tokyo food file: yakitori

A few more snaps of the brilliant, buzzy 246 Common, as featured in my new (occasional) Japan Times column, Food Matters.

246 common poster2 © Tokyo Food File

While there are a few produce stalls and wholefood bakery outlets, the core of this semi-temporary al fresco encampment of trailers, wagons and ad hoc shacks — slogan "We, the Community" — is less farmers' market, much more food trucks serving comestibles ready to be consumed on site.

The first outlet you see as you arrive along Aoyama-dori is run by Nakahora Bokujo, dispensing soft cream and curry-rice made with beef from their grass-fed pasture-reared cows in Iwate.

Plus farm-fresh fruit, such as these plums kept nicely chilled on ice — perfect for the Tokyo summer.

Another standout — and not just visually — is the sleek Airstream trailer operated by the ever-savvy Wired Cafe folks.

Check out that menu of Southern Indian-style dosa pancakes with stuffings to blow your mind. I tried the veggie masala, which was satisfying but not very spicy at all. Next time I'm going back for the lox and cheese dosa.

Blue Kitchen serves salads and smoothies…

Sanraku Kitchen Stand is more traditional, with yakitori and kakigori shaved ice...

There are a couple of bars, ranging from the funky friendly Omotesando Sakaba…

…to the slick, corporate wagon operated by whiskey company Hakushu, featuring sausages and charcuterie to go with their own highballs:

The eating/drinking areas — communal of course — are towards the middle and back. Extra cachet for wearing a slogan tee-shirt…

Do not fail to look around the corner at the end, where you'll find a very photogenic row of traditional wooden huts — with wooden roofs and sliding doors — including the appetising Shozo Coffee Store, which is due to open tomorrow (Sept. 1st).

However, my top pick of all is the excellent takoyaki served by Ikebo, if only for the wonderful retro-look kiosk they're served from:

So cool it really deserves its own blog post — check back here in a couple of days!

Arriving for the first time at Torishiki's elegant entrance, you'd be forgiven for thinking you had come to the wrong address. The chic, charcoal-gray facade, artfully illuminated in the dusk; the dwarf maple growing from a ceramic pot; the plain-wood sliding door with its pristine white noren curtain. Par for the course for high-end kaiseki or sushi. But for yakitori? Surely not.

Why the surprise? In the right hands, the simple act of grilling skewers of chicken over glowing coals of charcoal produces one of the supreme delicacies of Japanese cuisine, well worthy of a such a tasteful setting. Those hands belong to yakitori maestro Yoshiteru Ikegawa.

His is the face you see first as you step into Torishiki. He stands center stage at his grill, facing the doorway, barking out greetings in the age-old style. With his hachimaki bandana wound tightly around his close-shaven head, he looks every inch the archetypal shokunin (traditional master artisan), save for his natty goatee.

The interior is plain and understated. Everyone sits at the single counter that runs along three sides of Ikegawa's workspace. This, he says, is the way yakitori should be served: directly from the chef to each customer's plate, just like at a sushi counter or a top tempura house.

There is a drinks list but no food menu. It is all omakase (leave it all up to the chef; from ¥5,000, depending on how much you eat). At the outset, Ikegawa will check whether you have any particular preferences or aversions. Then you just sit back and see what he makes. It will all be excellent.

The skewers arrive at measured intervals — there can be no hurrying the charcoal — so you have plenty of time to chat, slowly sip on your drinks and watch Ikegawa as he goes about his work.

He tends the grill the way a conductor leads an orchestra. He rarely changes his stance but his hands are constantly on the move, adjusting the skewers and brushing them with oil, sake or his house-special tare basting sauce.

He keeps a large white fan stuck in his belt, which he wields to keep the coals at their optimum temperature. And from time to time he hammers a fresh stick of charcoal with a sharp metallic crack that briefly interrupts the buzz of conversation filling the room.

The exact order and composition of your meal will never be exactly the same each time you visit. But here are some of the highlights to look forward to...

First off, perhaps, a skewer of soft, pale-pink meat, not raw but only cooked very lightly: This is kashira, one of the tastiest cuts of chicken breast. Next, something richer, such as sesseri, fine layers of neck meat; or bonjiri, the fatty part from the tail. And then some small, dark-green, mildly bitter shishito peppers, making a welcome counterpoint on the palate.

The rebā (liver) is delectable. Given only the shortest time over the fire, it is still red and rare, soft but firm, full of mineral flavors but none of the sharpness or off-tastes that often mar this meat at lesser yakitoriya.

This is testament to the quality of the chicken. It is prime, free-range date-shamo gamecock, sourced direct from the farm in Date-cho, Fukushima Prefecture. It tastes superb, even the so-called lesser cuts, the organ meats and extremities.

Ikegawa always offers an interesting selection of vegetables, much more than just the standard shiitake, shishito and ginko nuts — though they too are available.

From late spring there will be zucchini, which he leaves to sweat at low heat for 40 minutes or more and serves still lightly crunchy. In summer he grills short lengths of sweet corn, browned until they taste almost of caramel.

Throughout the year he should have delectable small potatoes — put in your request early on, as they too take plenty of time.

And everyone gets to try the atsu-age, cubes of deep-fried tofu grilled so they're custardy soft inside, while their golden skins are rich with the flavor of chicken fat.

Ultimately, though, you are there for the chicken. What's remarkable is how much variation Ikegawa coaxes from the meat of a single bird, from the crunchiness of nankotsu (tendon) to the dense texture of sunagimo (gizzard), which here is firm but never gritty. Just right with a sprinkling of shichimi togarashi seven-spice.

One of his tastiest preparations is to take a large chunk of breast meat — either chicken or duck — which he bastes and browns on the outside and then slices open to reveal the lightly cooked meat inside.

Nor will you go wrong with the tsukune, single-bite balls of the ground chicken meat.

The item that stands out most in his repertoire is the one known as chōchin (so named as they evoke traditional globe-shaped lanterns). It is an egg, but taken from the chicken before a shell has formed around it. Cooked on the stick together with a chunk of liver, it is a sublime combination of flavors and textures.

This is not an Ikegawa original. He brought the idea with him from Toriyoshi — the restaurant in Naka-Meguro (not the ubiquitous yakitori chain but the classy independent yakitoriya of the same name) where he trained and worked for seven years before setting up here in 2007.

There are many similarities in the size, layout and menus of the two restaurants. But there are also important differences. Excellent as Toriyoshi remains, it pales in comparison with Torishiki, both in flavor and quality of presentation.

It is the many extra touches that elevates the Torishiki experience. From the first dish, always a saucer of home-made pickles, to the soboro donburi (minced chicken rice bowl) and chicken broth with which most people wrap up their meals, everything is served with grace, finesse and humility, often by Ikegawa's kimono-clad wife, Minako.

This attention to detail inevitably translates into a rather higher bill at the end of the evening. But not as much as you might expect from the setting — unless you pick out one of the pricier bottles from the bottom of the wine list.

The other crucial difference is that Torishiki is notoriously hard to book. Reservations are taken from the first of the month for the following two months and they go fast. No surprise there at all: This is some of the very finest yakitori in town.

Torishiki

2-14-12 Kami-Osaki, Shinagawa-ku; (03) 3440-7656

Open: 6-11 p.m.; closed Monday and holidays.

Nearest station: Meguro (Namboku, Mita, Meguro and JR Yamanote lines)

How to get there: From Meguro JR Station (East Exit), cross the rotary, walk along Meguro-dori (in the direction of Shirokanedai) and take the first small side street on the left. Torishiki is on the right after about 30 meters, just next to fish-specialist izakaya Marutomi Suisan.

What works: Premium chicken prepared by a yakitori maestro.

What doesn't: It's very hard to snare reservations.

Number of seats: 17.

Smoking: All no-smoking.

BGM: None.

Price per head: Figure around ¥6,000 (plus drinks).

Drinks: Beer from ¥500; sake from ¥500; shochu from ¥500/glass; wine from ¥700/glass, from ¥3,500/bottle.

Credit cards: Major cards accepted

Language: Japanese menu; a little English spoken.

Reservations: Highly recommended (bookings taken from the 1st of the month for up to 2 months in advance).

Here's a map link (in Japanese)

An edited version of this piece appeared in The Japan Times