Jomon Yakitori Shibuya Tokyo • Japanese Soul Food 博多串焼専門店ジョウモン

Jomon 博多串焼専門店ジョウモン | Japan, 〒150-0043 Tokyo, Shibuya, Dogenzaka, 2 Chome−19−2 ムルギー階3階 🚅 10 minutes walk from Shibuya station ☎ +81 36 416 1633 🕖 5pm - 11:30pm

Jomon is an atmospheric, lively yakitori in backstreet Shibuya, Tokyo. The food was nice and sake selection was good - we had a great time here.

The moment we dropped our bags in the hotel, we stepped right back into the throbbing streets of Tokyo. The main streets of Shibuya were seas of bobbing heads. There were lots and lots of tourists 🤭

The legendary Shibuya Scamble with straight and diagonal crossings. I think some people crossed back and forth for the fun of it 😂

Buddy is a visit-Tokyo veteran, and we came to backstreet Jomon yakitori located on the second level.

Yeah in Tokyo, every level of buildings are fully utilised, so do not neglect those businesses on the higher floors. There are many hidden gems above eye level.

They let us in before the yakitori opened for dinner. The chef was still setting up the charcoal grill. The food were kept in display chillers at the bar counter.

It's a good idea to be early, especially without reservations. Restaurants are usually small in Japan and they get full fast, especially in popular areas. Queues form quickly and one to two hour waits are normal.

There were paper menus as well as point and shoot menus.

The friendly staff will help you though they speak limited English or other foreign languages. Japanese service standards are top notch even though they don't have a tipping custom.

The chef and his crew called out food orders to each other, bringing food street atmospherics of old Tokyo into the room.

Yakitori has very humble beginnings. In Japanese, it is literally 炭火烧鳥 "charcoal fire grilled birds". In the old days, chicken was a luxury only the rich could afford. The peasants ate wild birds, hence 烧鳥.

Street side stalls or yatai serving grilled birds appeared in Tokyo during the Edo period (1603 - 1868 when Japan shut itself from foreign trade and influence).

During the Meiji period (1868 - 1912), yatai started serving grilled kitchen discard chicken parts. Bite size chicken innards were added to Yakitori menus, hence chicken butts, gizzard, liver, heart, skin, spleen, intestine, even keel bone, etc, exotic stuff which are still popular today.

I love these parts 🤭 Chicken neck on the left, right chicken heart.

Then, as Japan became more affluence, wealth trickled down, "proper" chicken meat and other meats (e.g. pork, seafood) were added to the yakitori menu.

Yakitori culture boomed from the 1950s with the introduction of the affordable American broiler chicken breed at a time when post-Pacific War Japan was at the cusp of the Japanese Economic Miracle.

Now, everyone can enjoy yakitori. Today, imagination and preferences are the only limits to what meats go into a yakitori skewer.

Look! The grill was full house.

The yakitori chef was skillful and everything was done to perfection. The room was filled with the smokey aroma of grilled meat.

Scallop wrapped with bacon. There was a smokey taste while the natural flavours and juicy crunchy texture of the ingredients were well retained.

Yakitori is Japanese soul food, delicious and steeped in history and culture.

You have to experience the camaraderie of a yakitori meal when you are here, especially if you are a BBQ fan.

Yakitori is great together with spirits and Jomon has a good range of sake but we were saving our bladders and livers for the countless sake bars of Shibuya (more on that later 🤭 ).