Affordable vs. High-End Yakitori – Which One Wins?

Affordable vs. High-End Yakitori – Which One Wins?

Welcome back to Tokyo. Today we’re diving deep into one of Japan’s most beloved street food, yaksori. So, what is yakori? It’s basically grilled chicken skewers. They’re usually cooked over a bed of charcoal. And it’s absolutely delicious. But not all yakori are created equal. And today, we’re going to go on two extremes. One on the super budget friendly side where it’s about a dollar for one skewer. and then all the way to a high-end experience where we’re going to have a nice coarse meal and we’re going to see how they stack up against each other. Before we head off on our yaki adventure, please make sure to subscribe to the channel, like this video so that it helps support us to make more foodie adventures for you guys. All right, let’s go get foodie this way. Our first stop might actually surprise you because it’s so accessible. It’s a Japanese convenience store. Before we go in, let me break down what does yaki tori literally mean. Yucky means to grill and then tori means chicken. So, grilled chicken. Wow. It doesn’t just limit itself to just chicken skewers. Sometimes with beef or pork or or other delicious goodness. Yaki really started all the way back in the 1880s to ’90s where meat was kind of expensive and they didn’t want to waste all the other offcuts. So they started barbecuing, grilling all the insides and all the awful. Today it’s a huge part of Japanese nighttime and food culture. For example, you can find it at an izakaya cuz it pairs well with alcohol or even at Japanese local festivals where they have it in street stores still like they did way back in the day. And now that there’s so much more customization, chefs have really made it their own. So it’s not just chicken on a skewer like you would imagine. There’s so much more to it. Today we’re headed in to Family Mart, which is one of many convenience stores that have hot and ready to go yaki tori. You’ll usually find it nearby the front of the register, and you’ll often have to ask the staff to help you to get it out. And as you can see, there’s a bit of variety. You have momo, which is thigh. You have ka, which is skin, or even more adventurous parts like liver or heart. If you’re feeling up to it, it’s actually quite delicious. And you’ll also notice that they’ll ask you ko or sh. So ko means with sauce or shio means with salt. So you can have a little bit of variety as well. So I’ve got two skewers. I got one of them is chicken thigh with original sauce. And then I’ve got another one which is chicken skin which has salt on it. Oh yes. Sale. Look at all that chicken skin. Even though they put it in one of those warm little boxes, they also often ask you if you want to microwave it so it’s nice and hot as well. Let’s eat it. The skin here is a little bit more chewy and soft. And then it’s got a light dusting of salt, which makes it brings out all that salty goodness of the skin. Some of the best part of the chicken right here. Honestly, for around $120 yen, which is less than $1, it’s pretty worth it. Like, it hits those, you know, chicken cravings when you’re in a rush. Let’s try chicken thigh. What? I can’t believe this is also really cheap and affordable and so easily accessible as well. It’s going to be delicious. Just you wait. Look how much chicken there is. All right, skewer number two. All right, get it. M. So tender and juicy. And oh, my favorite is tough. I’m biased, but out of the two, this one is my favorite so far. This is so good. The sauce is kind of sweet and salty and it’s delicious. You guys must all know about the famous Bambi Chickiki, but now you guys know about the yakori as well. So, when you come to convenience store, I definitely recommend to try them out cuz they’re actually really good. Really good. Bang bucks and super convenient to get as well and delicious. All right, we’re going to go to the next place now. I wonder how many skewers I’m going to eat. What do you guys think? Comment down below. I’m on a skewer adventure. Let’s go. [Music] All right, we have arrived in Kitji, which is on the west side of Tokyo. It’s actually known to be one of the most desirable places to live here in Japan. You have the Inocush Park, which is super famous during cherry blossom season, and a lot of great food, which is why I’m taking you here because one of my favorite restaurants is just across the street there. It’s called Isaya. It’s been here for years and years and years. Yakitori may seem simple, but I think when you get to this place, you’ll understand what I mean about the atmosphere that Yakori can bring. So, let’s go. Is founded in 1928 as a butcher shop, but is now a Yaki restaurant that it’s loved by so many locals. It’s loved to a point that people line up before it even opens. And they’ve even opened not just one, but altogether three shops. I honestly can’t believe that this place has been standing for this long, but after I tasted it, now I know why. It’s been a while since I’ve been here, but I’m so glad to be back. They actually have two kinds of seating area. So, well, I guess this is the standing area, which we’re going to enjoy today. And you can actually sit inside as well. But just the smell of chicken is making me so hungry. You can see here there’s so many different cut of chicken from meatball thigh to I don’t even know, but we’re just going to try it and find out. Here’s the menu. And as you can see, it’s crazy cheap. Can you believe it’s actually cheaper than the convenience store? Only 100red yen per skew. So here we have skinn, which is chicken meatball, which is one of my faves. So we have negi, which is leak. Another one of my favorites, which is bonjiri, which is chicken tail or chicken butt. And this one here is mun. It’s basically chicken breast. So before we had chicken thigh, and now we’re going to try chicken breast. Get it. M. This is crazy that it’s less than Yeah. $1, only 100 yen. Breast usually is a little bit more drier than thigh, but it’s still really good. This one is bonjiri. And to be honest, this one is sometimes hit and miss depending on the place. You go to a super not really specialized place, bonjeri is not that good. But I trust this place. If you come here, you should try this, too. I already know it’s going to be nice and juicy. [Music] Nice and juicy. It’s hard to explain. It’s almost like crispy on the outside cuz it’s still got a little bit of skin and the inside is just like exploding with juice. Yeah. Weird thing to say about tail, but trust me, it’s so good and it’s absolutely addictive. I could eat 10 of these. Number five, chicken gun. I often determine how good a yaki restaurant is by their skinn. There’s so many things that go into skinn. It’s not just a plain meat or sometimes they have nonatu. So like cartilage which gives it texture which if you’re like me, you really like that. And this place has that little bit of texture in it too. So it doesn’t just taste like a plain mushy ball. No, this is crispy on the outside. It’s got the sauce and then it’s going to have those little crunchy bites on the inside. I already I already know it’s so good. The outside has got that nice char and that crispiness from the charcoal. And not only can I smell the charcoal from Sia, but I can taste it as well through this. So good. I could have 10 of these as well. Next up, we have negi, which is green onion. It’s actually paired really well. It’s very common and popular to do so. And it’s nice and refreshing, like garlic cleanser. So crunchy and so good. For a place that has been open for almost a hundred years, the standard and quality is still ever so high. It’s so rare to see cheapy these days, but it’s so good as well. Like, can you guys believe how much this is? It’s actually, including the drink, less than $10, which is mindblowing to me. All right, we’re in Ginsel. You guys may have heard of it. It is the high-end fashion food district of Tokyo. So, if you’re here, we’re going to go check out a really high-end Makate Yakuri restaurant. You guys may have seen in one of the previous videos that we did. We did another restaurant which was called Yakuri, which is another high-end yaki place. Today, this is a really interesting experience because the chef not only worked in Japan before, but also worked in New York as a head chef of a mission style yaki to restaurant, which is really interesting. So, we’re going to see if the yakitori and this high price point is worth it. All right, let’s go. [Music] Wow, this restaurant is incredible. When I was coming up on the street, I didn’t even know that there was a restaurant down here. And then coming down, I felt like as we’re going down the stairs, getting slightly transportated into this Yeah. very fancy and bougie restaurant. And I can feel the warmth from the cold is just sitting here. It’s so cool. [Music] flavor. [Music] Today at this restaurant, we’re going to have an omakas experience. And usually, I think when people think of um they think of sushi, but today, of course, we’re having yaktorias. So, we’re going to leave it up to the chef. And what she’s going to do is choose specific cuts of the chicken and other seasonal ingredients, too. And just I’m so curious to see how he’s going to elevate them from the other two yaktori places we went today. You can book this experience on the buy food website. Today, I’m just getting a sneak peek of the course, but if you book it online, you can enjoy the whole course, which includes around eight and other seasonal dishes as well. So delicious. Can’t wait to dig in. Never had yaki to like this before. And the char marks from the charcoal. So, I’m starting off with some veggies first. M. I’ve only really had bamboo in ramen before, and it’s always like, you know, a little bit soft and soggy, but this one, it’s got that crunch to it. But I also imagine babu as being very hard, but it’s actually so soft on the inside, but then when you bite into it, you get that crunch on the outside and the softness on the inside and that char. The sauce is really good. It’s like really fresh. Wow. It just gets right up into my senses. Wakes my palette up. I don’t know if I’ve ever had this kind of flour or herb before, but I want more of it. [Music] This looks like piece of art. Wow. This almost looks too pretty to eat. Almost. But of course, I’m going to eat it. It almost doesn’t look like something that would come out of a yaki restaurant, which I really enjoy. It’s bringing out, you know, more than just chicken on a skewer. It’s really elevating it. We have seasonal vegetables and toppings here which are cooked with a comfy style. And there’s actually chicken in here and it’s been cooked at a really low temperature. Like I can’t even imagine it when I went to You see, I knew exactly what I was going to get. But this this is an adventure. M. We’ve had a lot of breast today, but this has to be one of the better breasts. It’s so tender. How did they do that? What? I’ve never had breasts like this before. The carbonara sauce, it like has this creaminess to it, but it’s cuz it’s chilled, it’s also refreshing. [Music] Let us know. This looks so unreal and so decadent. I’ve never seen a fanciest chicken meatball. Not one skewer, but four skewers. Four. I just still can’t get over how big and extravagant this is. I mean, you guys saw when I cut into it, the full gua was just almost exploding out and then the juices and then I’m salivating. All right, I have to try it. M m. [Music] Wow, there’s so many flavors going on in my mouth right now and they all work so well. I don’t know how to describe. It’s like when you bite into a super juicy burger and then the juices just come out. That’s so nice. And then you have the umami from the truffles. And then also you get hit with that mustard. So it’s super refreshing. It goes right up in your nose. And it’s just it’s like a roller coaster of flavors in here. And apparently wine makes all the here taste 10 times better. So I can really see why this is a top tier restaurant serving at. It’s using really extravagant high-end luxurious ingredients and making the most of them as well. Not just throwing them on for show, but actually bringing out the real flavors. [Music] What I’ve never had negimma quite like this before. They’re using different cuts of the chicken. So, breast and thigh and also different vegetables as well. It was so interesting to see how the skin was wrapped around it gave that crispiness and the chicken itself. I didn’t know if I was going to really taste the deep umami of it, but I really did. And I It’s something you guys have to experience for yourself. So, this one is actually a very unique and not common kind of yakitori. It’s actually the part where the heart connects to the liver, which I know might sound a little bit out of the box, but in Japan, they use so many different cuts of the chicken, and they’ve really created this whole craft and art to perfect it. So, if you’re coming to a place like this, you’re going to try something a little bit out of the box, a little something a little bit different, but it’s going to be well worth it because they’ve done a lot of research and a lot of trial and error to get it to this point of perfection. M. Wow. The char on that is insane. It’s actually so good. It’s my first time having it. I thought for something that’s considered maybe awful like, it’s not chewy at all. It’s actually quite soft and tender. Not as soft as like liver. Maybe something in between hot and liver texture, ironically. [Music] Wow, I am so stuffed. This has been such a unique experience trying, you know, two extremes on the budgeting end where we had really cheap, convenient yaktori. Now we’re here in Ginsa enjoying this luxurious omakas yaki experience which I feel like not many people can say they’ve had. So have we answered the question is the budget one? Does it really hold up to its own? And is the really worth it for that price tag? And in my opinion it’s a double yes. I feel like there’s such unique and different experiences really on both ends of the spectrum. So with the cheap place, I could feel like literally rubbing shoulders with locals, people who have enjoyed this place for years and years and years. And now I know why. For the high-end or experience, it’s complete opposite, but in the best way. You don’t know what you’re going to get because they’re always innovating. They’re introducing new seasonal ingredients, and it’s always a surprise and a twist on something that maybe seen to be a street food, which I absolutely loved. So if you’re coming to Japan, I highly recommend yaktori. It’s one of my favorite things. If I could choose only one Japanese thing to eat for the rest of my life, it would be yaktori one cuz you can get really cost efficient yaktori and bougie yaktori. So yeah, why not? If you want to have this experience here, you can check it out on the buy food website. We have a lot of different other yaktori experience as well. So you can check that out. But that’s it for the videos. I am stuffed. I hope to see you guys in the next one. Don’t forget to subscribe and also like the video so we can bring you more food beauty adventures. And of course, guys, how many skills did I have? I honestly don’t have any idea. Like, was that meatball really one skill? I don’t know. I don’t know. If you enjoyed this video, click the photos on the left for more and the ones on the right to learn more about B food and book your own foodie adventure. Bye-bye.

It’s no secret that Japanese skewer “yakitori” is one of the most famous street foods here. It’s cheap, delicious, and has a lot of varieties to it; chicken, pork, beef, liver, meatballs, skin, everything! What makes it even more interesting is the different versions of serving it – whether to have it in a casual izakaya setting or an upscale chef dining.

Today in Tokyo we are exploring both worlds of yakitori! Starting with the legendary shop Iseya with their $1/stick, continuing with yakitori omakase made by Chef Koichi Inoue who has been specializing in the field for more than 25 years… So, what makes the difference in both? Let’s discover them together with Stephanie!

Don’t miss the chance to experience the yakitori omakase by Chef Koichi Inoue on byFood for next time you’re in Tokyo: http://bit.ly/4kU9DNf

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