Today's experience was at Torikichi (鳥吉) since I had a massive craving for yakitori. Although this place takes reservations, I ended up coming early enough where I could sit down immediately without much delay. Unlike some of the ramen joints I've been to previously, I had to actually talk to a waiter so ordering ended up being a bit harder than expected since I'm so out of practice. I wanted to try to get a Chita whisky neat (or straight [ストレート]) and a water but it was too difficult to try and ask for both so I just got the straight whisky instead. Ordering the 5 set yakitori + chicken skin (皮) + cartilage (軟骨) + a chicken bowl (鳥丼) was straightforward enough though. Since it was my first time at the place, I decided to just go salt (shio) seasoned for all the skewers.
The first to come out with the slightly crispy (just a bit of chewiness) chicken skin and the cartilage skewer. There's a really nice seasoning of black pepper and the smokiness from the charcoal is quite nice. However, I sort of wish it was seasoned a bit more (first time having this though this trip) so in the last couple of bites, I added some shichimi on the chicken skin and that helped a bit. Maybe tare (teriyaki?) might be what I get next time just to try and compensate.
The next thing to come out was this chicken bowl with a nice raw egg yolk, a green salad, and a miso sauce (I think). It was weird the chicken was a bit cold and the salad was there but overall, it was the filling component of the meal I was looking for and the egg yolk made this far more decadent.
Part way through, I got a Yamazaki (山崎) umeshuu (plum wine) on the rocks and that was very enjoyable. Even before the ice had a chance to melt, the umeshuu itself had the perfect amount of sweetness and had no sort of artificial feeling. Would recommend.
Finally, the first part of my 5 piece set came out. I'm not sure exactly what I got but I'm pretty sure I got a chicken tender with an ume (plum) sauce, heart (ハツ), gizzard (砂肝). I have no idea what the one under the lemon one is. The seasoning on the chicken tender was still a bit under-seasoned but the ume sauce definitely helped. I definitely enjoyed the heart and gizzard a lot more since there was a bit more surface area and the texture of the two pieces were nice. The accompanying mustard and miso sauce in the back definitely helped elevate the skewers a lot more and I would strongly recommend the pairing.
The final skewer of the set was this chicken thigh (I think?) skewer covered with some blanched cauliflower and ponzu. This was very well seasoned, the cauliflower was tender and acted as a vehicle for the ponzu, and the chicken was cooked perfectly as always so this was definitely my favorite. Unfortunately, I have no idea which one this was but I hope to come across this again one day.
Before I give a final evaluation, I do want to add a fun little accident at the end. After the last skewer and the waiter came to clean the table, I asked for the bill, which can technically be translated to "bi-ru" (ビル). However, my lack of foresight got me another beer (ビール) since I was basically at an izakaya so I got more alcohol on accident. After I made some progress on the bill, I asked for the "okanjou" (お勘定) instead and was a bit unhappy the bill was higher than I expected due to the alcohol. This was more frustration that I could've also asked for the check (チェック) instead but, live and learn I guess.
I think just from things being under-seasoned, I feel like giving this place a 6.5 or 7/10. The quality and cook on the various pieces were mostly good (the chicken tender was a hair overcooked) but I wish they put some more salt on some of the pieces. The chicken on the bowl was also kinda cold so not quite optimal. Again, maybe the tare will change my mind so maybe I'll update my review to account for that.
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