Just a short train ride from Tokyo and you’ll be left addicted to delicious skewers slathered in a fiery miso sauce.

Japan has a lot of lists of “Three Great…”, from beautiful sceneries to shrines at the bottom of a flight of stairs, but there is also a list for yakitori (literally “grilled chicken”). These humble skewers of chicken meat, often found at festivals, roadside stalls, or at pubs, may not be your first thought for ranking a food nationally, but there are three cities in the country that are known to outshine the rest: Muroran in Hokkaido, Imabari in Ehime, and Higashimatsuyama in Saitama. Although one of them has a surprising twist in that they are not made from chicken at all.

With both Hokkaido and Ehime being on different islands to Tokyo, they’re not exactly somewhere you can pop over in order to sample their delights, but Saitama is different. Just a short train ride from the capital on the Tobu Tojo line, you’ll soon come to the city of Higashimatsuyama, which stands out for its unique culinary identity rooted in postwar history.

▼ Higashimatsuyama Station Building

The tradition began in 1956, when the founder of the yakitori store Daimatsuya opened a shop in the area. At the time, pork kashira (meat from a pig’s temple and cheek) was rarely utilized in Japanese cooking, but by grilling this tender yet chewy pork and pairing it with a spicy miso sauce, it proved to be a massive hit with the locals. The original owner shared the kashira recipe with local vendors, establishing this unique dish as a core element of local food culture.

▼ Heading to Saitamaya‘s Higashimatsuyama Ekimae store, we were excited to finally give it a try for ourselves.

Looking at the menu, three types of lunch sets were available, and while we were also curious about the Secret Miso Fried Chicken Set, we couldn’t exactly satisfy ourselves with fried chicken after coming all of this way.

So, we ordered the Higashimatsuyama specialty Yakitori-ju Set, costing 1,200 yen (US$7.54). To go along with it, we also splurged on a lunch drink, costing an extra 100 yen, and the Gokutoro Liver (680 yen) we spotted on the menu posted on the wall; it just looked so delicious we couldn’t help ourselves.

▼ The first to arrive was the liver, looking fresh and faintly tinged with pink.

Throwing a bite into our mouth, it had a sublime melt-in-your-mouth texture that is to be expected of something called “toro” (the Japanese culinary term for something rich and tender).

Then came the Yakitori-ju, a heavy box set that comes with miso soup, pickles, and a small side dish. There are four skewers: Kashira, Negima (chicken and green onion), Tsukune (chicken meatballs), and Eggplant.

While the Negima, Tsukune, and Eggplant looked positively delectable, it was the Kashira that we were most interested in sinking our teeth into.

The meat offers a firm texture, satisfying chew, and rich umami that differs completely from chicken, complemented by the fiery punch of the miso sauce for an addictive combination.

Unlike traditional local eateries, where kashira skewers are served continuously until diners ask the chef to stop, more modern establishments like Saitamaya offer standard menu ordering, so if you’re looking to try some kashira for yourselves, you’ll need to plan in advance what sort of experience you’re looking for. Now, we just need to find an excuse to make our way to Hokkaido and Ehime.

Restaurant information
Saitamaya Higashimatsuyama Ekimae-ten / さいたまや 東松山駅前店
Address: Saitama-ken, Higashimatsuyama-shi, Yakyu-cho 1-chome 13-15 Sakura-biru 1F
埼玉県東松山市箭弓町1丁目13-15 さくらビル1F
Open: 12:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m. (last order 8:30 p.m.), Takeout 11:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m.
Website

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