yakitori – Check Please!

Adventurous yakitori at Takesan in Ningyocho

Takesan is a small one-chef yakitori in Ningyocho. It is a very interesting yakitori where to find many unusual parts cooked to perfection. Reservation is a must.

The visit

It attracted my attention as a nice mid-range yakitori and I made a booking through a concierge service. The 12 seats around the counter were all taken by the end of the evening. The chef does not speak English, but it was mostly fine since there was a course meal. He worked alone with a young assistant, taking care of all the customers. I read some reviews online saying that he is rude. That was not my impression. Certainly he did not make any conspicuous effort to communicate, but I found him perfectly professional. After all, he is under no obligation to speak in English!

The meal started with an appetizer, a sort of congee with a row egg yolk.

I was also provided with miso and some raw vegetables as side dishes.

I ordered the 10-skewer course meal and at the end I added a couple of skewers. Actually, on the menu there is much more. I saw other customers enjoy chicken sashimi, intestine, and oyakodon. I tried to order the chicken sashimi but I was told that it was finished!

The service was posed… nothing like the pace at Takechan, but it was ok. Each skewer was perfectly grilled and offered several delicious bites. Because of the lack of English, I am not sure about some of the skewers. The first one should have been neck.

The second skewer was harami, outside skirt.

Then it was a skewer of gizzard, very tender.

The next was small intestines. It was again very tender and flavorful. One of my favorites.

I am not sure about this one (kidney?).

Some bell peppers.

Not entirely sure!

A type of skin.

This was a type of skin (from around gizzard liver).

This looked like breast (sasami).

I decided to order an additional small intestine and a tsakune skewer (chicken meatloaf).

The check

Including the additional skewers, I ended up spending 5,280 yen (49 USD). Given the quality of the skewers, it was a very reasonable price. As a matter of fact, I would have ordered more if I had an English menu.

Where in Tokyo:
2-chome-25-11 Nihonbashiningyocho Chuo City.
〒103-0013 東京都中央区日本橋人形町2-25-11 三幸ビル1F.

Traditional yakitori in Ginza: Takechan

Takechan is a small yakitori joint in Ginza (not far from Mitsukoshi department store) that has been running for over 50 years. Thanks to the internet, the cat is out of the bag and nowadays locals and tourists fight for a spot at its counter.

The visit

I decided to try my luck at Takechan after being turned back from a steakhouse nearby that was full. The store can be easily missed, but it was past 8pm and there was still a queue outside that unmistakably marked my destination. Eventually, we all made it in after 10-15 minutes wait. Not so bad. I was the last person to be seated, just 5 minutes before the last order time (8.30pm). The place does not take reservations as it is normal for traditional yakitori joints.

I sat at the counter next to a Japanese salaryman and two young Chinese-speaking customers. I was handed an English menu. They were perfectly organized to handle foreign customers. I chose the set menu with 8 skewers and I ordered a drink.

A course menu with only 5 skewers was also available.

The service was very fast. I was handed two condiments, grated radish and cabbage. They even gave me the customary wet towel.

The traditional five-spices condiment was also available (I never use it with yakitori).

The skewers arrived pretty quickly, not in the order of the menu, but the staff would tell me what it was in English. The first was the tsukune (chicken meatloaf).

The second skewer was sasame, a classic chicken breast with salt and wasabi.

There was also a cup of chicken soup.

Next was a skewer with duck meat flavored with miso (miso dengaku).

The fourth skewer was chicken liver barbecued with a sesame sauce.

Then there was kawa, a skewer with bits of chicken neck with soy sauce.

Next was butsu, chicken thigh simply barbecued with salt.

Then thee was a tebasaki skewer, chicken wings barbecued just with salt.

The last dish was a skewer with ginkgo seeds.

The action was fast and all the skewers were flavorful and perfectly cooked. I have read that the chef uses a chicken breed called Nagoya Cochin and roasts it over binchōtan charcoal that’s thinner than what’s regularly used at other yakitori places. The guy knows what he is doing.

At the end there was the option to have an ochazuke (additional charge), but I was happy with what I had.

The check

I spent 4,000 yen (37 USD) for the course menu and a drink. The soft drinks were priced at 800 yen, that is over the top, but the overall check was still honest. I found takechan on par with more sophisticated (and expensive) yakitori I have tried, just missing some of the more adventurous parts.

Where in Tokyo:
B1F, 4-8-13 Ginza, Chūō-ku.
東京都中央区銀座 4-8-13 銀座蟹睦会館ビル1Ｆ.

Flawless yakitori from Toriki, Tokyo

In my trips to Japan I always try to include a high-end yakitori (grilled chicken skewers). I had some particularly good in Osaka (Ueda and Ichimatsu). This was my first Michelin-starred yakitori in Tokyo. Please note that there is another restaurant with the same name in Shinagawa. The starred one where I went is in Sumida, near Kinshicho Station.

The visit

Needless to say, I had a reservation, for an early dinner (the exact time was chosen by the restaurant). At 5.30pm the door opened. I and three Japanese were the first customers and we were quickly seated.

I thought everyone had to be there at the same time, but other customers kept arriving at different times. So this was not a rule in this place.

On the table the drink menu was bilingual. I was also provided the translation of the skewers.

I just had a cold oolong tea.

I was sitting in front of the cooking station and I could observe the chef-owner cooking, making use of a fan to help the ventilation system and keeping the charcoal at the right temperature, and finishing the skewers with fine sea salt and yakitori sauce.

Chopsticks were presented with a small bowl of pickles and radish (to be used as a side, not replenished).

Appetizer: tomato, zucchini, salad, and cold shredded chicken breast.

Sabiyaki (chicken breast) with wasabi. It was supposed to be almost raw according to the menu, but it was mostly cooked. Flawless juicy tender meat. The wasabi was too spicy for my taste. The chicken was sourced from Kagoshima.

Sunagimo, gizzard. This is the kind of part that I can hardly eat in a normal yakitori place (just too chewy and hard), but here, be it the cooking (quite pink inside) or the quality of the chicken, it was excellent.

A slice of lemon was provided, but I hardly use condiments when the cooking is so perfect.

Palate cleanser: shredded raddish, with some plum jelly on top.

Small onion (Kotamanegi) and chicken tight (Kashiwa). Both delicious, especially the tight was much tender and juicy than usual.

Chigimo: liver, partly raw, with yakitori sauce. Another delicious skewer, the meat would melt in your mouth and had a nice bitter kickback.

Tsukune, chicken meatballs, recommended with lemon. This was a bit bland as compared to what I had in similar rstaurants. But good, with some tidbits of spring onion to boost the favor. Then there was a zucchini skewer that was carefully dipped in yakitori sauce during the cooking

Intermission: a chicken pot, with boiled carrot, artichoke, mushroom, and obviously chicken meat.

Here there was a pause to catch up with the new customers. The time was filled with conversation with my neighbors at the counter.

A matsusake mushroom with lime and soy sauce. The condiments in this case did enhance the flavor.

Kawa: crispy chicken skin. Crispy, but still tender inside. Great.

We were offered an half small tomato as a palate cleanser.

Tebayaki (chicken wing with bones) and shiratama (quail egg) with some salt for the eggs.

The chef taught me how to pull the bones that came out easily (you just need to lift them). The meat, still with its skin, was again so perfectly cooked. Not too hot, and still juicy inside.

Ginnan: ginkgo nuts.

Chicken soup with onion stripes.

Bowls of rice were available as an add-on, but I was fine at this point.

Japanese and Chinese spices were available along soy sauce, but I did not use them.

It took a little over 2 hours.

The check

The cost for the course menu and a drink was 7,535 yen (800 yen as service charge) or 70 USD. It was reasonable.

I found the whole experience pleasant, even if the timing was big dragged, and I would recommend it to other yakitori fans The menu however lacked the adventurous twists of Ueda and Ichimatsu I mentioned earlier.

Where in Tokyo:
1-8-13, Kinshi, Sumida-ku, Tokyo, 130-0013
In Japanese: 〒130-0013 東京都墨田区錦糸1-8-13 小坂ビル1F.
(3 minutes from Kinshicho Station, take North exit.)

Spectacular yakitori omakase in Osaka: Ichimatsu

In my summer 2019 trip to Osaka, I was able to score again a perfect yakitori in Osaka. This time was Ichimatsu (焼鳥市松), one of the two yakitori restaurants in town awarded a Michelin star.

The visit

I had a reservation made through an online service (it was totally worth the 800 yen spent). They have two turns for night. I joined the second one at 8.15pm. On a Thursday night, all seats were spoken for. The counter hosted 10 people and there was a small private room for 5 additional covers. The restaurant has a very understated store-front as usual for this kind of restaurants.

The welcome dish was warm ricotta cheese.

I just drank Fuji Water. Another opening dish was a small piece of chicken breast sashimi (it is always incredible how good it is… Japan is the only place where I would eat raw chicken), with a soy sauce mousse and sesame oil powder (this dish is not pictured).

The first skewer was chicken neck. It was a bit chewy.

Next was a skewer with what was described as the external part of the gizzard. It was nice as every skewer would carry new flavors.

Meantime we were offered some thinly-cut radish with soy sauce and olive oil. This side dish was replenished on demand.

The next dish was one of the most unique of the evening: chicken’s Fallopian tubes. I can say that they were sweet.

The next skewer was a classic: chicken skin.

Next we were offered some grilled shishisto pepper.

The next two dishes marked a departure from chicken. The first was a delicious piece of pork with vinegar. I believe the pork was from Kagoshima.

Then we had a Chinese-inspired duck broth with tofu and rice sauce.

Then we were back to chicken with a substantial wing, lightly crispy and salty.

The next dish included a piece of Japanese orange, marinated tomato, and (on the bottom) a specimen of chicken ovaries. It was basically what comes before the egg. It popped in the mouth with flavorful liquids.

Another soup had char-grilled duck with green onions and Japanese peppers, to mix.

An exotic chicken part came next: marinated kidney to wrap in a leave of lettuce. It was surprisingly delicious.

The mandatory meatball was a little rare and dripping-juicy. Every yakitori chef has a personal recipe for this skewer. It also usually marks the final part of the course.

In the end we were offered rice with cabbage and corn, chicken soup, ginger pickle. At this point it was also possible to order additional skewers from a menu.

A cup of tea completed the meal.

The check

The check was 9,850 yen (88.65 USD). It was on the pricey side, but everything was executed so well that I did not mind. It is not an experience for everyone, but if you like strong flavors and skewers, this is probably one of the best in Osaka

Where in Osaka:
1-chome-5-1 Dojima Kita-ku
In Japanese: 大阪府大阪市北区堂島 1-5-1 エスパス北新地23・1F.

Dinner in a typical yakitori joint in Fukuoka

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.

An authentic izakaya in Ningbo

Ningbo is a second-tier city in Zhejiang, China, and is known to be a manufacturing powerhouse. In China Japanese food is “so so” and in Ningbo non-Chinese food is just forgettable. So it is really incredible that i get to review a great izakaya in this city off-the-beaten path.

They have an extensive menu including sushi and sashimi (the same owner also operates a restaurant upstairs that was initially a Thai joint, then it was turned into a Japanese sushi and sashimi place; finally only recently the izakaya menu was merged with the sushi menu… synergies take time I guess).

The entrance is located on a corner just across the car entrance of the Ningbo’s Sheraton hotel.

The visit

Before 7pm it is usually quite empty. I usually seat at the counter where you can see the cooks working on the grill. They use charcoal and have a nice “vertical” grill that I have never seen outside Japan.

It is not a large place, but they have 4 or 5 private rooms with Japanese style seating horigotatsu.

The cheesy Japanese background music reminds you that you are not in Japan, but the place also has some original touches as the basket under the table where to place your overcoat or bags and the bottles of liquor marked with the name of the customer on a wooden plaque.

They have ankimo sashimi. This dish alone is worth the trip (if you are in Ningbo). Not easy to find outside Japan and it was very reasonably priced. Ankimo is monk fish liver sashimi; you can liken it to foie gras: it is seafood foie gras. It is a great delicacy and it was properly served with momiji oroshi as a garnish (grated Japanese daikon with red chili).

Then I usually have their beef in teriyaki sauce. On this visit the beef was very tender and just delicious.

I also had a beef carpaccio, with thinly sliced beef superficially cooked.

Their forte is certainly grilled dishes. Some yakitori is a must. I usually have chicken breast (picture above).

Then I had pork belly (a bit overcooked, but still good; usually they look like in the featured photo on top).

And finally I had duck fried dumplings that I also liked.

All dishes were authentic enough and very tasty. They have my seal of approval.

The check

This was a lot of food, I was kind of hungry… and the check came at 265 CNY (or 38 USD). You can have a satisfactory meal probably for 25 USD. By Chinese standards, this is very reasonable (non Chinese food tends to be expensive in China).

Where in Ningbo:

Baka Damon, a meat-heavy izakaya in central Sapporo

There is nothing like trying a Japanese restaurant without an English menu and without knowledge of Japanese. Luckily, pictures can help. In this case, overall it went well. (To get an English menu see my notes at the end of the post.)

The visit

I came across an izakaya located next to Mistukoshi, in a very central location dominated by retail outlets. The izakaya is located in a basement and in English is called Baka Damon (it is the only English term on the sign).

I was welcomed with a compulsory appetizer: two pieces of radish oden style.

I wanted to have some skewers.

I had skewers with pork belly, beef and mutton.

I particularly enjoyed their meatballs.

They also had chicken fried in a number of ways. I went for the dish pictured above using only wing tips.

They had ankimo sashimi. This dish is rarely seen outside Japan and it is basically marinated monk-fish liver. To me, it is the seafood equivalent of foie gras. It is an incredibly delicious seafood dish.

They also had a very attractive all you can drink option (you pay a flat price and for a fixed amount of time, like 2 hours, you can drink all the beer you wish; it is a format quite common in izakayas) and they were surprised that I was not interested.

The check

The damage for all of these izakaya delicacies was 4,330 yen (38.5 USD). When in an izakaya I rarely spend less than that.

This izakaya experience overall was interesting and a nice departure from menu more heavily based on seafood. This was clearly an izakaya focusing on meat, including less common types of meat (duck, gizzards, and more). The skewers were good. Among the delicacies I did not try there was horse meat sashimi that seemed to be their signature dish.

This is an address to keep in mind if you are hanging out around Mitsukoshi department store in Sapporo.

Where in Sapporo:
3-8-11, Minami 1 Jo Nishi, Chuo-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, 060-0063
See this website for details and menu in English (I wish I had known this link before the visit…).

Japanese-grade yakitori in Hong Kong: Yardbird

In Hong Kong there are a couple of places where you can find authentic Japanese yakitori (chicken skewers cuisine). One of these is Yardbird. Hardly a hidden secret, Yardbird has been very popular since its inception in 2011. Luckily towards the end of 2017 they moved to a larger location in Sheung Wan and now if you show up the at right time (maybe between 6 or 7pm) during a weekday with a little bit of luck you do not have to queue. As in many successful yakitori places in Japan, they do not take reservations. At the helm of this restaurant a relatively young Canadian chef, Matt Abergel.

What? Wait? How can a Canadian chef serve the best yakitori in town? I think I understood by reading this interview to Matt. According to the interview, Matt “first fell in love with grilled meat on a stick when he was 17 years old and went to Japan after graduating from high school”. Retrospectively, all of his career built up to opening a yakitori place. I guess that when you care and have enough passion, you can make up any geographical and cultural disadvantage. This is certainly the case for Yardbird that is an independent restaurant, not another offspring of a chain trying to capitalize on the latest gastronomic trend.

The visit

I got a table on a calm Tuesday evening arriving around 7pm. I got one of thet last spots at the counter. I think that during the evening it would have been possible for a solo diner to find a place, more difficult for a group. What enticed me to try the venue and learn more about it was not only my passion for yakitori, but also the positive experience that I had with Ronin, a more recent creation of the same group behind Yardbird.

When I stepped in I could recognize the same relaxed and yet sophisticated atmosphere and the same friendly and hipster staff.

The menu is not limited to yakitori, but the skewers are certainly the star. The gallery below shows what I got. A digression on my only non-skewer-dish: it was a katsu sando, or a Japanese cutlet sandwich. This was uber-delicious. In practice, what I got was a lightly bread crumb coated fried chicken with seasonings between sandwich bread buns. Double. The flavor was just fantastic, all the ingredients worked well together.

My choice of skewers included skin (nicely crispy, with sake and sea salt), heart (with a lot of spring onion, good flavor even without condiments), the hardly-seen thyroid (very chewy, with strong flavor), miso breast (with an accent of parsley, basil, and garlic), the classic meatball with egg yolk dip, fillet (with yuzu and miso), inner tigh (with pepper and sea salt).

I liked all the skewers; the flavor was always distinct and delicious, even in the difficult parts such as thyroid and the heart. My only complaint is that the skewers tended to come out burned just a tad too much (but not at a point to compromise the flavor).

The check

I spent a total of 534 HKD equivalent to 68 USD for 7 skewers and and the cutlet sandwich, including an expensive bottle of water (that in these fine dining establishments I kind of accept as a form of cover charge). This is just a little bit more expensive than what I paid for an excellent yakitori in Osaka just a few weeks earlier (around 55 USD for appetizer, 8 skewers and an additional dish if I only account for one person). Comparisons are tricky. We all know that fine dining is expensive in Hong Kong. Overall I would say that the price point is acceptable for the quality of the experience and the work that takes place behind the scenes. By the way, they do not apply compulsory service charge (usually 10%) and invite you to tip if you are happy with the service. This is a place where I would certainly go back and honestly I cannot say the same for a lot of other fine dining places I tried in Hong Kong.

Bonus

In May 2018 Matt Abergel published a book titled Chicken and Charcoal (Phaidon Press, 240 pages) that goes into specifics about his knowledge of yakitori. The book is richly illustrated and covers topics such as how to break down a chicken to obtain all those exotic parts that you find in real yakitori menus, how to grill them using charcoal, how to marinate them and make the right sauces and even how to choose the right drink pairings. While at time of writing the book is not available for delivery on Amazon (release date in October 2018), I could browse a copy in an Hong Kong bookstore and I was impressed. I see it as an additional piece of evidence of Matt’s passion for what he does. It is on my wishlist (but this time I just did not have space left in my baggage…).

Where in Hong Kong:
G/F, 154-158 Wing Lok Street Sheung Wan
Address in Chinese: 上環 154-158 永樂街
For more information including the menu see their website.

How a Michelin-recommended yakitori dinner looks like in Japan – Yakitori Ueda in Osaka

Yakitori is a type of Japanese cuisine (and restaurant) serving chicken skewers. Sounds trivial? It is not… Yakitori is no-holds-barred: in a real Japanese yakitori you will be served parts of the chicken you have never heard about. Breaking down a chicken to get those parts and preparing them for the grill requires some artistry. Additionally, cooking is not a trivial matter either: yakitori is grilled over charcoal fire and a skilled chef knows how to achieve the best results by varying the level of the heat depending on the type of skewer.

For this culinary adventure I patronized Kitahama Yakitori Ueda in Osaka. I selected this specific venue as it was part of handful venues recommended by the local Michelin Guide (Ueda is a Bib Gourmand, that indicates excellent value in addition to quality of the food offering). As I do not speak Japanese, it was not an easy feat. My first attempt in the summer 2017 failed miserably (they seemed to be fully booked when I showed up). Next time – end of June 2018 – I enlisted the help of a local guide, found through the amazing service of the Osaka good-will guides association (a service pairing visitors with locals willing to act as tour guides at no charge). They do not usually help in restaurant bookings, but I convinced my guide to have a tour in central Osaka and then to go together to this yakitori (I picked up, joyfully, the tab for both).

The visit

I and my guide arrived at around 6pm when the restaurant had just opened. At that time we could see office workers swarming around us rushing to the nearest metro station. Yakitori Ueda is located in the basement of an office building in one of Osaka commercial districts. It is easy to miss, since the entrance is not on the main road, but it is located on a side of the building. Having someone willing to translate made the visit perfect as I could get a lot of details about the food that I would have otherwise missed.

We chose the set menu including 8 skewers and we added a couple of items. What follows is a description of what we got.

The mandatory starter was a small portion of chicken liver pâté. Nothing special, sweet flavor; the pâté resembled a portion of crème brûlée.

Before beginning with the skewers, we got some raw chicken tight with fermented seaweed. This dish was not 100% real chicken sashimi, since it was a bit seared. Having overcome the fear of essentially raw chicken meat, I truly enjoyed the dish. The restaurant, by the way, has a special focus on chicken sashimi. A couple sitting at the counter next to me had a mountain of completely raw chicken. The menu suggested to eat raw chicken within 20 minutes of serving (to avoid contamination) and declined any responsibility in case of sickness.

The other dish we ordered apart from the skewers was chicken skin in ponzu sauce. The skin was soft, not crispy and amalgamated very well with the flavor of the sauce.

The first skewer was made of shirako. Shirako indicates the sperm sac of an animal (it is usually used for fish). Yes, I ate the sperm sac of a bunch of chickens. Actually it was delicious: once you bite and break the skin, the interior seems like melted cheese.

The second skewer involved three pieces of chicken stomach. The chicken is an incredible animal, it does not have any teeth, but part of the stomach actively grinds grains and fiber in smaller particles (this is my source). This part is called gizzard, while the part used for storage is called proventriculus. We got some gizzard. This meat is gummy (probably consequence of its muscular nature); I had tried it elsewhere and I had not liked it. Not this time. The meat had great flavor, like a herb sausage, and I did not mind the texture.

This was a piece of ‘furisode’. According to this source, the “term is used to refer to the shoulder meat of the chicken, which is the intermediate portion of the chicken between the breast and the wing”. It came with some sauce made of fermented beans and miso. A very tasty piece.

The fourth skewer presented a meaty piece of chicken tight cooked medium raw and dipped in vinegar. This was a very juicy bite.

Now that we were midway through our eight dishes, we were offered an “intermission”: some vegetables with miso dipping sauce. Nice to clean the palate.

The fifth skewer was made of a piece of neck. Again a different flavor! This time the meat was tender, a bit chewy and with a hint of flavor coming from fat.

The sixth skewer consisted in a piece of the bum of the chicken. This was a more plain flavor in my opinion.

The seventh skewer was the classic chicken meatball. Apparently every serious yakitori restaurant has its own recipe for this kind of meatball. In this case, it was different from any other skewered chicken meatball I had experienced. What made the difference was the presence of some herbs and some raw meat inside.

The last dish seemed trivial after all of these exotic parts… chicken wings with a speck of lime. The meat was pinkish, revealing a medium raw cooking and the skin soft.

What an incredible meal! Every skewer had its own unique flavor and every bite delivered intense ad superb taste. Certainly the quality of the meat (the chicken are sourced from the nearby Nara) had a part, but the artful cooking was what made the difference in bringing out the flavor in each skewer.

The check

I do not have a picture of the check, but the set menu for two, two additional dishes and a couple of drinks totaled around 12000 yen (around 54 USD per person). Given the quality of the experience, I find it hardly expensive. Sure, you can have a similar number of skewers for half this price if not less, but you will not come even close to this quality in the cooking and in the preparation of the meat. All in all, I was very happy to score this restaurant and I would recommend anyone to try a serious yakitori while in Japan.

Where in Osaka:
2-6-6 Kitahama, Chuo-ku | Crystal Tower B1F, Chuo, Osaka 541-0041
Address in Japanese: 〒541-0041 大阪府大阪市中央区北浜2-6-6 クリスタルタワーB1
Note: menu was only available in Japanese and staff only spoke Japanese. Reservation possible via phone (06-6205-8855). If you do not speak Japanese I strongly encourage you to find a local willing to come with you.
Read this article to learn more about yakitori.