Tomozuna in Yokohama

I’ve previously been to places that served yakitori, but never to a yakitori-ya specialty restaurant like Tomozuna in Yokohama that serves only yakitori. They take yakitori very seriously. You sit at a counter, like you would at a sushi omakasé restaurant and the food is prepared by a master chef behind the counter who is slicing chicken parts and grilling them on skewers over very hot binchotan charcoal then plating on small individual plates. Everything is made to order.

I was brought here by my friends in Yokohama who were not sure if I would enjoy such a meal, since I was still new to Japan. Sushi and ramen quickly became popular in the US, but not yakitori. Even today, yakitori restaurants are rare. Sure, some Japanese restaurants and izakayas offer yakitori on the menu, but that’s not the same quality and experience as a specialty yakitori restaurant.

Tomozuna uses the relatively rare Yamato Gunkei chicken, a Japanese heritage breed that was originally bred for cockfighting because of its tough nature. It is prized for its flavorful and juicy meat in Japan and abroad.

The chicken is grilled over Kishu Binchotan, the luxurious charcoal that’s the gold standard of binchotan. Its intense heat burns and smokes the drippings and cooks the chicken evenly resulting in a most flavorful, smokey, yakitori.

Master Chef Saito-san was an Olympic medal winner (Judo I believe) and uses his physical skills to move efficiently and quickly in front of the grill.

He uses a massive slab of Ginkgo with a live edge for his cutting board. Ginkgo is the best for cutting as it doesn’t dull knives and its natural oil helps it to dry quickly. I use a few boards at home for cutting fish for sashimi and sushi.

I haven’t been back to Tomozuna for several years, but maybe I’ll be in Yokohama again this year.