In Fukuoka yakitori (literally grilled chicken, but it indicates skewers in general) gets a lot of love. There is a joint literally at every corner. I was not planning to eat in the yakitori restaurant of this review. I was aiming at getting a table at Inada, that is just next door, but I was a fool… It turns out that Yakitori Inada is the most famous joint in town… on a Sunday evening with no reservation it was a no-go. I went in the yakitori restaurant next door and I had a pleasant experience.
The visit
I was seated at the counter. The restaurant was getting very busy and soon also the seat next to me was taken. This joint is part of a chain and luckily they had an English menu so ordering was not a problem. The English name is Hakata Torikawa Daijin Sumiyoshi.
One feature of yakitori in Fukuoka is the cabbage served as a side dish/appetizer to be enjoyed with sweet vinegar. I was immediately served some.
Then my orders started to arrive quickly enough. The first one was the chicken skin skewer.
One of the most popular skewer was chicken breast or leg white meat. I had six in total.
The classic chicken meatballs were a bit bland, but they did not have any cartilage, so I ended up having three.
A nice dish was the chicken leg.
There were also several pork skewers. I had the simplest one, pork belly/ribs.
I had a mushroom skewer that came with its lemony dipping sauce. Not particularly attractive.
Another nice dish was the deep-fried tofu.
I did not try hearts, gizzards, goblets, intestine, etc. but they were as usual available on the menu.
The check
For a total of 16 skewers/dishes I spent 2,251 yen (21 USD). Most skewers were priced 95 yen. It was a very affordable joint. It was a simple yakitori. But I truly enjoyed it (it is not always fine dining night!). I even had a chance to strike conversation with the customer sitting next to me.
Where in Fukuoka:
3-5-8 Sumiyoshi, Hakata-ku.
In Japanese: 博多区住吉3-5-8.
Website (there are other branches): hakata-torikawa.com.