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2013-07-11
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Yardbird. Backed with Chef Matt Abergel and Zuma's fame. Ranked no. 46 of the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2013. Famous for its awesome atmosphere, drinks range and (of course) food; infamous for its no reservation policy (we showed up before 6pm on a Saturday and was shocked to see that there was already a queue outside. The restaurant was completely filled by 6:05pm and people were standing around the bar area enjoying good drinks). = It is the bar area with several extra tables as you enter
Yardbird. Backed with Chef Matt Abergel and Zuma's fame. Ranked no. 46 of the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2013. Famous for its awesome atmosphere, drinks range and (of course) food; infamous for its no reservation policy (we showed up before 6pm on a Saturday and was shocked to see that there was already a queue outside. The restaurant was completely filled by 6:05pm and people were standing around the bar area enjoying good drinks).
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It is the bar area with several extra tables as you enter the restaurant, and the main dining hub is located at the basement. Funky music blasting, table settings sleek and simple. Servers are international, very personal, extremely relaxed, exceedly friendly (... and - as bonus: charming and good-looking too HAHA!).
The food here is simple but tantalizing. No over-complicated ingredients; their food is straight up, to the point and just good. Extensive range of yakitori - chicken only; you would be amazed by the creativity and basically have a chicken anatomy class. Name it: thighs, breast, wings, neck, heart, oyster (dark meat near the thigh), tail, skin and knee. Ah, but no chicken feet.
To start with, we had the Sweet Corn Tempura. Fried as a tempura, but not oily at all. The many sweet and crispy kernels were clustered into a cute battered ball. It totally exceeded our expectations as each exploded in our mouths shooting out delightful and fruity sweet-corn juice. Salt and pepper were sprinkled over it for a light savoury touch. Loved it to bits!
Next up - our first yakitori - the wings. It is not too difficult to make nice wings; but it is tricky to make really good ones. This was cooked to perfection - grilled with moisture retained in the wings and crispy skin, smoky with a hint of sea salt and topped with shichimi which really brought out the simple chicken flavours. (The server brought us a small bottle of shichimi seperately - just in case we wanted an extra sprinkle. I did!)
Now this is the knee. Basically it is like the soft-bone of chicken, except that we both agreed that this was better than the usuals. Spot on and rather addictive balance of crunchiness and chewiness. Apparently marinated in sake (couldn't really taste that), but it did display nice aroma of garlic. We enjoy muching through this - yummy!
I ooh-ed in excitement as we were served the meatball. Each skewer came with a bowl of thick tare sauce with a bright-orange egg yolk. Mix it yourself, then submerge your skewer in the pool of sweet soy sauce. The sauce was alluring thick and syrupy; it stained all over the meatball effectively. The meatball was very flavourful itself and tender; I loved its juciness. Absolutely delicious!
Now - this was the the fabulous and flaming KFC (in full: Korean Fried Cauliflower). What worked was not just the lovely spice which lingered over my lips and tongue like a passionate hot kiss. It was hot, spicy, sweet, tangy. Sesame showered all over, the crispy ball was infused with this addictive yuzu chilli sauce and coated over the crunchy cauliflower - the texture was purely awesome. Add a gentle squeeze of lime, for the extra citrusy kick. I could not stop licking my lips; memorable!! (You could request to have KFC with chicken. Our server recommended us to stick with this original cauliflower version though. No regrets.)
We then ordered more skewers - now this is oyster. Not oyster the shellfish, but "oyster" - round piece of dark meat near the thigh of the bird. Despite simple seasoning with sea salt and lemon, the artful grilling gave tinted skins with succulent flesh. It tasted amazing with the skin attached.
There are some specials that Yardbird offers every evening (look out for the board hanging around) - we ordered the thigh of the day (different from the "thigh" on the regular menu which would have been marinated with welsh onion and tare). Each piece was very tender and displayed gentle aroma of ume (japanese plum). This skewer was topped with shiso which added a delicate hint of bitterness and mint.
By then, we were stuffed; though we still had the rice cakes!! It was a rather gigantic portion (for just the 2 of us) (I wonder whether they do "half" portions for this). Each rice cake was slightly glazed and toasty on outside with a soft, chewy heart. It is an addictive combination. Stuck over each rice cake were sesame flakes and furikake powder bringing in nuts and seaweed fragrant.=
By then, I saw the true magic of this place. I did not feel like eating in Hong Kong. It could be New York, it could be London.. It was the whole combo - the drinks, the food, the people, the attitude - the overall buzz and vibes.
The buzz and vibes did the magic!
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