Momotaro

Occasion: Our first proper dinner in Tokyo
Location: Momotaro in the Ebisu neighborhood of Tokyo (description and exact location in this article)
Edibles: lots o' chicken and skewers - details below.....

Musings: My sister was in Tokyo for business last year, and got taken to this place for dinner. I figured if Sony folks would take business guests here, it must be pretty legit. It wasn't too difficult to find (look for the KFC as a landmark) and, upon entering, I was pleased to see that it was a) tiny, and b) full of actual Japanese people. We ordered the tasting menu, about $35 per person, and waited for the magic to happen.

They started out with a bang - our first dish was chicken sashimi with raw sliced onions and grated ginger. Not for the faint of heart. I was immediately excited, but my mom refused to eat it. My thought process: if they dare to serve it, they must really trust their supplier. (They used to serve chicken sashimi at Yakitori Totto. They took it off the menu a couple of years ago during the avian flu epidemic, and I've always kicked myself for not trying it when I could.)

The chicken sashimi was lovely, very silky and subtle. Would I eat it again? Absolutely. But it wasn't SO special that I feel the need to seek it out stateside.

A proliferation of skewers followed: gizzard; chicken oyster (a part of the thigh); knee; chicken with scallion; chicken meatball; liver with a soy glaze; chicken neck; chicken "entrails" (I still have no idea what this was).

The liver and the neck were wonderful. I don't order liver a lot, but I do really enjoy it when it's prepared well. The chicken oyster was a little greasy compared to Totto's version. Momotaro's meatball was indisputably inferior to Totto's as well. The gizzard and the knee were a tad gristle-y and chewy for my taste (I don't usually order those) but objectively well-executed.

More skewers came: bacon and cheese; bacon and tomato; quail eggs; shiitake and peppers with sauce and bonito; some other kind of mushroom, possibly porcini or matsutake. The quail eggs were surprisingly delicate and tasty.

We got a couple of fried dishes next: deep-fried chicken strips; deep-fried knee; deep-fried something cartilaginous - I thought it was perhaps the keelbone.

We got a salad with some more chicken sashimi, some cold summer rolls with a garlicky sauce and some liver pâté on crostini....

.... and finally some onigiri (rice cakes).

Whew - what a meal! I ended up being a little divided on the chef's tasting. On the one hand, we undoubtedly ate some amazing things that we wouldn't otherwise have ordered. On the other hand, I'm familiar enough with yakitori that I could have done a decent job ordering à la carte, and saved myself crunching through quite a lot of chicken knees....

Bottom line: it was a great meal and I would certainly recommend Momotaro. But I'm also quite smug for NYC that we have some amazing yakitori right here.