Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tasty Skewer of Chicken and Scallion
at a local Torikizoku (鳥貴族) restaurant
I've recently been taking a fancy to yakitori (grilled skewered chicken), and especially the crunchy nankotsu variety.
“Torikizoku” is a chain of yakitori restaurants whose thing is that everything on the menu is 280 yen (plus tax, making each item currently about US$2.60), so the menu is just a list of items.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 40mm — 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Two Items to Start With
Any drink is “one item”, and this includes a normal serving of Suntory Premium Malts beer (seen on my blog in “A Visit to Suntory’s Kyoto Beer Brewery”), making the price comparable to the cost of a can in a convenience store, instead of the about-double price a restaurant normally charges. It's a wonderful value for a tasty beer, but even better is the Octoberfest-class jug of Kinmugi (金麦) seen above. It seems to be about a liter, and is the same $2.60 price as the Premium Malts despite being about twice the size, because the relative proportions of the ingredients falls outside Japan's legal definition of “beer”, so it's taxed much less than “beer”. Just as tasty.
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Indeed
“Enjoy Rich Taste in Relaxing Time”
The bowl of cabbage to nibble on with your chicken is also $2.60, which is perhaps steep for a bowl of cabbage, but unlike other items, this one is bottomless so you have it refilled as often as you like.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wave Two
a salad and some chicken sausages
All the meat items come in pairs, on skewers, so the two sausages above are $2.60 for the pair.
As you are done with each skewer, you put it in a bamboo receptacle on the table...
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
One Down
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48mm — 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
More
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Chicken and Scallion
Three servings (6 skewers)
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nankotsu
Four servings (8 skewers)
These patterns repeat, with the occasional other item thrown in. I tend to stop eating nankotsu when they run out.
“Nankotsu” is cartilage, and in this case, they're chicken knees. Sounds yucky, but sooo tasty.
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
End of the Meal
Everything looks delicious. but surely you didn’t eat all that by yourself, did you?
What was that dab of something in the corner of the sausage plate?
Interesting that cabbage is the equivalent of chips often served with beer.
For some reason, the egg in the salad looked especially good.
I didn’t see chopsticks or are the skewers used for eating the salad?
The photos are from two outings… the first outing I was by myself at the counter, which didn’t give me enough depth to get the wide shots I wanted. My bill when I was by myself was for 14 items…. two beers, salad, cabbage, and 10 meat-item pairs. So yeah, I ate it all. It’s yummy. Dab in the corner of the sausages is dijon mustard. The cabbage goes with the chicken. Beer and cabbage alone would not be satisfying, but cabbage and chicken (and beer) make a great combo. Definately used chopsticks for the salad… just didn’t seem to capture them in the photo. —Jeffy
As always I’m impressed with your food photography! On this occasion, how did you manage swapping lenses between the 125 and the 24-70 while eating?
I’ve never been accused of being a classy or dignified eater, but I am indeed able to put the food down long enough to change lenses. Just barely. —Jeffrey
Looks very yammy!, I hope to be in Japan this year and will ask you to take me there 🙂