Makitori Shin-Kobe

Makitori Shin-Kobe (薪鳥 新神戸)

🐓 Yakitori / 📍 Azabu-Juban

⭐⭐⭐⭐

📓 Visits: 1 (2021)

Makitori Shin-Kobe was 'fully booked' until January 2022 before it even opened on 23rd July 2021.  How could there possibly be that level of interest for a restaurant that hadn't even opened?  Well Makitori Shin-Kobe is the third restaurant from chef Makoto Suetomi.  First Nikusho Horikoshi and then Suzutashiki.  Suzutashiki has the most far-out booking period of any restaurant on Omakase.  In July 2021 the restaurant was booked until March 2023, over a year and half later.  In February 2022 this was April 2024, over two years later.  You'd think that with restaurants that popular and using Omakase, which makes it very easy for restaurants to re-fill cancellations, there would be no penalty for advance cancellations.  But both restaurants want a percentage of the course fee if you cancel at any time.  Originally the fee was 25%, then it was 30% and now it's 50%.

On my visit to Suzutashiki (review here) I asked the chef if the cancellation policy really applies and he confirmed it did.  I'm not booking anything months away that I can't cancel penalty-free so I declined making another reservation after my meal.  This just feels like scalping.  I accept that when you book at a restaurant you're effectively taking out a contract that you should honour.  I never no-show, if I ever need to cancel I always do so as soon as possible and if the restaurant can't re-fill my seat then I understand I have to pay a penalty.  But if a restaurant is using an online reservation system, I cancel well in advance and my seat is re-filled well in advance the restaurant has lost nothing.  So before you hit the button on Omakase, and I wonder if reservations would be so far ahead if people actually had to do this, think of it like putting a cheque for 18K (Suzutashiki) or 7K (Makitori) in the post.  There's no restaurant in the world where I'm going to play this game so my strategy at Suzutashiki or Makitori Shin-Kobe is to wait for a same-week or next-week cancellation when I can be more sure I won't have to cancel and that was how I got my reservation.

Prices have gone up a lot at Suzutashiki since it opened so that was another reason to go to Makitori early.  There's no food menu.  Omakase was JPY 12,000 when the restaurant opened but quickly went up to JPY 13,800 within a few months.  The course is served to all diners at the 7-seat counter at the same time.

Before my comments on the food a note of caution: I don't eat yakitori very often.  The thought of spending two hours chewing on chicken skin and cartilage does not inspire me.  So my visit to Shin-Kobe was actually the first time I'd ever eaten in a high-quality yakitori restaurant.  That makes me completely unqualified to review this restaurant.  So bear that in mind if you still haven't stopped reading.

As at Suzutashiki the yakitori is grilled over firewood rather than charcoal, which imparts a different flavour into the meat.  Everything was very good.  The liver, shiitake, bonjiri with harissa and gizzard being particularly good.  The best item was the rillettes on smoked toast.  This was off the chart good, one of the best things I've ever eaten and unforgettable - it was like eating prawn toast for the first time.  My only criticisms are that the shumai in the soup while quite substantial was not special, relative to everything else; and (perhaps a strange comment) the miso soup was a bit too rich.  But that's really it.  There are pictures of the entire course in a Tabelog review of a service in the same month I visited.

2-3 chefs, a restaurant manager and one other assistant operate the windowless restaurant.  The kitchen is tiny so it really depends on where you sit as to what interaction, if any, you get from the staff.  The master doesn't talk much during service but is personable.  The restaurant manager did chat a bit.  No English was spoken on my visit but, as everyone gets exactly the same food, you can get by without any Japanese.  The wine list is in English but other drinks are in a Japanese-only menu.  A glass of champagne is priced at 1800 yen from a bottle that retails at JPY 6000.  Tea, which you'll also get at the end of the meal, is 900 yen a glass.  Beautiful, enameled plates are changed after every piece.  It would be nice if they could provide a napkin.

In terms of the menu, desserts and side dishes are seasonal and the exact cut of chicken at a particular stage in the course might differ from service to service but the menu is unlikely to be substantially different throughout the year.  Needless to say I did not book again but I'll be looking out for cancellations.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1307/A130702/13260471/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.5

📱 Booking: 🟥  Difficult and exploitative, as explained above.  New reservation periods had been opening up irregularly about once a month but were for slots many months ahead (May 2023 in February 2022) and fill up within minutes.  In the second half of 2022 far fewer new bookings were being taken and cancellations were non-existent.  Bookings via https://omakase.in/en/r/ad334918/ only.

📍 Location: 

1-10-16 Mita.  Head across the bridge that crosses the canal on the East side of Azabu-dori and immediately take the first left into an alley.  If you've walked for more than 10 seconds after crossing the bridge you've missed the alley.  The entrance is up a couple of steps.  I arrived exactly on time and the door was still locked so you might have found the right place but just need to wait a moment.

Map data ©2021 Google

📅 Visit October 2021

Momo/leg
Sasami/tenders
Liver
Shiitake
Owan, shumai
Hatsu/heart
Bonjiri/parson's nose with harissa
Chawanmushi
Sunagimo/gizzard
Maru nasu, cheddar cheese
Rillette, smoked toast
Matsutake somen
Sasami/tenders
Teba/wing
Hakusai
Soboro-don in 3 servings
Miso soup
Candied Shine Muscat
Tea
Smoked sweet potato

💴 Damage: 17,500 (13,200? + 2 drinks at 2700 + 10%)
⏱️ Time taken: 2h10m