Dinner at Yakitori Ichimatsu

My first fine dining restaurant on my 4th trip to Japan starts with Yakitori Ichimatsu in Osaka.

To be truthful, I have never been to an izakaya and go all out on yakitori so I came in to Yakitori Ichimatsu with not much idea on what to expect.

Still, yakitori is one of the cheaper and more accessible food genres when it comes to Japan’s fine dining.

Yakitori Ichimatsu is one of the highest rated places in Osaka for yakitori, and it has earned one Michelin star and is rated at ~4 stars in Tabelog!

Yakitori Ichimatsu uses Hinai-jidori chicken, which are highly prized chicken known for their tender and juicy meat. They were raised in certain environment that eating the meat raw would be deemed as safe.

How to Reserve Yakitori Ichimatsu

Yakitori Ichimatsu needs reservation. I reserved through Omakase.in around one month in advance. There are 13 seats total, with 8 of them in the counter where you can see Chef Hideto Takeda and his staff do the grilling action.

Difficulty wise, it’s not very difficult to get reservation as long as you do them far enough in advance.

There are three timeslots: 4pm, 6pm, and 8pm (9pm on Saturdays).

I only managed to snatch the 4pm slot which is an early dinner. The restaurant recommend skipping lunch if you have a 4pm reservation.

The Food

The meal starts off with a piece of cheese with consistency like tofu in chicken broth.

Seeing Chef Takeda do his thing was wonderful! He apparently won a hotdog grilling contest once with a European friend of his when asked for his grilling expertise.

Then, the first skewer follows: chicken breast skewer with splashes of wasabi. It was nicely cooked with texture that’s easy to chew for chicken breast.

The thigh is next. Very juicy with crispy skin on the biggest piece.

Quail egg shortly follows with scrambled yolk inside for some gooey goodness.

Next is the chicken prosciutto from a dry-aged chicken. It’s shown with a ham stand.

The prosciutto can be toasted a little bit if you don’t wish to eat it fully raw.

Raw chicken in Japan is a delicacy and is supposedly safe, but I didn’t want to risk it since my time at Ichimatsu is during the beginning of my trip.

Health complications could lead to non-refundable cancellations on other restaurants and being ill during vacation just isn’t my idea of fun.

The next piece after is the chicken wing that’s my personal favorite piece!

The skin’s perfect with the golden brown color. So crispy!

Then the shiitake mushroom is served for a different flavor profile.

Chicken sando (sandwich) with fluffy milk bread with dill and pickles for some more carbs.

Then, there’s the most unusual piece. Chicken skewer coated with charcoal powder!

The exterior has similar texture to a chocolate bar, but a little bit softer and taste somewhat sweet with smoky aftertaste. Powder residue sort of melts in your mouth once you take a bite.

Afterwards, a bowl of chicken parts with citrus and ponzu helped clear out the smokiness of the last skewer.

Then, duck with ginger served in a bowl is given. Very tender.

Chicken neck is next. I never had chicken neck meat in a big piece of skewer before. Very soft texture.

Chicken liver in peppery goodness!

Tamago with rice inside. Very interesting!

It’s then made into sushi with the seaweed wrap.

Next, we got to sample roasted coffee with Miyazaki-style grilling technique. The grilling method was enchanting to see. The coffee taste was good, but nothing special.

Another round of organs, the heart this time!

Then, the final skewer piece, the chicken meatball. It has a mild spice to it.

Then, we were presented freshly cooked chicken rice.

The rice’s texture was splendid. I can feel each grain and is not as soggy as many Japanese fried rice is. It’s served with a hearty chicken broth on the side and small pieces of butter to mix with the rice for better taste.

After this, you may request 2 more pieces if you wish. I ordered the chicken wing and thigh again.

Conclusion

I had a nice time dining at Yakitori Ichimatsu! It’s a great introduction to high-end yakitori with a very reasonable price. I spent around 17,000 yen including the drinks of different hot teas I sampled and extra 2 pieces of skewers.

I may return again, but I would like to try out other yakitori places before doing so.