Meat on a stick. Is there a finer delicacy in all the world? Kofta, shish kebab, satay, anticuchos, souvlaki. Delicious. And who could forget Japan’s contribution to the world of skewered snacks, yakitori. 

One of the best places in Sydney for an authentic yakitori experience is ​​Yakitori Yurippi in Crows Nest. The small, bustling izakaya has been operating on Falcon Street for 9 years, before recently relocating to a slick new space across the road. 

The former three-storey Bravo Trattoria has been transformed into a Japanese food temple by the Hatena Group, with Yurippi 2.0 on the ground floor, new soup spot Ramen Auru on the middle level and and Japanese sports bar Ichiros up top.  

Brush past the noren curtains and wave away the sweet smoke to reveal a cosy timber-pannelled room with hanging paper lanterns and vintage beer posters on the wall. Instead of the usual tables and chairs, guests sit at long snaking counters, facing towards the food, rather than each other. “A lot of Japanese yakitori shops will have these counter seats where you face the chefs and they take your order and serve you the yakitori straight from the grill,” says Hatena Group co-owner Mitomo Somehara. 

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Yakitori translates as ‘grilled bird’ and chicken is indeed the preferred protein at Yurippi. Here, the bird is broken down into all conceiveable parts, offering a true head-to-talon experience. 

The most popular skewer here and everywhere is the negima, a threaded brochette of chicken and shallot, which pairs the tender, fatty meat with the sweetness of scorched onion. But don’t stop there. Go hard on the soft bone, which is made from grilled breast cartilage. It has a mild flavour, but extremely satisfying crunch. 

Follow up with the chicken liver, heart or gizzard. The offal cuts are clean and rich, best enjoyed with a sprinkle of salt. We’re particularly partial to the chicken skin, threaded onto the stick like a shiny ribbon, which manages to be both crisp and juicy all at once. 

Each cut is lightly lacquered in a house-made tare before being cooked over long-burning Ogatan charcoal on a traditional konro grill. There’s no tongs on this barbecue. The yakitori chefs turn the skewers with their gloved hands, constantly rotating them to ensure they’re caramelised on all sides. 

“We want the ingredients to be the real star, so most of our skewers are seasoned with just salt or with our homemade Yakitori sweet soy. It’s all about bringing out the flavour meat,” says Hatena Gr​​oup co-owner Tin Jung Shea.

Beyond the bird bits, there’s a short rib skewer basted in a sesame-spiked yakiniki sauce, and a spear of buttery soft cod, slathered in a sticky miso. 

Even the rice is cooked on the grill. Burnished rice balls (yaki onigiri) are brushed with a sweet miso sauce and cooked over the flames until almost bruleed. Wrap it up with a nori sheet and eat it with your hands. 

There’s also okra with bonito flames, miso ox tongue and burdock root chips. For the best experience, don’t just stick to what you know. 

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