Yakitori Taira is now occupying the shop space of what was previously Taki and Bar Nippon. Was at client's place in Orchard for a meeting and had a chance to drop by Wisma Atria for dinner. Well, having a soon-to-expire $10 voucher to redeem was also part of the reason of being at Japan Food Town.
Yakitori Taira originated from a sushi shop called Sushi Taira in Shirokanedai, Roppongi. Sounds upmarket! Nevertheless, there's an opening promo of between 20% to 30% off on their set menu. Original price ranges from $30 to $70 for the sets. The difference seemed to be the number of yakitori sticks included. Went with the $20 (UP $30) set with 4 yakitori sticks, with the yakitori decided by the Chef. Hmm. Am starting to wonder if they'd going to give all vegetable sticks!
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| grill station |
For the set menu, one gets to choose the mini-don. There were 4 options but I just went with the salmon don. The waitress says that the don in the set meal doesn't come with ikura. That's ok, I thought. Took a quick look at the price and the normal salmon don with ikura costs $18 per bowl. Understandably, they can't possibly put an $18 bowl in a $30 course meal.
For drinks, I got myself $10 sake for two small glasses. One could choose from 3 available choices. Had one from Gifu prefecture and it tasted mild. The next glass was better, the Nenohimatsu Junmai Ginjyo (Morita) Aichi. Tasty!
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| Kourin Yuuki Junmai (Chiyogiku, Gifu) |
The starter was a small cup of chicken soup. Much like the soup from Tsukada Nojo. Lip-smackingly good. But careful not to burn your lips because it was super hot.
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| chicken soup |
Did not really look at the menu before ordering, so thought the next course would be the salmon don. Was wrong. It turned out to be a tofu dish. This was served warm. Thought it would be clean and mild but I was wrong. The broth was savoury and tangy. Not sure what was in it, but overall, it was a nice hot dish.
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| tofu dish |
There was a certain umami to this dish. Lovely! Soup, salad, tofu and a glass of sake was enough to make me start feeling a tad full. Perhaps, it was due to the long'ish interval between the dishes. Not too sure if the dishes were supposed to come out bit by bit or served all at once.
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| smooth and savoury |
Next up was a small salad. Loved the citrus soy dressing but the rockets were bitter. Thought Japanese salad usually would use other greens such as lettuces, or spinach... Nevertheless, it was good to have salad in our meals.
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| salad |
As I was at the counter, was already anticipating which yakitori stick was for me. The first stick appeared as I was about to complete the salad.
The sunagimo, in other words the chicken gizzard. Lightly salted. The texture was good. Finished in 20 seconds.
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| sunagimo 砂肝 |
Feed me more. What's next? What's your guess? I was sincerely hoping that they would not give that piece of white meat...but they did. Chicken breast or also known as sasami. Ugh. So lean, and with a tiny dab of wasabi on those white'ish flesh. It was not dry, but this just wasn't my thing.
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| sasami ささみ chicken breast |
This was quickly followed by chicken thigh yakitori (secret yay!). All three sticks were without tare and only lightly salted. Now, what would be the finale stick?
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| momo もも chicken thigh |
Turned to be something similar to chicken heart but a lower part? Aiya, my Japanese not so good so the Japanese staff who served the yakitori made a gesture of his heart and slightly downwards. Orh, but couldn't quite catch what was the name of this stick except it sounded like hatsusomethingsomething.
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| chicken heart |
Goodness, that was the best stick for the night. The chicken hatsusomethingsomething yakitori drenched in tare (sauce) was the best ever! Bouncy bouncy texture that's also 'crunchy' in a delicate way. Yums.
The biggest letdown, got to be the salmon mini-don. The rice was at fault. It was grainy and non-sticky, unlike Japanese rice.
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| salmon mini-don |
Fortunately, the set meal came with ice-cream. Flavours available are the usual yuzu, goma and matcha. Guess my choice.
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| match ice-cream |
If you're interested in Yakitori Taira menu in Japan, here is the
link.
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