Our fabulous guide Nino had a special evening planned for us after more than a full day of touring Tokyo as we headed to the busiest intersection in the world and then secreted around the corner to a tiny, deserted lane called Nonbei Yokocho, famous for its street food counters. Our destination early the evening (hence "deserted") was a small door and up a very narrow stairway (narrower than the lyrics in "A Chorus Line")(check out the FB fotos) to an 8-seat counter where the owner's son was chef, ably assisted by his aunt.
We were alone for at the counter for over an hour until a couple arrived, so the chef was quite chatty (with Nino translating) as we devoured every bite. The restaurant is called TORIFUKU which means "happiness from chicken" and that's exactly what our evening was all about. Of course, there was delicious sake constantly pouring and we marveled at how they managed so many different dishes in the tiny space that you could not even stand up tall in.
Everything here is done yakitori style or grilled on skewers starting with Chicken Hinei with Leeks, moving to the spicier Akadori or red chicken. You could add daikon if u wanted different flavors and there were also two homemade sauces one of Japanese red pepper and the other Soy & Yuzu, both were great as we migrated back and forth and kept getting new plates full of food, such as the chicken with fried crispy skin.
I asked specifically for the heart and livers skewer which Will graciously passed to me after a bite and I loved; also, the quail eggs were novel and fun. Minced chicken was in a roulade, and everything was finished off with a chicken soup with Japanese honey wort (definitely competition for Jewish penicillin) cooked in a 93-year-old soup pot with a recipe from the chef's grandparents that was also as old, when they first opened the place!
Meanwhile, it was still early when we finished and Nino insisted we enjoy the neighborhood some more with a stop for some snacks and Japanese whiskey or drinks at another small "speakeasy" with 8 seats on the ground level where one woman singlehandedly was cooking, mixing drinks and more...what a delicious way to end the evening.
