torihana, nakano-shimbashi

One of the most frequent things you hear about eating in Japan is that it is hard to go too wrong. I had heard the same thing about Italy, but had had more than a few bad, and expensive, experiences (admittedly in especially touristic areas). I tried my best to research dining options in advance, but this was not easy for restaurants outside Tokyo's seething core -- particularly English language reviews -- and Nakano-shimbashi, while hardly unknown, was nowhere near as thoroughly documented and reviewed as, say, Shibuya.

Nevertheless, it thronged with places to eat. Izakayas, traditional Japanese pubs, littered the streets with their enormous paper lanterns. They lacked the window displays of plastic food, but nearly all of them had hand-written menus and set meal deals advertised on the pavement. All in Japanese, of course.

Torihana was a small yakitori restaurant around the corner and down the street from Nakano-shimbashi station. I don't think it has multiple branches, but upon Googling, another Torihana exists in Shinjuku, again a yakitori joint. Even on Tabelog, Japan's excellent restaurant review and ranking site, Torihana in Nakano-shimbashi only has 16 reviews, with 3.14 stars out of a possible 5. Not exactly stellar, but Japanese diners/reviewers do seem especially discerning. In nearly all cases where I compared native reviews with foreign ones, the Japanese were far more critical.

But the English language reviews for Torihana, of which there were a few, were very complimentary and claimed that staff were very friendly and accommodating, even with a language barrier. Perfect.

Got to love the desk fans

It was small, as such izakayas tend to be. It had bar seating for 12 from where one could watch the chef and his grill in action, and then three shallow tables on elevated ground, each of which sat 6. We were directed to one of these, as the bar was mainly full. For a Thursday night, it was busy -- we saw plenty of come, eat, and go during the time we ate. I loved the casual atmosphere of these places, as many couples seemed to come for a few sets of skewers and a beer, and left in under 40 minutes.

As we sat down we received a Japanese menu, and then an English one. The woman who seated us disappeared for a while -- maybe five minutes -- before she returned with a younger server. She took our drinks order and then waited while we decided on our food. When we ordered it became clear that she had been sent to our table as the sole member of staff with any English, a completely unnecessary but lovely effort. There was minor struggle regardless, but after some pointing and cross-referencing with the original menu, we were able to place our first order: one skewer each of the shiitake mushrooms, chicken meatball, chicken, and chicken hearts. I was keen for my brothers to try heart, which I maintain is the most accessible of offal: less mushy than liver and sweetbreads, and lacking the, er, scatological character that kidney or tripe can sometimes have.

Our food arrived after 10-15 minutes. Yakitori can take a little longer than some preparations, as everything is grilled fresh, and a busy restaurant may only have one or two small grills and as many chefs. The atmosphere was worth soaking in: the place was full of laughter and charcoal smoke, and the faint smell of cigarettes as diners smoked at their tables.

Chicken heart, de-skewered

The food was delicious. Fresh ingredients, freshly cooked, some marinated with only the barest seasoning of soy sauce and tare... it was a dream. Mushrooms were as good as steak, full and fleshy. Chicken and chicken meatballs were well-handled, succulent, with excellent flavour from the grill. And the hearts even better: beefy, toothsome but not tough, perfectly cooked. A worthy death for four chickens.

From left: asparagus, chicken hearts, eringi mushrooms
wrapped in pork belly, chicken skin

For our second order, we got a couple of each skewer. We were so impressed with the cooking of the mushrooms that we ordered two more: asparagus and eringi mushrooms wrapped in pork belly. Asparagus was frankly astonishing, blackened in places yet still verdantly green, tasting of smoke and grassy freshness, lifted by flakes of salt. The pork-wrapped eringi confused us for a few moments, the mushrooms so meat-like we couldn't figure out where the pork belly began -- a thin strip encasing the most flavoursome, juicy mushroom you could imagine. We ordered more chicken hearts, just as delicious as before. And then, as a challenge to my brothers, skewers of chicken skin.

Chicken skin

I've never got the squeamishness behind chicken skin (isn't that the best bit of the roast chicken?). Fatty, salty, crispy, but perhaps the weakest of all the skewers we'd tried, which surprised me. I would love to return to try the chicken gizzards, any of the vegetables, or the rice dishes. Who could resist a grilled rice ball, or a pheasant rice bowl? We went for a light meal, but one could definitely eat substantially here.

Pricing was again very keen. Our meal cost ¥4500, with Ian drinking two large beers, Adam orange juice and a shochu (Kozuru Kuro). To be well-fed and watered with incredible food, all for under £35 total will never fail to blow my mind. And that does not even account for the brilliant service, which despite the language barrier was generous and friendly. During the latter half of our meal, we had been attended by a lovely young waiter rather than our original waitress, but as we were walking back to our Airbnb, she stopped us to say thank you. What incredible hospitality and warmth.

Date of visit: 05/09/2019
Address: 2 Chome-28-7 Yayoicho, Nakano City, Tokyo 164-0013, Japan