Niwa Yakitori
Ian Jones, Food and Drink Editor
Longstanding Manchester-based food-seekers may recall Umezushi, the acclaimed sushi restaurant that served up the freshest, most authentic and downright thrilling Japanese food this side of Mount Fuji. Umezushi closed a few years back but – whisper it – Niwa Yakitori delivers all the above, and more.
A newly-launched supper club, Niwa Yakitori is currently open on Friday and Saturday evenings. It’s based in North Star Piccadilly on Dale Street, a couple of minutes from the city’s main train and bus stations. North Star Piccadilly is the daytime operation, offering artisan tea, coffee and deli products, but when the sun sets, Niwa begins and magic happens.
It’s an intimate space, with a look, feel and soundtrack that brings that Tokyo-style backstreet cafe atmosphere to Manchester. We’re told a Japanese man living and working in Manchester walked through the doors and burst into tears, due to how much it reminded him of home. He’s been in every weekend since.
It’s essentially the best Asian tasting menu in the city, and comes in at a remarkably pocket-friendly price point. Yakitori translates to “grilled chicken” (or ‘grilled bird’, if we’re being literal, but let’s not), and so the Yakitori Experience menu delivers six chicken skewers, all different, whether that’s cut of meat, preparation or seasoning, plus miso soup, steamed sushi rice and grilled pineapple.
Pleasingly, there’s a vegetarian version, with equally matched ingredients and flavour profiles – think leek with ash oil and aioli, or grilled mushroom, flavoured with garlic and garnished with pickles. Either menu style costs just £36 per person – the price of a couple of cocktails in some nearby bars.
But the Omakse Experience is the one. For a mere £55 per person, the Niwa team will choose your dishes for you – around nine or ten wonderful courses, served in relaxed fashion by the friendly, funny staff. Make an event of it, grab a wine pairing, or better still, a sake flight.
The food is cooked over white-hot Japanese binchotan charcoal and, yes, you can smell those intoxicating aromas down the street – you’ll see people float past, eyes closed, like Bisto Kids.
And this isn’t just a casual rush job – the Niwa team has been finessing the concept behind the scenes for well over a year. This meant trips to not just Japan, but multiple other countries to source the perfect components. Case in point, Vichy Catalan water from Spain, which has the requisite salt content to complement these pored-over dishes.
There’s a story behind each dish, and a reason for each element – why that specific cut, that specific seasoning, that precise cooking time, and so on. There’s a lot going on here, but the whole experience is perfectly paced and cleverly unrolled over the course of two to three hours.
The menu is wall-to-wall highlights. Think chicken wings, garlic-heavy steamed broccoli, tender chicken liver topped with chives, cheek-zinging cherry tomatoes and black vinegar – and that’s not even half of it.
Forced to choose, the tsukune is one of the most memorable. Fresh chicken meat, minced, seasoned and moulded onto a skewer, paired with a raw egg yolk in tare sauce (a sweet and salty blend of soy, sake and honey), plus a bowl of fresh white rice topped with crispy chicken skin.
Mix the lot together and enjoy a mouthful of big, bold flavours, that stand out on a menu packed with standouts. It’s so good there’s even talk of transferring this to the daytime menu at some point – if so, expect queues around the block.
Nowhere else in Manchester is doing yakitori to this level of authenticity or accuracy. But even if you simply want a fun evening out, Niwa Yakitori is a must. The food is delicious, the atmosphere is unmatched, and the price is astonishingly low. In short, open up your big book of superlatives and jab a pin.
