Yakitori Kohane (Hamamatsu, Tabelog 4.16)

I’ll preface this by saying yakitori is far from my strong suit, and I had a companion from Foodies Prime dining with me, so I won’t be able to go into too much detail about the courses that weren’t particularly memorable. I haven’t seen any write-ups on this place on Reddit though, so I figured I might as well share my experience.

Kohane’s claim to fame is that they use Amagi Shamo (a breed that has its roots in fighting roosters) that are shinkei-jime’d. Shamo are usually on the firmer, springier side of texture but I can’t really say if butchering them shinkeijime makes a noticeable difference. One thing that did stand out though, is that they have an actual pastry chef on the team, which means you get some nice touches throughout the course, and an actual, full-blown dessert which is quite unusual for a yakitori restaurant.

Highlights included:

Male and Female Breast – skin like glass and bursting with clean umami. Felt that the male had more bite than the female which is what I usually prefer for yakitori.

Dakimi – another breast cut, which I enjoyed for similar reasons. Perfect skin, and long, clean finish

Genboku shiitake – this was pretty crazy tbh, zero unpleasant aroma and bursting with shroom juice. Probably the second best shiitake I’ve had outside of Chiune

Liver pate with sweet potato and cream – this dish was devised by the pastry chef. Personally really enjoyed the somewhat dessert-y additions as the added sweetness and cream stopped the dish from feeling too heavy. Liver mousse pate was also excellent and had 0 irony odor.

Male and Female Wings – so much fat in these wings and tbh the ape in me just really enjoys the act of gnawing some really tasty chicken off the bone.

Black Tea Financier – textbook financier and really loved the black tea accent which paired perfectly with the spiced ice cream in the next course

Spiced milk ice cream, crepe suzette – ice cream was super smooth with the spice notes balancing the rich milk flavor out well. Seconds were offered but I was too full much to my chagrin.

I haven’t been to enough of the famous yakitori places to make concrete comparisons, but I really enjoyed my meal here, with the caveat that yakitori isn’t a genre I tend to seek out too much. Course came out to 19k with 1 extra skewer and 2 non-alcoholic drinks, inclusive of 2 carb dishes which were refillable, refillable ice cream, and a take-home bento for each guest.

The biggest caveat here is the restaurant being located in Hamamatsu, which means I’d only recommend it to people who love yakitori enough to spend the time and money getting there, or people who can make a double header out of it with one of the many other great restaurants in Shizuoka. I personally wouldn’t mind returning, although I doubt that’ll happen anytime soon as yakitori isn’t anywhere near the top of my priorities.

Reservations are limited to Japanese numbers on Omakase I believe, and while I didn’t ask for a follow-up reservation, chef said it’d be ok to DM on Instagram as long as you have visit history.