These new yakitori places in Singapore offer woodfire grills, theatrical dining and late-night bites
When it comes to food trends in this city, it never rains but it pours. The latest thing seems to be yakitori – a Hokusai wave of new openings. Who doesn't love things on sticks?
With yakitori, barbecuing each skewer to the perfect doneness is the baseline. Each chef has their own preferences when it comes to charcoal, smoke and precise grilling techniques, but mastery over every element is requisite (so is a dark-coloured uniform and a face full of sweat).
For the diner, it's dinner and a show: You get to watch your sticks being cooked to perfection.
Yakitori is one of the best ways to appreciate the alchemy of what a flame can do and how various cuts of meat from the humble chicken can taste so different. And, if you enjoy innards, you will have extra fun.
While any self-respecting yakitori restaurant's main menu will look quite similar to the next one's as the focus is on the art of bringing the best and juiciest flavour out of each of the bird's yummy parts, peripheral dishes can also be instrumental in creating memorable moments in diners' recollections. And, you always have to end off with a delicious carb.
Here are some new places to check out when your next barbecued bird craving hits.
FIREBIRD BY SUETOMI
Opening May 7, this place at Duxton Hill's Mondrian Singapore is the first overseas offshoot of Tokyo restaurant Makitori Shinkobe by chef-restaurateur Makoto Suetomi, who has five restaurants in the Japanese capital.
Yakitori is usually associated with binchotan charcoal but this is the first yakitori restaurant in Singapore to use woodfire grilling techniques. You won't find a regular hibachi here, but a roaring split-level grill. Various woods are used, from oak to Japanese cedar, resulting in smoked-kissed dimensions to each course.
The omakase menu starts you off with a life-restoring clear chicken consomme, then takes you through rillettes on toast, a chawanmushi with sakura ebi and endo, a remarkably intense corn puree with dashi jelly, roasted vegetables and more. The grilled minced chicken donabe at the end of the meal is a highlight – it's served with your choice of egg yolk or ginger sauce.
The leftover rice gets fashioned into onigiri for you to take home and enjoy.
Opens May 7 at 83 Neil Road, Mondrian Singapore #01-05.
SAPOTO
This dramatically moody space at Amara Hotel offers a fun experience for those who like a smattering of theatrics to spice up their meal.
Combining their powers are Chef Shyong, who has practised the art of yakitori for over 10 years; and kaiseki expert Desmond Fong, who has over 20 years of experience in Japanese fine dining.
The omakase menus feeds you not just with confidently-executed skewers but also some showier techniques like covering uni truffle brioche in a puff of gold dust and using a piece of charcoal to sear scallops tableside.
End the meal with hot Sapoto Ramen: Springy noodles in a simple but collagen-rich broth.
The best part is probably its affordability: A lunch omakase menu is available from S$48 for 10 courses, while dinner menus start from S$98.
165 Tanjong Pagar Road, Amara Hotel #02-26.
YAKITORI ONE
If you should find yourself craving yakitori at a late hour, this is the answer. Yakitori One, open until 2am from Mondays to Saturdays, comes to us from Beijing, where it has multiple popular outlets.
Offal lovers will be pleased by the menu, which includes more rarely found parts like knee cartilage wrapped in chicken skin, chicken trachea and chicken aorta.
A surprising hit is the Mentaiko Zucchini skewer, which looks like a giant lollipop – you'll rarely eat your vegetables with more delight.
Keeping it interesting are menu items like chicken liver mousse with brown sugar toast; chutoro with grated foie gras and uni; and snow crab with caviar and yuzu jelly. End off with a nodoguro and sakura ebi don or abura soba (dry ramen).
If you don't want to make your own decisions, a S$158++ per person dinner-only omakase menu is available.
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