A note on the words: yakitori refers to skewered chicken grilled over charcoal, ordered here seasoned simply with salt to show off the freshness of the meat. Sasami is chicken tenderloin, kept tender and moist on the grill, while momo is chicken thigh. Nankotsu is chicken cartilage, here specifically yagen nankotsu (the soft keel cartilage from the breastbone), prized for its crisp crunch, and reba is chicken liver. Shochu is a Japanese distilled spirit, enjoyed here made from barley and cut with club soda.
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Yakitori Ueno Bunraku on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. There are quite a few famous drinking spots in Ueno. One of them is “Yakitori Ueno Bunraku”. It is always packed and nearly impossible to get into, but when I called out to check, there was a single open seat toward the back. Lucky! So I decided to drop in for a quick drink. The shop is said to have been going for 60 years, and it has the worn-in look to match.
Nankotsu (cartilage) — 250 yen
Momo (thigh) — 350 yen
Kawa (skin) — 350 yen
Tsukune (minced chicken ball) — 350 yen
Reba (liver) — 250 yen
Tebasaki (chicken wing) — 250 yen
Apparently, they make a point of never using frozen chicken, relying only on what is fresh that day.
After mulling over what to eat, I decided to order skewers a la carte.
Now, the drink to go with the yakitori: barley shochu with soda!
I have really been into this lately. It keeps carbs, calories and purines down! (Though if you drink a ton of it, that completely defeats the point, ha.)
Starting with the sasami (chicken tender)!
Plump and juicy, with not a trace of dryness! Delicious.
It feels just like what you would get at a high-end yakitori spot. To think you can eat something like this at a plain little counter in the street in Ueno.
I have a real weakness for yagen nankotsu (the soft keel cartilage from the breastbone).
Fresh off the grill, it is sizzling, juicy and delicious. That crunchy cartilage texture is irresistible. Yagen nankotsu is especially good with salt. In fact, I asked for everything with salt this time, and perhaps because they use fresh chicken, the natural flavor of the meat really stands out. The liver has no off-putting smell either! You have to be mindful about getting enough iron, so getting it in such a delicious way is great. The momo (thigh) is tender and juicy too. Boy, does this make the shochu go down easily.
Since I intended this to be just a quick stop, I wrapped things up after two glasses of shochu and four skewers. The yakitori was truly delicious, and I felt I could see why this place is so popular. In any case, it is a bustling, crowded spot, so lingering for hours doesn’t feel very smart; dropping in briefly, eating a bit and moving on to the next place is probably the better way to do it, ha.
Yakitori Ueno Bunraku (Izakaya / Keisei Ueno Station, Ueno-okachimachi Station, Okachimachi Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.7
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
