Tokyo Bird, Surry Hills

It's with much anticipation that we finally visited Tokyo Bird last week.  We first heard of it over Instagram when it was still in its planning phase and we knew we had to go check it out.  It combines two of our favourite things - our love for Japanese food and C's love for whisky (and in particular Japanese whisky).  

Tokyo Bird is a short walk from Central Station.  It has a cosy, casual feel and over the course of our visit, we discovered how friendly and down to earth the owners are.  They spent time chatting to their diners, checking that everything is in order - attentive, down to earth but not overbearing.  

We'll start with a review of the food selection and then onto the whiskies.

For the meats - we tried the chicken meatballs (tsukune), pork belly and katsu nuggets, and the chicken and shallot skewers.  The highlights were definitely the chicken and shallot and the katsu nuggets.  The katsu nuggets are crunchy on the outside whilst still moist inside.  Dipping it into a bowl of kewpie mayo - it's a perfect bar snack.  The chicken and shallot is really well marinated, had the perfect amount of charred-ness and the shallots are a nice fresh crunchy balance to the saltiness of the poultry.  We had to go back for seconds on this one!

Chicken meatballs

Pork belly skewers

Katsu nuggets

Chicken and Shallots

We then opted for the Japanese cheese sausage skewers and grilled scallop skewers.  Don't be fooled by the appearance of those sausages - these were YUM! You get a burst of melted cheese as you take a bite into it...super tasty and moreish - albeit a little on the salty side (but perfect to pair with your Japanese beer!).  The scallops were well cooked - still soft and raw on the inside.  Can't go wrong with fresh scallops.

Japanese sausage and scallop skewers

Open charcoal grill

For our "daily dose" of vegetables we picked the shitake mushrooms, the eggplant with miso and the fried lotus root chips (yes those count as vegetables too....).  The highlight was the shitake mushrooms, the umami flavour of the mushrooms, charred but still juicy. The lotus root chips came with a spicy mayo for dipping which was quite addictive.

Shitake mushrooms

Eggplant and miso

Lotus root chips

Now onto the drinks!

C first went for the Hibiki 17.  This is probably one of the first whiskies that K has finally been able to appreciate.  K found it to be incredibly smooth, with a subtle caramel taste and no alcohol burn.  C found the whisky a bit too smooth and wanted more punch. However, if you are new to whisky, or prefer something with less of a burn, this is a great option to go for.

Hibiki 17

Now whilst C enjoys drinking his whiskies neat (i.e. with no water or ice), K convinced him to order one with ice because we knew that Tokyo Bird shaves their own spherical ice balls.  Here's a collage of photos showing the skill that goes into getting ice perfectly round before it melts - it was quite cool (excuse the lame pun...):

For his second, C picked the Hakushu Distillers Reserve.  This one is definitely not as smooth nor sweet as the Hibiki 17, and has a herbal aftertaste. It might have been due to drinking it with ice, but C definitely preferred whisky from its brother distillery, the Yamazaki Distillers Reserve.

The spherical ice ball! (and the Hakushu Distillers Reserve...)

We also tried this Japanese beer which we had never heard of before - Yona Yona Ale. This is an American pale ale but brewed in Nagano.  "Yona Yona" means "night after night", signifying the brewery's goal that this flagship beer will be enjoyed by people time and time again.  It is quite light, but still with bold flavours, tastes of grape and a refreshing sweetness to it.

Overall, whilst the menu at Tokyo Bird is not particularly extensive, all the food that they do offer is well executed and a perfect companion to an after-work drink.  The concept of combining yakitori with Japanese whiskies/beer is exciting and novel in Australia but definitely something that will grow in popularity with time.