Yakitori-ya, popular drinking place in Japan

List Friday, I went to a yakitori restaurant or I should say yakitori bar. They serve yakitori, grilled chicken on stick. Yakitori bar (yakitori-ya) is a popular place for drinking. I wanted to drink shochu (Japanese liquor) but I drove there so I had oolong tea. I enjoyed yakitori for dinner.

Konnichwa, it’s meヽ(^。^)ノ Here is a quiz for you. At this yakitori bar, there was an empty ceramic cup on each table as you can see it on the picture below. Can you tell what is for? …

It has something to do with yakitori.



Before I give you the answer, let me talk about yakitori a little bit. Yakitori is usually flavored with salt or sweet soy based sauce, which is similar to teriyaki sauce. You know what? I think teriyaki sauce is a coined term in English. We do not use such term in Japanese. Teriyaki means just one of cooking methods which is grilling something with the sweet soy based sauce. Anyway, at the yakitori bar, they just call it tare which means sauce. You would be asked tare (sauce) or shio (salt) when you order teriyaki.



Have you come up with any idea what the cup on the table is for? The answer is that the cup is for you to put the sticks in after you eat the chicken. Not every yakitori-ya has this cup but some do.

You can now have your debut in a yakritori bar. What you just need to remember are Japanese terms tare (sauce) and shio (salt). Don’t forget to look for the cup when you are at a yakitori-ya. Jah!