Bincho Yakitori Soho
our comments
It’s so hot in Old Compton Street this lunchtime that some of the gentlemen cruising by actually look appropriately dressed for once. I wish I could get away with just a singlet and shorts, but at my age I’d look like a dodgy Scout Master. It’s so hot the demo meal Bincho Yakitori has placed outside as bait to reel in the passing punters is cooking all over again.
Luckily inside the restaurant, which is much larger than you’d expect from the outside, it’s air-conditioned, a fact which must come as a great relief to the man on the grill. The Ganko Ojisan is the‘keeper of the flame,’ his job is to fan the coals of the traditional charcoal grill, keeping it at just the right temperature as he quickly seals and cooks the skewer dishes of Yakitori (chicken) and Kushiyaki (just about everything else). You can sit in front of him and get the dishes as fresh as possible, but on a day like today distance from the fire is something of a must.
Sitting down you can’t help but notice that all the waiters carry what look like oversized watches on their wrists, as if Casio had finally given up on any attempt at subtly since the G-Shock. These are in fact touch screen PDA’s that link, via Wi Fi, direct to the neural implants of the man on the grill. Or something like that. The staff are, despite their heavy wrist jewellery, cheerful and some are even Japanese, and all are knowledgeable about the dishes. When asked what they would recommend they have genuine and enthusiastic opinions. This is good because when faced with a large menu of ‘tapas’ sized portions of things largely unknown it’s important to get a good spread of dishes to avoid missing out on anything special.
We picked nine dishes, some we knew and some we didn’t. Akadashi – red miso with nameko mushroom and sansho pepper had the deep Miso flavour I love but it could have been a bit hotter. Lukewarm when it arrived it went to stone cold soon after. Kaiso to sashimi was a salad of raw fish and seaweed, and while one of us wasn’t too keen on the raw squid I liked it and both of us thought the seaweed was excellent, a jelly with bite, if that doesn’t like an oxymoron, or just moronic. The fried white fish (plaice) with seven spices –Mehikari – was very good indeed; the fish melting inside its coat and the ponzu sauce a great accompaniment to it. That same ponzu also came with the fried chicken, which had an excellent batter that even smelt attractive, and batter doesn’t always do that especially when you’re sitting stuck next to someone eating fried chicken on the bus.
Sori are chicken oysters which is not some kind of terrible genetic experiment, but that little bit of meat attached to the chicken breast that the Japanese are very fond of. Hot off the grill it had a smoky exterior and a melting centre. Buta, pork belly skewers, were deliciously fatty and the salt-grilled sardine which came posed on the plate as if swimming against the current was particularly good.
We didn’t have rice as the waiter pointed out that rice was to be eaten last to kill any vestiges of hunger and, as it turned out, we were pleasantly stuffed. Instead we tackled some soya milk donuts, little gold-ball sized donuts with wet centres. Interesting, but I don’t think I’d have them again, although the lady with me loved them to bits. Here in gay old Soho Bincho Yakitori is offering an eating experience that suits the area. Some people may get too hot sitting next to the grill, but the prices shouldn’t make you leave feeling too burned.
N.H. - August 2008
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Went to this restaurant on Friday night. Was happy to find Bincho in Soho because we had only had heard of the one in the Oxo Tower. ice to see quite a few Japanese people eating there, but we were not impressed by the overall quality of the food, perhaps because we compared it with similar yakitori or kushiyaki restaurants in Japan. We know it is not fair but it is inevitable to feel that the price is too high for what you get.
We ordered tofu with kimuchi, nasu (aubergine) with miso, tsukune (minced chicken skewers), aji (horse mackerel), tai (sea bream skewer), gohan (rice) and yaki-onigiri (grilled rice ball with soy sauce and seaweed around it).
The sea bream was delicious, so was the aubergine (good but a bit too salty and for some reason this was the most expensive dish). My girlfriend liked her grilled rice ball. I was disappointed to be served boiled Korean rice rather than steamed Japanese rice.
Basically, if you like to eat, drink and talk for a long time it is the place to go, but if you are very hungry and want a delicious filling meal then London has a wealth of other restaurants where you can spend less money.
Yakitori is a difficult concept to pull off since the quality of the ingredients and atmosphere makes all the difference to the meal.
The service was good because when my girlfriend ordered a pickled plum sour by mistake thinking it was in fact plum wine, they kindly changed her drink. I found I was slightly bothered by the waiters and waitresses tapping away at the touch screen computers strapped to their wrists.
Bincho could try giving their customers small starter dishes on the house like some of the yakitori restaurants do in Japan. We were happy to go to try out the food.
Comment on this reader review
Roger
Overall rating 
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Saturday, May 24, 2008
