Torisho Ishii

The purely Japanese interior, with its orderly row of lacquer trays, is a setting fit for a kappo. The chef’s kaiseki experience manifests everywhere in the restaurant’s offerings. The name-brand chicken he uses is tender and richly flavoursome. Salt is used with restraint; instead, a light dipping sauce brings out the native flavour of the chicken. Breast meat fried with crumbled rice crackers and rice cooked with seasoned chicken mince are ideas that spring from Japanese cuisine. The restaurant’s name means ‘chicken artisan’, and it’s not hard to see why.

What makes it distinctive

• A yakitori room staged like kappo: a purely Japanese interior, with an orderly row of lacquer trays, sets a formal tone for grilled chicken.
• Kaiseki logic applied to yakitori: beyond skewers, the meal moves through composed dishes and a rice finish that reflect a kaiseki apprenticeship.
• The name is literal: Torisho translates as chicken artisan, the cooking leans into craft over flash.

Signature Ingredients

• Chicken: the entire menu is built around a name brand bird, worked cut by cut across skewers and small dishes.
• A light dipping sauce: used in place of heavy salting to bring out the chicken’s native flavour.
• Rice crackers: crumbled for a fried breast dish.
• Rice and seasoned chicken mince: used for the closing rice course.

Format

• Counter based yakitori served as an omakase style progression, more like kappo than a casual skewer shop.

Style

• Seasoning is restrained, salt stays light, a dipping sauce is used to lift the chicken’s natural flavour.
• The chef’s kaiseki background shows in side dishes and a finishing rice course.

Dishes Michelin highlights

• Breast meat fried with crumbled rice crackers.
• Rice cooked with seasoned chicken mince at the end of the meal.