Torien
As a Christmas celebration before we embark on a trip, I wanted to knock this final yakitori tasting off the list. We’ve been to a slew of yakitori tasting places, and this is the last one that is on the higher end. Torien still has 1 Michelin Star in 2023, and it also has a sister 1 Michelin Star restaurant, Torishiki, in Tokyo Japan. We were able to make a reservation for this for a Saturday a few weeks back without issues. Let’s see how this compares to the other yakitori tastings, considering they use a special oak for the taste.
According to a blurb on their website:
We are excited to bring our traditional yakitori omakase experience to New York and to spread Japanese food culture beyond our roots in Tokyo.
They also give you a welcome card explaining what Torien is about as well as the different chicken cuts.
Ambiance & Service
The counter faces the kitchen, and you don’t really see them flip the skewers because the wood grills are beneath the counter. The smoke is very well controlled, and the service is very speedy when it comes to filling waters and cleaning the tables.
They do offer you additional skewers for extra cost towards the end right before the ramen. Unfortunately for our night, they only offered tails, neck, and knee.
The omakase costs $185 per person, and a 20% gratuity is automatically charged at the end of the meal on the subtotal before tax.
Food
The Ume Soda ($15 - left) tasted pretty good, albeit for that price and glass, it seemed pretty pricey. It tasted like the same flavored soda from Kimino, which normally retails for about $3 to $4.
The 2022 Sauvignon Blanc ($23 - right) came from Newmeister winery in Straden, Austria. It has soft notes of lime and grapefruit zest with nice minerality. This was really good for the entire night.
The Welcome Appetizer was a chicken wonton with chicken stock soup. This tasted like a Chinese chicken soup because it has very light chicken flavors along with a dash of white pepper. The chicken wonton was very dense and had a crunch in it, possibly because there was some small cartilage pieces in it. It was all pretty good.
The thigh was absolutely delectable and was one of our favorite pieces. You can really taste the smokey flavors from the wood, and it was seasoned well such that you didn’t really have to use any other seasoning.
The hearts were my partner’s favorite. The heart was grilled perfectly with a ton of plumpness and juice in it. Surprisingly unlike other yakitori places, they give you a good amount of them as well.
The chicken meatball came with 3 pieces, and you can imagine the chicken meat being very juicy and plump as well.
The broccoli was charred to the crisp, and it was lightly seasoned.
The chicken oyster was sublime to the crisp, and it had dabs of fresh wasabi on top. The skin was included with the oyster, so it was crispy and delicious.
The Skewer Break was a yukon potato with brown butter. The potato really absorbed the wood flavors, but it was also matched perfectly with the brown butter.
The cartilage came with many pieces, and it was perfectly crunchy and delicious. There were some chunks of chicken meat on some of them.
The brussel sprouts came charred and split in half. They didn’t have any seasoning on them, so you can optionally dab some soy sauce on top which actually made it taste really good with that wood flavor.
The quail eggs came with 3, and they had an oozy yolk in the center.
The wings came with a few pieces, and as expected, had a crispy skin on the outside, and the meat was very delicious.
The optional skewer of tail ($10) came really crispy and had more meat than expected on them.
The Tori Ramen came with ramen noodles and a light chicken broth. The noodles tasted packaged, but the chicken soup was quite good. It probably doesn’t have as much seasoning for the strongest taste, but the broth tastes rustic.
The complimentary decaf tea came was bitter but helped washed down everything fine.
The Lemon Brulee came with a cold brulee in the cup of a scooped out lemon. The custard was really good, but because the pulp was scooped out, the white flesh was quite bitter. In some ways, I think it would’ve been better if they left some of the pulp in there, so that as you’re digging, you don’t accidentally get some of that white flesh.
Final Verdict
Torien was a really good yakitori tasting place in terms of food and service. The style is more traditional, as they don’t try to make things contemporary. Compared to Kono, we thought the chicken (probably due to the unique wood burns) tasted better here. Kono though was fun as well. You can’t really go wrong with either.
Yelp Jabs
Surely chicken can’t be worth that much? I’m shook.
This Yelper needs to understand that it’s not just the meat, but also the cook on the chicken along with the special wood flavors. Yeah, it’s a little of a premium, but that’s what happens when you eat out.
What lacked in the food was creativity. While there should be a dedication to providing “authentic” yakitori experience, there should also be a reason for a diner to look forward to going back for. At Torien, everything I had felt familiar and slightly less impressive than what I had elsewhere.
Torien is about $10 more expensive than Kono, which probably offers a more contemporary experience. However on chicken and cook alone, it’s very obvious that the overall flavors tasted better here.
Revisions
- Dec 23, 2023 - Initial revision.