From a dining standpoint, we didn’t do much last weekend thanks to a busy and action-packed schedule for little nugget. Before I could even brink, it’s already Monday morning but that didn’t stop yours truly from planning out a full itinerary for the evening. Historically, I hated going out on Monday evening preferring to lay low on my couch at home while there are still another four working days ahead. But not tonight. I have already lined up an appointment with my hair stylist and before that, dinner at a new Japanese yakitori shop in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Recently opened CHOU CHOU Yakitori (兆鳥), located just next to the famous Swiss Chalet, boasts a wide variety of grilled chicken skewers made from bite sized pieces of meat from different parts of the chicken. I was told all their chicken parts come directly from Kagoshima, Japan.
As a solo diner, I naturally took one of the high seats at the counter table but sadly, that’s where my nightmare started. More on that later.
Pickled burdock root (牛蒡漬) – No, this was not a welcome snack courtesy of the chef. I actually ordered it myself and like any burdock lover would tell you, it’s never a bad way to start things off with some burdock roots.
Smoked Tsukune (煙燻雞肉丸) – One of the most expensive items on the yakitori menu at $78.
A wooden box specially made for this dish.
My theory has always been this…any good yakitori shop must have a killer tsukune (or Japanese chicken meat ball) the same way that a good local tea restaurant must have a pantyhose milk tea that kills. Plain and simple.
After the fancy entrance, the smoke started to clear and I finally found my smoked tsukune settled on a plate with the egg yolk as dipping sauce. Obviously, the chicken meatball has been smoked with hay.
Not bad but I have seen better. Perhaps they could smoke the dipping egg yolk instead of the meatball.
Chicken wing (手羽) – I actually had a number of really decently grilled chicken wings the last little while. The most recently one came from another skewer shop, Shiawase (幸匠燒), which was so puffed and yummy.
This was reasonably good (I have rarely had a bad chicken wing in my life, okay!?) but like the tsukune, I have seen better.
Salt Koji Thigh (塩麴雞腿) – They did not have chicken oyster tonight and I was told this would be a good alternative. And I tended to agree.
This was perfectly charred giving the chicken thigh some nice smoky flavors. Of course, after taking the salt koji bath, the marinated chicken thigh already tenderized a bit and there were the umami-rich flavors, results from the bath. Definitely one of my favorite skewers tonight.
Spanish Iberico pork belly (西班牙黑豚五花腩) – Very crispy on the outside, but slightly chewy inside.
The portion of fat was perfect though.
Toast with chicken soy bean paste (雞肉味噌多士) – This came highly recommended by my server so I decided to take a flyer.
There was the dip made with minced chicken from Kagoshima (a bit of a waste?), onion and soy bean paste.
I followed the instructions carefully by applying the chicken soy bean paste onto my toast (which wasn’t crispy enough). Pretty decent stuff.
Thick cut sweet potato (厚切糖心蕃薯) - This one took a while to arrive and by the time, it arrived, I was almost done. I was thinking about my grilled mini sweet potato I had at Shiawase the entire time when I was having these thick-cut sweet potatoes. Enough said.
Instead of going on a long rant, I just wanted to give a recollection of what happened after I sat down at the counter table. My dining experience started going sideways as soon as this older guy arrived with his female co-worker (my guess). He decided to sit next to me at the counter where there were only four seats (I was sitting in one and my bag in another). The restaurant was almost empty, with just three customers in the house and there were plenty of empty seats around (what happened to social distancing amidst of COVID-19?). Fair enough, the guy is allowed to pick any seat he wants. But then throughout the meal, he kept banging his elbow against the counter table once every 30 seconds. It was so hard that every time the entire table shook. At first, I thought he mistakenly banged his hand against the table but once every 30 seconds, that’s not a coincidence. Of course, I thought about reporting it to my server but it’s tough to complain about elbowing the table. I mean this is quite personal stuff. Some people probably won’t mind it a bit but I do. In fact, it’s the same reason why I absolutely hated sharing a table with someone at a local cha chaan teng. It’s not just the hygiene; some people have really poor manner and I felt disgusted to be sitting shoulder to shoulder with these people. I could’ve sat around longer tonight but the guy just ruined my night (and please stop repeating the same words to the chef telling him how "delicate" his skewers were. There must be other words in the vocabulary right?). Time to see my hair stylist…
Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Shop A G/F, 8 Hart Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2461-0888
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:00pm daily
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