oh-tabe-point
《2014.02 Review》Overall: 3.9 Food & Taste: 3.9 Service: 3.5 Ambiance: 3.4 Value: 3.8 Alcohol & Food: 3.5 (Points and evaluation of the store from January 2014 visit were 3.08) I visited based on the information that the grilled skewers were delicious. Actually, I don't have any other data besides that. ^^ The location of the restaurant is nice... The Noya-machi shopping street, which starts from the west end of the Otema-suji shopping street, has beautiful high-ceilinged arcades like a gallery, which is impressive. It's a small shopping street, but there don't seem to be many vacant stores. It's a lively and nice atmosphere. In the middle of such a shopping street, there is a Japanese-style exterior restaurant called Hirata. It's more of a modest-looking place, but since it's a grilled skewer restaurant, maybe that's okay. Upon entering the restaurant... When I opened the door, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the restaurant was cleaner than it looked. Both the counter and the tables are comfortably spaced, so it seems like you can enjoy your meal leisurely. Ordering the food... Besides the classic grilled chicken skewers and creative skewers, there are also daily recommendations listed on the board. There are various things I want to eat, so I order one thing after another while pondering. The creative skewers include pork miso with quail bacon, thick tofu... For seafood, there are red shrimp, and for poultry, there is grilled chicken thigh, etc. I felt like I ordered a bit too much while looking at the menu. ^^ After trying the dishes... The price of the skewers ranges from 160 yen to around 450 yen for the more expensive ones. Even though the unit price feels high, when you look at the dishes and eat them, they feel cheap. Unlike the "hard and crispy" grilled skewers at chain stores, each skewer here has a large portion and a satisfying bite-size. The grilling is also exquisite, with a moist rareness or a tender and juicy finish, showing the skill of the chef. I usually don't repeat the same skewer, but on this day, I repeated the pork miso, which was marked with a red circle on the menu as popular! The slightly sweet miso sauce reminded me of the miso flavor that used to be sold in stores a long time ago and didn't sell well (additional note, about 35 years ago, when commercial grilled meat sauces like Ebara and Golden began to be sold? I think there was a miso-flavored sauce that was orangish?) The nostalgic taste of the pork miso almost made me addicted to it. Another memorable dish was the white liver, which was truly rare-grilled and delicious. Even though I've eaten quail skewers at many places, wrapping them in bacon makes them taste completely different?! The thick tofu was shaped into bite-sized pieces, and I enjoyed the flavor of the bonito alone. That's how I enjoyed the skewers and savored them. Also, the dishes and utensils in this restaurant are unique. The flat plate used for pork tonkatsu is a rugged plate with a thickness of about 1 cm, which is unique and interesting! The ice pail was also a beautiful vessel with a floral design, like a flower vase. Such dishes probably also make the food taste delicious. After finishing the meal... I thought this grilled skewer place was similar to "Charcoal Grilled Skewers Kumano Kimura," which I reviewed recently. The size of the skewer ingredients, the grilling, and the way of grilling to bring out the flavors are not the same, but it's still a good grilled skewer place. However, the big difference from "Kimura" is the level of business... I stayed here for quite a long time this time, but there were only one couple and two solo customers. It seems like it could be more popular, but maybe this was just an unusually slow day. However, I find it strange why the evaluation points are low? It may not be something that ordinary people think about... First of all, when I entered the store, I didn't smell any grilled skewers at all. Since it's a grilled skewer restaurant, I was hoping for a slightly burnt smell of grilled skewers. (It's a bit exaggerated compared to "Kimura," though.) Also, whether at the counter or at the table, I feel a certain distance from the owner. There is an open kitchen and a display case for the ingredients, but somehow I feel like if they were cooking...