Isehiro is a yakitori restaurant with a Showa-era ambiance. It was established in 1921, which makes it the oldest yakitori restaurant in Tokyo. Due to its popularity Isehiro evolved into an upscale chain restaurant with a branch in the New Otani Hotel.
Yakitori is a type of Japanese cuisine that features skewers of succulent chicken parts that have be delicately dissected from a whole chicken. They are dipped in barbecue sauce or sprinkled with salt and then grilled to perfection over hot, aromatic charcoals.
They are using ubame-binchotan charcoal for an authentic taste. This type of charcoal dates back to the Edo period (1603-1868) when this charcoal made from oak wood from Wakayama prefecture became widely used.
You can adjust the taste with sanshō (Japanese pepper) or shichimi (7 herbs, very spicy). I had one of the evening courses in which the yakitori come one by one. Course items include 10 skewers of goodness and two sides.
First up is the traditional ささみ Sasami (lightly grilled with salt and garnished with wasabi). The chicken breast was grilled to medium rare (yes, rare) and served with a dap of freshly grated wasabi. Japan is the only place on earth that I dare to eat raw chicken.
砂肝 Sunagimo (chicken gizzards grilled with salt) is a test of skills for yakitori masters. They did not make the cut as the lower half was alright, but the top half was too cooked.
うずら卵 Uzura tamago (quail eggs) dipped in their special sauce. OK.
葱巻 Negi maki (grilled chicken slices wrapped around shishito, mushroom and leeks) is more like negi (leeks) wrapped by chicken. Huge cuts of leeks were wrapped around with chicken thigh meat stretched across the leeks. The chicken oil gave the sweet leeks some smokiness.
団子 Dango (chicken meatballs with sauce) is the most popular item on the menu. Not a sweet dango, this is similar to what at other yakitori restaurants you would call Tsukune, which are chicken meatballs with small pieces of cartilage. Special at Isehiro is that there is no space between the balls, not such a world-shocking innovation, but tasty nonetheless.
皮身 Kawa (chicken skin grilled with salt) was grilled to crispy goodness. But I think they were in a rush to close shop so they missed some parts of the skins which became chewy.
They were out of 肝類 Kimo-rui (chicken heart and liver grilled with sauce), so we got another stick of もも肉 Momoniku (chicken thigh with leeks in sweet sauce).
合鴨 Aigamo (grilled duck breast with salt) is not usually found in a yakitori shop. This grilled duck breast was deliciously tender and juicy.
手羽 Teba (chicken wing grilled with salt) included the mid wing as well as the drumbeat. Quite uncommon among yakitori restaurants as most only served the mid joints.
The first of two sides was 特製鶏スープ special chicken broth made from boiling lots of chicken bones to produce a delicious and light consommé.
もろきゅう moro kyū pickled cucumber is nice palate cleanser two-third into the meal.
Taking the chicken of the skewers is very easy at this restaurant as you get a dedicated tool to do that. It’s a metal stick with one of the ends bent 90 degrees. No clumsy manoeuvring with chopsticks to take those pieces off (and by the way, you are not supposed to eat directly from the skewer).
And what best to wash down all these grilled and barbecue? An ice cold beer. But they were rushing to close at 9.30pm, we had to adjourn to another spot for a night cap.
The yakitori was very good, and the ingredients came from various places in and around Tokyo. Only the best ingredients are selected, such as hand-made salt from Shizuoka. Getting a yakitori served one by one on a white plate makes that plate rather dirty after you had a few. Just wished they changed the plate midway.
Kyobashi Isehiro (Hotel New Otani branch) 伊勢廣 ホテルニューオータニ店
4 Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0094, Hotel New Otani Main Building Arcade Floor
〒102-0094 千代田区紀尾井町４−１ホテルニューオータニ ザ･メイン アーケード階
Tel : +81 3-3221-4101
Visited Mar 2025
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