Feeling a bit adventurous?
We highly recommend Bird's Nest Yakitori & Bar in West End. Bird's Nest specializes in traditional Japanese Yakitori or as you may call them...skewers.
They recently celebrated their first birthday and we were thrilled to be invited to check out the menu. Believe it or not, we had never been to a traditional Yakitori restaurant before! So we weren't sure what to expect...
The restaurant is small and boasts a very fun, relaxed atmosphere. On our visit we noticed many groups gathered around the large dining tables enjoying a yakitori feast and knocking back a few glasses of sake!
One thing we really love about the restaurant's lay out is that you can watch the chef in action! We sat at the bar where there was nothing but a thin sheet of glass separating us from the chef's grill. We were completely mesmerized by how skilled the team at Bird's Nest are. They were cooking so many different yakitori at once.... I can only imagine the mayhem that would ensue if I attempted to do this at home...
Yakitori translates in English to "Grilled Bird" but Bird's Nest has so many other skewer options. Being yakitori newbies we were a bit overwhelmed. Luckily, Bird's Nest offers the Omakase Course which gives you a nice and extremely filling taste of what they have to offer.
The Omakase course consists of:
Amuse bouche served with 30ml chilled sake
7 Chicken Skewers
1 Special and 2 Vegetable Skewers
Rice Course
Dessert
You get all of that for only $55pp! Pretty sweet deal don't you think? Check out some of our photos from dinner below.
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| One of our favourites... TOMATO BUTABARA- super sweet grape tomato wrapped in thinly sliced pork belly, cracked pepper |
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| TEBASAKI - free range chicken wings, lemon, cracked pepper |
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| TSUKUNE- free range chicken meatballs |
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| HATSUMOTO - chicken artieries, cracked pepper |
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| SHIRATAMA- quail eggs |
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| HATSU- chicken hearts |
All of the skewers are prepared in a simple way.
From what we observed they appear to be seasoned (or marinaded) then grilled. That's it! They come straight off the grill, on to your plate. I think this really adds to the taste of the meat. It's not overdone. They season it just right. Everything had that really lovely, smoky, fresh off the grill taste to it.
From what we observed they appear to be seasoned (or marinaded) then grilled. That's it! They come straight off the grill, on to your plate. I think this really adds to the taste of the meat. It's not overdone. They season it just right. Everything had that really lovely, smoky, fresh off the grill taste to it.
Excuse me my mouth is watering just thinking about it...
*AmeriAus was the guest of Bird's Nest Yakitori & Bar. All opinions expressed are our own.