Yakitori
A wide variety of skewered chicken delights

About Yakitori

If you take a stroll through the lively streets of Fukuoka’s Hakata district at night, you’re bound to encounter plenty of yakitori restaurants. In fact, Hakata boasts the highest number of yakitori spots per 100,000 people in all of Japan.

Yakitori (焼き鳥, grilled skewered chicken) menus here are impressively diverse, offering everything from chicken skin, gizzards, liver, breast, meatballs, cartilage, scallions and chicken thigh, to bonjiri (chicken tail), tenderloins, and wings. A hallmark of Fukuoka-style yakitori is the way every part of the chicken—meat, organs, and even cartilage—is savored to the fullest.

Step into a yakitori shop, and you’ll typically be served a large plate of cabbage drizzled with ponzu sauce as a starter. As freshly grilled skewers come off the grill, they’re placed on top of the cabbage for you to enjoy one by one. Interestingly, the cabbage is often provided free of charge—a quirky aspect of Fukuoka’s unique and fascinating yakitori culture that surprises visitors from all over Japan!

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