KIDO is the new kid on the block on Hong Kong’s Minden Ave, serving up traditional hakata-ku skewers fresh from Fukuoka.
In a perfect world we’d have more one-hand friendly foods. Simple dishes like the sandwich and the hamburger have been pimped to the point that you now need two hands and a lot of dedication to get through them, and don’t even get us started on the humble kebab, the taxi-home staple that’s now gone gourmet.
Fortunately, the good people of Fukuoka in Japan know how to leave a hand free when they dine. The downtown enclave of Hakata-ku has long been a hub for simple yakitori bars, where good quality ingredients are lovingly impaled and grilled over Japanese oak for the busy urban masses.
That tradition has now arrived in Hong Kong with the opening of chicken joint KIDO in Tsim Sha Tsui. Here, chicken – prized female Yamato Nikudori chicken, sourced from specialist farms and reared for its strong flavour and juicy texture – is the star and diners with a spare hand can opt for thigh, neck, skin, liver, heart or brisket.
There’s also Miyazaki premium Wagyu beef, Sangen pork rolls with Fuji apple; deep-fried ‘kushikatsu’ skewers like white asparagus with bacon, and truffle with potato; and vegetarian options ranging from Kagoshima Anno sweet potato to Japanese mountain yam, and Manganji green pepper.
Other dishes to keep an eye out for include Miyazaki-sytle kamaage udon noodles; onsen egg and chicken rice; and Miyazaki fried chicken with tartar sauce “1956”, an iconic dish first created by head chef Kimura Junichiro’s father; nicknamed the ‘god of chicken’, the dish, developed in 1956, is now a culinary national treasure in Japan.
All grilling is done over odourless high carbon ‘binchotan’ charcoal made from Japanese oak, ensuring a touch of smokiness but nothing more. You can wash all this skewered goodness down with an enviable sake selection as well as Suntory whisky highballs at communal kaunta seki seating.
Look at that: efficient and pleasurable.
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