A note on the words: yakitori is chicken grilled in bite-sized pieces on bamboo skewers, and otoshi is the small appetizer you are charged for on sitting down — not a scam, but the cover charge. Tsukune is a skewer of minced chicken shaped into a ball or log, and tsukimi, literally moon-viewing, is the usual Japanese name for a dish finished with a raw egg yolk. Zuri is the yakitori word for gizzard, and tataki is meat or fish seared only on the outside and served rare within. Shiokara is a salt-cured seafood paste, here scented with yuzu, a fragrant Japanese citrus; sansho is the tingling Japanese pepper, and ponzu is a citrus-and-soy sauce. Take, meaning bamboo, is the middle rank in the old pine-bamboo-plum grading Japanese restaurants use for set courses.
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Yakitori Sadajuro Azabu-juban on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. This time I decided to try “Yakitori Sadajuro Azabu-juban,” a yakitori place in Azabu-juban. There is no shortage of yakitori restaurants, but Sadajuro is such a striking name for one that it had been on my mind. It sits a little off the main street of the Azabu-juban shopping arcade — up the gentle slope, on the higher side!
A chic, handsome entrance!
Five-Skewer Yakitori Set — 2,980 yen
Seven-Skewer Yakitori Set — 3,900 yen
Sadajuro Take Set — 4,300 yen
This time I ordered the five-skewer yakitori set and then added whatever else we wanted from the menu as we went.
The Sadajuro Highball, a highball bearing the restaurant’s own name.
I asked what makes it different, and was told there is sansho on the rim of the glass! Lovely — it is crisper than an ordinary highball and delicious! So a sansho highball it was for the evening.
A set of three: grated daikon, chicken broth and so on.
A vegetable dressing, perhaps? The house-made oil dressing is delicious.
Breast meat from Hakata Ichiban-dori chicken, wrapped in its skin and skewered — tender and yet juicy, with real bite to it.
Wonderfully juicy, the juices bursting out with every bite. So good. I want more of this!!!
This tsukune is lovely! Grilled until properly fragrant, and eaten with the tsukimi sauce that comes with it, the sweetness picks up a toasted, faintly bitter accent while the chicken’s savor fills it out. Very nice!
Straight off the grill is the best, is it not!
Something like a green pepper stuffed with minced chicken! I have been coming around to green peppers lately.
Not grilled all the way through but left with a bit of crispness — peppers and chicken really do go together.
This one has a proper texture too, and is tender and delicious.
That is probably the basic five-skewer set done? From here we went on ordering various things a la carte.
Chicken skin with ponzu! A standard drinking snack, of course.
Nicely firm to the bite and delicious.
So — I came to Sadajuro this time, and even the five-skewer set had enough substance to leave me satisfied with the course! If it is not quite enough, adding a few small dishes on top is all you need. The value is pretty good too, so I thought this could easily become a regular haunt. The place is stylish as well. A good restaurant.
Yakitori Sadajuro Azabu-juban (Yakitori / Azabu-juban Station, Roppongi Station, Akabanebashi Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.4
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
