When evening falls on winter Tokyo, steam rises from the oden stalls at the street corners, and the smoke of yakitori grills drifts through the alleys. Everyone knows the graceful, cool side of Japanese cooking; but this cuisine has a hot, smoky, noisy face as well, and the people’s heart lives partly there. In Japan, the hot offering is a language of its own.

Hot Signature Chicken is that language spoken at our counter. The smoky tenderness of grilled chicken is taken inside a hot, crackling shell; a familiar flavor arrives in an unexpected form. No raw fish, no distance; the first bite seats you directly on the warm side of the kitchen.

Tori 鶏 means chicken. In Japan its fried form earned its own name in karaage, its tempura form in toriten; each built its own geography. Chicken was never a guest in this cuisine; it was always family.

A doorway for those just discovering sushi, a resting place for the regulars: the warmest welcome our counter gives.