Rustic Yakitori

[Traditional Japanese Barbecue]

I've mentioned these magnanimous hosts of mine, the Watanuki family, who so graciously took upon the honor of showing me what Japanese life is all about outside glitzy Tokyo in a previous post.

One of the places we stopped to have lunch on the way to historic Uchiko outside Mastuyama was a very original outpost for yakitori (literally: grilled bird). This place is like no other. Housed in a traditional japanese house, the restaurant exudes an atmosphere, as if you've stepped into another era of bygone days. Traditional wooden floors, wooden pits with charcoals, cast irons rods dangling down from the ceilings, and the smokey essence of food cooked on grill.

[Fukase yakitori in Ehime Perfecture, Shikoku, Japan]

The menu is pretty basic, given the highlight being the bird itself. You grill the meat right in front of you, and they come marinated, and accompanied with these fragrant bunches of a type of vegetable that I can't put a name on it. (They could probably be coined as japanese cilantro.) Here's how you savor the perfectly and freshly grilled morsels: dip them into a sauce, pair them with a chopstick-pinch of rice, and add a tiny slice of pickled radish if you fancy.

There are yet so many places to show and pictures to post from my Japan trip, I'll try to buck up here and serve up my offerings for you!