KURUMAShibuyaminamiguchi

I was afraid of eating raw chicken, but it was not bad. The carpaccio-like dish and meat balls were good. The charcoal chicken had a good smoky flavor, but too tough to eat. We order a set menu with the drinks all you can drink. The choices are pretty good, beer, shochu, sake and soft drinks. The w...aiters we had were very pleasant.

Visited June 2019

The place allowed inside smoking, though they separated the smoking area it's still stinky of smoke. We ordered the set menu that had a bit of everything, including gizzard and heart on a skewer, fried chicken with sauce, and some other pieces of chicken grilled every which way. I honestly didn't th...ink the chicken was all that. Some were tough and very chewy. The sauce was just some soy based sauce, nothing to rave about. All in all it was a disappointing dinner.

Visited May 2017

We chose this restaurant for dinner because a family member saw a foodie youtuber rave about the charcoal chicken here, and we knew we had come to the right place because the front of the building looked the same as in the video. I love charcoal grilled food, so my expectations were quite high. Re...servations were done by a local friend, and the restaurant had english menus for us when we arrived. Our waiter did not speak any english, but we had no expectation of that. The menu described the jidori chicken as being a special free range chicken that is fed a special diet, and raised in a high quality setting. Everything about the place speaks of quality - in terms of service, setting, and presentation of food. Unfortunately, the chicken was not an enjoyable experience. The menu features two charcoal chicken dishes presented on a hot pan. The description differentiates between the two by saying that the chicken for one of them is "firmer" and for more adventurous palates (not the exact wording, but it implied that it may not be to everyone's liking). We ordered both for comparison, as well as a selection of other dishes (but not the chicken sashimi, which in retrospect, I wish we had). The basic issue is that the chicken is really tough, and I would describe the two feature dishes as being "firm" and "firmer". It's unfortunate that these dishes were disappointing, because the flavour of the meat was very good. It just seemed strange to be chewing chicken like it was gum, but it did require a fair amount of work to eat. The foodie youtuber also referred to another dish at this restaurant that he ordered as being very good - chicken cartilage. We didn't order that, as none of us are into it, but I do know that cartilage is renowned in asian cuisine for its crunchy texture. So it may just be that my palate isn't as appreciative of texture than others. In any case, the reason I'm posting a review is to give some feedback to others considering trying this specialty chicken so that they're not as surprised by it as we were. I don't want to be overly critical, as this restaurant is obviously quite successful (there are multiple locations) and must have numerous fans like the youtube reviewer, but its not a place or dish I would recommend to family/friends if they were visiting Tokyo.

Visited March 2017

I would not say that I was extremely impressed with this Miyazaki chicken, but it was pretty good. Their most famous black charred chicken however was my least favorite dish. Liver and omelette were very good. There was also a dish where only the skin was cooked crispy, but the meat was very rare.... It was very good, but I am not sure how safe it is. Here, everyone is terrified of not fully cooked chicken because of salmonella.

Visited April 2017