interested in going to Tori Tetsu, you can find it at 1 Chome-171 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku. Plus they have English menus!
WashokuLovers
