When it comes to eating chicken in Japan, most folk, whether eager visitor or seasoned resident, plump for that eternal favorite on a stick, yakitori.
Or, for those with a penchant for izakaya fare, crispy, deep-fried karaage works too -- like yakitori, it tastes great with beer, shochu or pretty much anything cold, after all.
But delve a little more deeply into Japan’s cuisine du coq and there’s another prize-winning poultry contender to consider in the delicious, juicy form of Miyazaki jidori free-range chicken from the southern island of Kyushu.
The chicken, one of a handful of poultry breeds indigenous to Japan, boasts a low fat-to-flesh ratio, a non-gamey smell and a springy, toothsome texture.
Created through crossbreeding and agricultural experiments in the mid-twentieth century, Miyazaki jidori are raised without hormones and antibiotics and are designed to outlive their more common cousins (six-week “meat” birds) by anywhere from 60 to 120 days.
Clearly, these free-rangers live pretty decent lives, yet at first glance the most popular dishes featuring Miyazaki jidori look all wrong -- they just seem a bit, well, dull.
In fact, the Miyazaki experience is quite the opposite, so here’s why it’s best not to judge a chook by the cover.
Nanban chicken
Nanban chicken might not look like much, but it's a winner in the "Damn, that's good" stakes.
Enter Exhibit A, nanban chicken -- a deep-fried cutlet or pieces of succulent thigh meat doused in vinegar before being smothered in a mayonnaise-like tartar sauce.
This "B-grade" comfort food hails from a family restaurant in Nobeoka City in Miyazaki Prefecture.
It gained fans across Japan when similar restaurant chains nationwide cottoned onto the dish and it also became a staple in convenience-store bento boxes, but those are never quite the real deal.
To avoid crying fowl over inferior non-Miyazaki chicken, head to Kagura in Roppongi, where the proof of this poultry is government certified.
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Like its bovine counterpart, Kobe beef, the Miyazaki jidori brand is safeguarded by farmers and various industry associations.
Piquant without being peaky, Kagura’s nanban is available in two sizes (small at ¥680 (US$8.50), large at ¥1,180) -- the smaller best for two to share if deciding to try a number of dishes.
And try different items you should -- the restaurant’s seasonal menu boasts a number of vegetable and game dishes all sourced from Miyazaki and surrounding prefectures.
Deep-fried lotus root from Saga Prefecture stuffed with minced chicken (¥580) and chargrilled bamboo shoots from Kagoshima Prefecture (also ¥580) are just a couple of the blink-and-you’ll-miss delicacies currently on offer.
Despite Kagura’s popularity with groups of Roppongi office workers, solo diners are also well catered for, given that most of the restaurant’s seating looks to the kitchen from behind a long, well-ventilated counter area.
Kagura, Morino Bldg, 7-12-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, +81 (0) 3 5411 3305. Open seven days for lunch and dinner. Website.
Sumibiyaki chicken
No messing around with sumibiyaki -- just no-nonsense chargrilled goodness.
Exhibit B in the Miyazaki jidori hall of fame -- chargrilled, or sumibiyaki, chicken -- looks better than the nanban, but only just.
Bite-sized morsels of smoky, blackened, almost wizened chicken arrive sitting atop roughly hewn cabbage leaves on a sizzling hotplate.
Yet when it comes to flavor, this bird is more beauty than beast, the flesh pleasingly chewy and unctuous.
Again, head to a bona-fide eatery to ensure guaranteed quality and authenticity.
The Kuruma chain of restaurants has eliminated the middleman, sources from producers directly and takes pride in its ability to deliver from farm gate to restaurant plate within 24 hours.
Smallish plates of Kuruma’s sumibiyaki chicken range from ¥980, but for indecisive diners course menus priced at ¥3,000, also including chicken sashimi (more on that shortly), may be the best-value option.
Chicken sashimi
Hands up for a plate of raw chicken. It's better than you think. Really ...
Adventurous eaters -- especially fans of both sushi and chicken -- are encouraged to try Exhibit C, chicken sashimi.
While raw or semi-cooked chicken is a culinary no-no in the West, any Japanese poultry purveyor worth his dipping salt will have chicken sashimi or a variant on the menu.
At Kuruma, where the chicken is extremely fresh, slivers of melt-in-the-mouth sashimi (from ¥1,575) are served alongside condiments that normally accompany their fishy facsimiles, such as wasabi, ginger, soy sauce and daikon.
For the reticent, or those who believe a raw-food diet should encompass only vegetarian foodstuffs, partially cooked chicken may be a better option.
Kuruma’s jidori tataki -- lightly seared thigh meat, chopped finely and topped with a bed of thin-sliced leeks, ginger and a ponzu dipping sauce (¥840) is a refreshing and almost palate-cleansing dish sure to persuade even the most stubborn out of the red-meat camp.
Kuruma has various branches throughout metropolitan Tokyo. For a full list see the companywebsite.
Alternative eats
Little time or cash to spare but still hankering for some chicken?
Conveniently located near Shinjuku Station’s New South Exit, the café at the Miyazaki Prefecture antenna shop -- a store boosting regional goods and artisanal delicacies from the prefecture -- sells small plates of both nanban and sumibiyaki chicken with sliced cabbage for roughly ¥550 a pop.
Peckish types can instead order larger teishoku set meals (from ¥700) that include rice and miso soup.
The addition of a microbrewed pale ale or dark lager (¥600) from the Hideji brewery will break the thousand-yen barrier, and if you plan instead on taking some chicken back home, retort packs, frozen goods and long-life refrigerated items (from ¥370) are also there for the taking.
Shinjuku Miyazaki Konne, Shinjuku Southern Terrace, 2-2-1 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. +81 (0) 3 5333 7764. Website.
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