Restaurant Review: Yakitori Boy

After some Tai Chi tonight, I went out to try a restaurant in Chinatown that I've been dying to try. I have been there before, I've met this Asian equivelant of an emo twink in April and we went to karaoke at the upstairs establishment called Japas but we haven't tried the food, so I went tonight.

The thing that interest me about Yakitori Boy of course are the yakitoris; meat on little skewers grilled on open fire. It coincides with my love for street foods. I'm estatic about Philadelphia having its own yakitori bar and karaoke house. The other place that I've seen a yakitori restaurant is in San Francisco's Hana Zen.

The Maitre' D was friendly, as she led me inside the dimly lit establishment where I passed by the yakitori bar and the sushi bar to a brighter dining area. The waitress then handed me a big photo album size wine list and a thinner menu, since I seldom enjoy drinking I ignored the wine list. The menu, although thinner, is still the biggest Japanese menu I've seen; Gordon Ramsey would have a field day criticizing how elaborate it is.

It starts with various kind of Udon noodle soup and then progress to appetizers like gyozas, shumais, okonomiyaki (Japanese Pizza) and takoyaki (Pancake Balls with Octopus), fried foods like karaage (Chicken Nuggets), kaki fry (Fried Oysters). Bento boxes, sushi, sashimi, various rolls, hand rolls and chirashis, sobayakis (stir-fry noodles), rice bowl dishes like gyudon (beef on rice) or unadon (BBQ eel on rice). Yakitori wise, there are asparagus, mushrooms, eggplants, chicken with leeks, chicken meatballs, chicken wing, chicken heart, gizzards, skins, small intestines, livers, pork sausage, pork ribs, beef ribs, octopus tentacles, mackarel and smelt.

I ordered some salmon nigiris just to satisfy my salmon addiction, the takoyaki because I miss it and I can never make that at home, one skewer of chicken gizzard, one of chicken, one of chicken meatballs and one of the pork ribs. The pork ribs is the tastiest, it's like bacon but a lot more meaty. The chicken meatballs are surprisingly sweet, maybe brushed with honey, I love the texture of the gizzard. I also ordered a chawanmushi, which is this egg custard with seafood, shiitake mushroom and chives steamed in a teacup. They must have use bonito broth and strain the whole things to make it silky smooth.

I did enjoy my experience there, the staff were really, really friendly, probably because they just opened not long ago and business has suffered from the construction next door. My waitress told me that the sushi chef has 44 years of experience making sushi in Japan and the yakitori chef is also quite authentic. It is meant to be Japanese bar food but since I don't enjoy drinking much, I couldn't feel the full effect. I know a person who would appreciate this place though. I hope this place have enough business to stay open, although they seemed to be a bit on the expensive side. The yakitoris are about $2-3 per skewer, I paid almost $40 just for myself.

I would still go back for a date or some fun.


Center: Dining Area; From Top Left (Clockwise): Ice Green Tea with Takoyaki, Skewered Gizzard and Skewered Chicken; Skewered Pork Ribs and Skewered Chicken Meatballs; Dining Area near Sushi Bar; Chawanmushi.