Don’t we all have friends whom we meet and head to eateries of a particular cuisine? So yes, I met up with my buddy whom I realised is my (preferred) companion for yakitori! Haha.

A call was made on Thursday to reserve for 2 on a Saturday evening. And we entered to an almost empty restaurant at 7pm. But the limited 12 seats within the small izakaya restaurant were all taken up by 7.45pm. So yes, reservation is strongly encouraged!

And from the menu, we ordered:-

1) Starter, Complimentary (above) – We forgot to enquire what it was, but it tasted like duck to us.

2) Edamame, $7 (above) – Boiled soybeans. Normally, soy beans pop open easily. But I had some difficulty with these and had to add extra pressure to open them with my usual technique of using my mouth. Hmm…

3) Wafu salad, $9 (above) – Japanese style salad. Shredded nori seaweed and lettuce on a (small) bed of wakame seaweed. My buddy went for a second portion for this.

4) Eringi, $3.50 (above) – Eringi mushroom.

5) Uzura, $4.50 (above) – Quail eggs.

6) Negima, $5 (above) – Chicken with leek.

7) Chicken neck (above) – This was a special that’s not on the menu. We were a little skeptical as we imagined chicken neck to be served with the bone in the centre. But we were surprised to be given stick of purely tender meat. This was so good. A must try!

8) Kuro buta, $5.50 (above) – US black pork belly. This was also very good!

9) Sasami, $4.30 (above) – Half cooked chicken fillet (wasabi or yuzu pepper). We did not intend to try this. I mean, chicken… Raw? But judging from their menu, Otowa seem to specialize in chicken. So it was a leap of courage to try this. Upon served, we were put off by the white, lifeless looking meat. But its taste is nothing to go by its look. It was interestingly good. The texture is almost like our tuna sashimi. We opted for yuzu pepper which left a strong peppery aftertaste.

10) Tsukune, $5.50 (above) – Meat balls.

11) Tebasaki, $5 (above) – Wing.

12) Tako wasabi, $9 (above) – Wasabi flavoured raw octopus.

13) Gatsu sashi, $13 (above) – Boiled pig stomach with chilli sauce. We ordered this as an attempt to try more dishes. Will advise to give it a skip though. Pig stomach were sliced really thin, but sizes were not big enough for chewing pleasure.

I will recommend Otowa for chicken yakitori! Its interior is nothing fanciful (to go about), but come here for the food. We enjoyed ourselves very much as we ate, drank, talked and laughed. Staff were really polite too! And we did not walk out reeking of smoke!

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