Buzz
Established since 1921, Isehiro has gained fame as one of Tokyo's longest-standing and most delicious yakitori spots.
Isehiro: Tokyo's Legendary Yakitori Spot Open for Nearly 100 Years
Located in Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, right at the heart of Japan's capital, just a 5-minute walk from Tokyo Station, Isehiro specializes in serving yakitori (grilled chicken skewers). Established in 1921 (two years before the catastrophic Kanto earthquake), it holds the title of the oldest yakitori joint in Tokyo.
This culinary destination has catered to numerous famous figures over the course of nearly a century. Among them, Ozu Yasujiro, the iconic filmmaker of all times in Japan, was also a regular patron of the eatery.
The first floor of the establishment is quite small with only a few seating spots. The second floor is larger but still relatively compact with limited tables, traditional tatami seating. It's the type of dining spot primarily serving patrons who want to host business discussions rather than catering to tourists.
Isehiro's yakitori is praised for its deliciousness, although the meat is sometimes overcooked, but overall, the flavor and appearance are attractive. The restaurant sources its ingredients from various places around Tokyo, with the owner selecting only the finest ingredients, such as salt from a handcrafted salt workshop in Shizuoka.
According to the author of Explore Old Tokyo, a website specializing in introducing dining and entertainment venues in Tokyo, he visited the restaurant for dinner and tried the skewered yakitori. The restaurant typically provides guests with a metal plate instead of chopsticks for removing the chicken from the skewers before eating. Diners should not eat the chicken directly from the skewers and can add a little sansho (Japanese pepper) or shichimi (a blend of 7 spicy herbs) to the chicken.
Most yakitori on menus resemble dango, a type of sweet dumpling, but are called Tsukune (chicken meatballs and skewered chicken cartilage). However, at Isehiro, the chicken meatballs are skewered tightly together, without any gaps in between. The restaurant uses binchotan, a famous charcoal, to impart the purest flavor to the grilled dishes. This charcoal has been used since the Edo period (1603 - 1868) and is made from oak trees grown in Wakayama prefecture.
What attracts customers to the restaurant is not only the delicious food, reasonable prices, and long history, but also curiosity about the palate of the legendary director Ozu Yasujiro. It is said that he had a favorite seat in the restaurant. It was in a small tatami-matted room where he could quietly enjoy skewered yakitori and leave as quietly as he arrived. The period when he often dined at Isehiro was in 1953.
Isehiro opens from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM for lunch and from 4:30 PM to 9:00 PM for dinner every day, closed on Sundays. The price for lunch starts from 5,500 yen (approximately 1,100,000 Vietnamese dong) and for dinner from 8,000 yen (approximately 1,700,000 Vietnamese dong). Thanks to its popularity, the restaurant has expanded into a chain with branches in many other places such as New Otani Hotel, Ginza, and Nihombashi district.
According to Huong Chi/Vnexpress
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Reference: Travel guide from Mytour
MytourJune 29, 2018
