Jin Kichi

We were here on 1 Feb 2022, and my regret was that I should have checked the photos in more detail instead of relying on others’ 5 star ratings. The skewers were obviously burnt in most recent photos, and for our dinner here almost all of the skewers ordered were burnt.
Have a closer look at my photos and you’ll see. The tsukune (chicken meatballs) don’t seem burnt, but that’s because the chef had the genius of flipping the burnt side down (obviously knowing that burnt isn’t good), while not giving the usual egg yolk / tare sauce, yet the tsukune wasn’t brushed / dipped enough when it was cooked so the flavour was only superficial and somewhat bland.
The ox tongues were burnt, tough and bitter. The chicken wings, a usually very lenient part of the chicken that stays moist unless you seriously screw it up, was so burnt that the tip of the bones turned to ash (pardon the bones photo). The tips were essentially cremated and turned into ash.
The chicken thigh skewers used a rather non traditional onion instead of leeks, which naturally tasted weird. But “innovation” aside, the meat was again so burnt that it tasted bitter.
As the photo of the grill shows, some of the skewers on there were already burnt, and the chef still kept them there without any care. One main issue I saw is that when there is flame flare up due to oil dripping down, the chef just let the skewers sit IN the flame. That is how these skewers got so burnt that they may well be carcinogenic. The meal was disastrously bad since all but a couple of the skewers we ordered were not burnt. This was probably the first time we chose not to order a second round of skewers at a yakitori, despite having half a bottle of sake left.
The question, then, is that whether this is “traditional”. Definitely not. None of the Japanese skewer restaurants I’ve been to in Japan, Hong Kong or elsewhere serves their skewers bitter. Yes, the environment reminded me of some yakitori shops, especially how crammed everything were, but that alone means nothing.
Most interestingly, if we go back a bit further in the Google map photos, the skewers actually looked more decent a few years ago. It is unfortunate that standards have slipped so significantly.
I seriously hope that this one star review will encourage the owner and chef of Jin Kichi to up their act and serve proper skewers. If you can’t manage grilling for so many diners at the same time, limit capacity. Please don’t scam the “gaijins” who don’t know their yakitori into thinking that burnt skewers are ok. Because I’m sure you know that burnt skewers are never ok, and shouldn’t be served.