Asagaya Birdland

It’s not often that you’ll find a yakitori shop with a Michelin star, so you might rightly be wondering what all the fuss is about. Well, the quality of the meat is one reason. They use Okukuji Shamo chicken, a type of high-quality “jidori” (free-range chicken) — you’ll know why they’re so prized when you taste the rich, juicy umami of the meat. The second reason is the variety of delicious chicken parts and other dishes on offer. The set meal includes a range of delicious yakitori skewers, vegetable skewers, appetizers, and a chicken and egg rice bowl, too. If you still want further justification, then the atmosphere is also worth mentioning. Watching the highly-skilled chef grill up the dishes over premium binchotan charcoal, with a drink in hand and the smell of delicious meat in the air, is about as perfect an evening as a carnivore could hope for. The owner trained at the Ginza restaurant of the same name, and gained the blessing of the original owner to use the name for this branch. It’s located a little far out from the central areas of Tokyo, next to Asagaya Station in the northwest. This might look far, but geography matters little with the express trains of Tokyo on your side! You can actually reach Asagaya in 12 minutes from Shinjuku. With a 2-minute walk from the station, that’s less than 15 minutes of travel to the shop itself!