Kushiwaka

This is one of those yakitori bars where having the GPS working on your phone is a real plus: even when you do locate it you’ll still not see it unless you look up, as the entrance is one floor above street level. Slide open the door, then take off your shoes and put them in one of the lockers provided; it’s a strictly no-shoes place. The best seats are at the counter overlooking the grill. There’s a waitress with good English who will bring you the English menu if you ask, as well as a bowl of hot edamame. The skewers of meat include the very moreish soft minced chicken balls, and their polar opposites, chicken tendon – a texture food that tastes of nothing but feels like crunchy rubber. Be sure to order some veggies too, such as the leek skewers or the ginkgo nuts. This is a good place to take advantage of sake’s affordability in Japan, which a group of salarymen were doing with great gusto on our visit. To our other side, two young women had ordered the raw chicken sashimi, which they assured us was ‘oishii' (delicious), and even offered us some to try. It appears on the English menu simply as ‘base: breast fillet’. Maybe next time.