Yakitori

Yakitori(焼き鳥), which is literally grilled bird, is Japanese chicken barbecue on skewers. Over the last few weekends, I’ve been subsisting on a diet of Yakitori and Ramune. Festival stalls often sell Yakitori and other Kushiyaki (串焼き, skewered food). Every time I think of Yakitori, though, I remember this one time when I went to a very greasy, seriously low-class, but extremely popular Yakitori place in the city next to where I lived.

I was invited to celebrate the promotion to black belt of one of my dojo sempais. The shihan, our sensei, insisted that we go to this place that was really famous in the area for its Yakitori. I had never been to a place like it before, nor have I been to one since then. It was in a run-down building, between an antique-looking store and some non-descript dwelling of some sort. The place was covered in smoke and the diners looked a bit scary. I wasn’t the least bit scared, however, since there were 5 black belters in our group, and the people there all seemed to know sensei. The servers didn’t look all that hygienic, but the smell from the grill was amazing…

Sensei and the other people in our group started calling out orders, something something yaki and yaki something… and then came the food… there were all kinds of chicken parts on skewers, some familiar-looking, but others slimy- and shiny-looking, I had no idea what they were, but sensei made me eat everything. I’m not exactly sure what went into my tummy that day, but I do remember they were the tastiest Yakitori I’ve ever had.