2008/02/23

Yakitori in Takamatsu

I have found a great place for yakitori in Takamatsu. It's called Daikichi, which I think means "best fortune" or something like that. It's small -- what we would call a "hole in the wall" in America -- but the flavors are delicious and the atmosphere is very nice. I suggest trying tsukune and o-nigiri, as well as various chicken parts. Let me give you some background on what yakitori is. The chef will put small pieces of meat on a thin bamboo stick and grill them with sauce right in front of you. Use your chopsticks to slide the pieces of meat off of the stick and onto your small dish, and then to eat with. When you have finished, put the bamboo stick into the small jar on the counter. Eat the o-nigiri (rice ball) with your hands, because it is cooked to have a crisp shell and is easy to hold but difficult to cut with chopsticks. If I can get hold of the exact address, I'll post it, but I would say it is not a far distance from another excellent restaurant called Surfers. Both are not a terrible distance from "Number One Hotel." Any taxi can take you right to it from downtown Takamatsu for about 500 yen ($5). Expect to spend about 1200 yen ($12) at the restaurant, unless you feel like trying lots and lots of food. English is somewhat spoken at Surfers by a man named Jiro, but it is not spoken at Daikichi, as far as I know.

In related news, the New York Times today published an article about the Michelin Guide's Japanese edition. The guide had to adjust its rating system because it found so many excellent restaurants. However, one response was, basically, "Japanese food was created by Japanese people, so how can we rely on a bunch of foreigners to tell us what is good or bad?" Hmm, good point. Perhaps a Japanese writer could solve the problem. In any case, I'll continue to review places that I like, even if it is from a foreign point of view.

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