Yamato Yakitori quietly opened during the pandemic. Since we live right around the corner, we noticed the construction leading up to the opening of the restaurant. There are no windows, so you cannot see inside. It felt private, secret, hidden while also being in broad daylight. We often saw very, very nice race cars parked outside of the restaurant.

It wasn't until much later that we learned that it was a yakitori place. Yamato Yakitori originates from Osaka, Japan. The restaurant sources 150 day free range Jidori chicken from Nara, Japan and grills them over a charcoal grill.

I love yakitori, and one of my favorite restaurants in Hong Kong is a yakitori joint. Yet the fancy cars made me wonder whether this was some kind of super high end yakitori.

Yes and no.

During normal dinner hours, omakase menus are the only option, and you can enjoy them paired with fancy sakes or nice wines. However, starting at 9:30PM, the "Supper" menu becomes available. This is when you can order skewers a la carte (HKD60 each), or enjoy more casual "omakase" sets, 7 pieces for HKD400 or 10 pieces for HKD580. Contrast this with the tasting menus at dinner, which cost HKD 1080 for the classic omakase, and HKD1680 for the Signature omakase.

The Signature Omakase

Since we were coming to celebrate Bryan's birthday, we decided to go all out and try the Signature Omakase. It comes with a variety of dishes, as well as 12 skewers. If you're still not full after the 12 skewers, you can still order add-ons, which cost between HKD60 and HKD80 for most pieces (and HK$120 for special ones like the Yamato Special Chicken Thigh and Kumamoto Wagyu Filet).

They have a pretty good sake selection, and we tried several different kinds together with our chicken.

Grilled Vegetables

Cheese and Mini-sliders??

And then we tried thier mini-burger, which was so small!

It was super cute. It's also nice to be able to eat a burger in one bite.

Rice, Somen, or Ramen?

Bryan immediately went for the chicken ramen. It is the most traditional and classic choice. After all, we are eating at a restaurant that specializes in chicken. The chicken broth is bound to be fantastic (and it was!).

Happy Birthday Bryan!

All in all, we had a great time. High quality ingredients, expert execution, meticulous attention to detail in how every dish is made . . . it was really a lovely meal. The environment is cozy and intimate. Yes, it was quite pricy, and for yakitori, you can probably get just as enjoyable of a meal at another yakitori joint (or even come to Yamato late at night). However, a dinner at Yamata Takitori is much more than just going to a yakitori joint. It's an entire tasting menu that also includes a lot of other seasonal Japanese specialties. For a special occasion, it's really quite nice.

The tiny restaurant only seats twelve, so it's safer to make a reservation.

Yamato Yakitori Wan Chai Hong Kong
Shop No. 3-8, The Oakhill
28 Wood Road, Wan Chai

The post Yamato Yakitori Wan Chai right in our backyard! appeared first on Tiny Urban Kitchen.

I would like to think I've had my fair share of very good yakitori.

Although I don't seek it out nearly as often as I seek out sushi when I'm in Japan, I've still dined at some pretty good places, such as 1-Michelin starred Bird Land (made even more famous because it's located next to Sukiyabashi Jiro) and another lovely slightly less-discovered place called Nakameguro Iguchi. Because of that, I think I have a pretty decent benchmark when it comes to yakitori.

We knew about the insane lines and never-ending popularity of Yardbird in Hong Kong. In general, Hong Kong diners have short attention spans and constantly seek out the newest, latest, hottest restaurant. It's hard to stay "hot", yet Yardbird has managed to stay in high demand for seven years, even after moving from Soho to a bigger location in Sheung Wan at the end of 2017.

People say they love that the restaurant is family-owned and not run by a huge restaurant group (which describes many of the non-Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong). They feel that the restaurant has heart and passion. Chef and co-owner Matt Abergel is from Calgary, Canada, and fell in love with yakitori during a trip to Japan when he was 17.  He pursued that passion, moving first to Vancouver to work at a Japanese restaurant before spending time at Masa in New York, Zuma in London, and then Zuma in Hong Kong.

He opened Yardbird in 2011, and lines have been out the door ever since.
Mushroom salad (HKD135) shungiku, mizuna, and wasabi

Our strategy to avoid the lines: arrive right at 6PM opening time. In fact, we arrived about 10-15 minutes before opening and stood outside to wait. There were about 10-15 other guests who had the same strategy. There was no problem getting a seat.

When we arrived, the server asked us whether we wanted to sit in the front or the back. The front has high top tables, the bar, and standing tables (for bar patrons and people waiting for a table). The back is quieter and all the seats and table are normal height.

"Which one's more fun?" I asked.

"The front."

"Alright then!"

Sweet Corn Tempura (HKD 110)

Although chicken is definitely the focus, there are other things on the menu such as salads, various types of vegetables, tartare, rice and noodles, and soup.

We were thrilled to learn that you can request half orders of the menu items. For example, the Sweet Corn Tempura (HKD 110) typically comes with four fritters, but we were able to get just a half order of two fritters, one for each of us.

Chicken skin HKD45

Of course, the chicken is the star here, and you have to order at least a few yakitori skewers. Yardbird uses really special local Hong Kong yellow chickens. These chickens, which come from the nearby Sheung Wan market, are slaughtered same day.

According to Chef Abergel, the yellow chickens in Hong Kong are better than any other chicken in the world. He says he has tasted chicken in Japan, Australia, and France, but "nothing comes close in flavour to the Hong Kong yellow chicken."

Come early, for certain choice parts get sold out quickly. This is what the board looked like around 7PM, not even an hour after opening. Sometimes it's surprising to see what's popular.

Chicken Neck with yuzu kosho and pepper was fantastic. [HKD45]

Chicken liver [HKD45]
 
One of my favorites: Chicken Meatball served with tare and an egg yolk (you're supposed to mix the tare with the egg yolk to form a dipping sauce). HKD48

Yum. So good!

Chicken gizzard came covered with crispy garlic. [HKD45]

Bryan loves Chicken hearts, and Yardbird's version, smothered in fresh spring onions and ginger, did not disappoint. [HKD45]
 
We ended the meal with a unusual Chicken and Egg Rice [HKD165]. The chicken fried rice with peas came topped with crispy chicken skin and an onsen egg. Of course we had to break the egg and mix everything up.

This was good too, and it was nice to have some rice to balance out the protein-heavy meal.

Yardbird Hong Kong

I am not at all surprised why this restaurant is so popular. The yakitori is excellent. I especially enjoyed the little creative touches that they put on the various pieces so that it's not just pure chicken chicken chicken. There's yuzu kosho with the neck, crispy garlic with the gizzard, and mounds of spring onions and ginger with the heart.

For even more variety, there are many, many great dishes to choose - everything from tartare, salad, and scotch eggs to fried rice, noodles, and soup. I can't wait to come back and try more things, especially some of those exotic ones that sold out so fast.

Update: Short Video below!

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Yardbird Hong Kong
154-158 Wing Lok Street
Sheung Wan HONG KONG

This is the eighteenth post in the updated #50Postsin50Days – Take 2 Challenge. Other posts in this series will be added to the bottom of the original post.

The post Yardbird Hong Kong appeared first on Tiny Urban Kitchen.

This is the eight post in the series titled Tasting Tour of Tokyo detailing my recent trip to Japan. Other posts include Kikunoi Akasaka, Rokurinsha, Mikawa Zezankyo, Kaoriya, Sushi Sawada, Sushi Aoki, and Street Foods in Tokyo.

Is there really such thing as a "best kept secret"?

After all, good secrets in the food world are hard to keep, and hidden gems quickly gain cult status through word-of-mouth, blog posts, and social media.

But it's hard to keep track of it all. And frankly, even though this tiny coffee shop has gained quite a following in the past year, I had no idea it existed. It's only because of my lunch and subsequent conversation with Shirley of Lovely Lanvin during our ethereal  tempura lunch that I even found out about this place.

Welcome to Omotesando Koffee, one of the most unusual coffee shops I've ever visited.

Omotesando Koffee is most definitely "hidden". The tiny cube of a shop is quite difficult to find. Bryan and I meandered around this ritzy neighborhood in Omotesando quite a few times before we saw this tiny little sign.

Omotesando Koffee is probably unlike any coffee shop you've ever seen. Once you get past the traditional Japanese fence, beyond the lush green plants, you stumble upon this old, tatami-style Japanese home.

Except that it's anything but traditional.

The inside of this Japanese "home" is completely empty except for a large, single cube stuck right in the middle of the house. A lone barista stands inside the cube with his La Cimbali coffee machine and a few snacks.

The menu is simple - variations of iced "koffee", hot "koffee", and some snacks.

One of their most well known snacks or "kashi" is the Baked Custard, tiny cubes that remind me of French canelé (which I love).

I love the Baked Custard, which has a nice, hefty crust yet is gorgeously chewy on the inside. It goes perfectly with my cup of cappuccino. I think it's cute how they serve all of their desserts inside coffee filters. The coffee filters are also printed with the shop name as well as a map of the surrounding area.

The cappuccino is excellent. It's on par with my favorite coffee shops in Cambridge.

Off to the side you can buy other fun coffee related items, such as metal filters, insulated mugs, and even a "cup of coffee" literally made out of coffee beans. Of course, the cube-esque theme is quite pronounced here as well.

As I look around, I realize that I'm very lucky to be able to even visit this place.

You see, Omotesando Koffee was intended to just be a temporary pop-up. In fact, the old Japanese house was slated for destruction sometime in 2012. The original lease was only 12-months long. Owner Eichii Kunitomo's went with this box-like design because it could easily be disassembled and reassembled as it "popped up" around the world.

Things have changed since those original plans. The pop-up became so popular that people didn't really want it to leave the neighborhood. The 12-month lease has since been extended, which means Omotesando Koffee isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Who knows how long it will be before the shop is able to go where it dreams of going, reflected by the long list of destinations on its website? When will it get to actually disassemble and reassemble in a new location, the way it was designed to move?

I guess we'll have to wait and see, though it seems perfectly happy at Omotesando for the moment.

The Facts
This place is not far at all from all the wonderful places to shop in Omotesando (my favorite being Kiddie Land, which I think has one of the best selections of Ghibli & Totoro themed stuff in Tokyo). You can easily walk from Harajuku (another really fun neighborhood to visit) to Omotesando. They are right next to each other.  If you really like walking, you can do what Bryan and I like to do, which is to walk all the way from Shibuya to Harajuku to Omotesando.

One of the most famous tonkatsu restaurants in Tokyo, Maisen, is located just around the corner from this coffee shop. You can easily visit both in one day, maybe grab a coffee here after a meal at Maisen?

This place is cash only. If you need to get cash, there is a 7-11 right around the corner which accepts international debit cards.

This is a fun place to visit, though if you're short on time, I think it's also OK to skip it, especially if your goal is to experience things that are uniquely Japanese. The coffee is good, but not better than the best artisanal coffee shops in the US. Instead, I like to think that it's offering a wonderful opportunity for the Japanese to experience really good coffee, something we're blessed to have in abundance here on this side of the globe.

Update December 2022: the original Omotesando Koffee in Omotesando closed in 2016, but the brand has expanded beyond Japan, opening up multiple locations in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, and even the Philippines. Now that I live in Hong Kong, I'm personally thrilled there are TWO Omotesando Koffee shops within my neighborhood (Wan Chai).

The post Omotesando Koffee appeared first on Tiny Urban Kitchen.

One way of really experiencing truly local Hong Kong fare is to dine at a dai pai dong (大排檔). Literally meaning "big license", it refers to a specific type of restaurant that has a bigger license than a typical street vendor. These special licenses were originally issued after World War II to family members of those who had been killed or disabled in the war.

In 1956, the government stopped issuing new licenses to open air street stalls due to complaints about these outdoor restaurants causing traffic and noise issues. More recently, the government started building indoor "cooked food centres" to move these outdoor restaurants to more sanitary indoor locations.

One of the first restaurants to make this switch was Wai Kee, a Halal Cantonese restaurant that started as a pushcart over 30 years ago.

Wai Kee is now run by 3rd generation owner Osmun Wong. His mother's family is Muslim Chinese from Northern China and they incorporate strict halal practices in their selection and preparation of food.

Wai Kee focuses on perfecting just a few dishes and it does them extremely well. It is most famous for two things: roast duck over rice and curry. The restaurant serves 30-40 ducks a day even though it's only open for 8 hours a day (closes at 6PM, so come early!). They source their ducks directly from China and are very particular about the quality and the method used to cook it.

The duck is indeed tender, flavorful, and juicy. It's an absolute steal at only HKD40 (around $5 USD).

Their other signature dish is a richly flavored curry, which you can get with mutton, chicken, or beef. The mutton is the most famous, though we ordered chicken, which was still delicious. There are bones and it is a bit oily, but the flavors are outstanding.

For fun, we had never tried stewed pomelo (a large citrus similar to a grapefruit but bigger). They take the rind of the pomelo and stew it for a long time in a flavorful broth. What results has the umami of meat and is surprisingly good.

We had a choice of noodles or rice, so we went with rice noodles!

Simple bok choy on the side.

Wai Kee Bowrington Road Cooked Food Centre - General Thoughts

I must confess, initially I had been a bit wary about eating here. I had walked through Bowrington Road Cooked Food Centre but found it a bit chaotic and loud. I had no idea how the rules worked. Should I order somewhere and then sit down? Do I need to speak in Cantonese? What if I can't read the menu?

It wasn't until Bryan's parents came to town that they offered to go with me, and I'm thankful for that!

The experience wasn't that "scary" at all. The menus were actually written in both English and Chinese, and it was pretty easy to order.

All in all, Wai Kee is definitely worth trying. The duck is excellent and the curry is satisfying and flavorful. You can definitely get full here without breaking the bank. Sure, it is a bit loud and chaotic at times. Don't be surprised if you have to share a round table with a bunch of strangers. After all, that's part of the whole local Hong Kong experience. Most importantly, you'll be savoring no-fuss expertly prepared signature dishes at very reasonable prices.

To find the Cooked Food Centre, enter Bowrington Road Market (north side) on the other side of Wan Chai Street, go up the escalator, and then walk back across the foot bridge over Wan Chai Street (again) to enter the Cooked Food Centre. I haven't found any other way to get there as of yet. As far as I know, that is the only way.

Wai Kee Bowrington Road Cooked Food Centre
Shop 5, Bowrington Road Cooked Food Centre
1/F, Bowrington Road Market
21 Bowrington Road, Wanchai
2574 1131

This is the forty-fourth post in the updated #50Postsin50Days – Take 2 Challenge. Other posts in this series will be added to the bottom of the original post.

The post Wai Kee Bowrington Road Cooked Food Centre Wan Chai appeared first on Tiny Urban Kitchen.

There are only three Michelin-starred ramen restaurants in the entire world, and they are all in Tokyo. We in Hong Kong are lucky enough to have TWO of these restaurants also choose to open one or more locations in Hong Kong.

The first ever Michelin-starred ramen in Tokyo (and the world) was Tsuta. The truffle shoyu ramen from Tsuta in Hong Kong is probably my favorite ramen in Hong Kong. When we used to live in Tsim Sha Tsui, I used to go all the time.

The second Michelin-starred ramen restaurant, Nakiryu, is not in Hong Kong . . . yet. The third, Konjiki Hotogisu, opened in Hong Kong in the glitzy IFC Mall in December of 2019.

Konjiki Hototogisu is best known for its clam-based pork bone broth, which is lighter and more clear than the thick milky tonkotsu broths.

The ramen is delicious. The broth was flavorful, the noodles were "al dente", and all in all it was an excellent bowl of ramen. I still have a soft spot for Tsuta, which is still my favorite in Hong Kong, but this one is also quite good.

A second location has just opened in October 2020 in Festival Walk. Now ramen lovers on both Hong Kong Island and Kowloon can have easy access to this delicious ramen from Japan, even if they can't travel to Tokyo right now.

Ramen House Konjiki Hotogisu IFC
Ramen House Konjiki Hotogisu Festival Walk

This is one of many posts that are part of the Eating in Hong Kong During Covid Times challenge of writing 50 posts in 50 days, mostly about Hong Kong. Head over to that link to see a list of all posts in this series.

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Ramen Honda (Tokyo Station Ramen Street)

The post Ramen House Konjiki Hotogisu - Japanese Michelin starred Ramen in Hong Kong appeared first on Tiny Urban Kitchen.