Restaurant review: Toritama serves a wide variety of tasty innards

Toritama is the latest import from Japan. It specialises in yakitori, which refers specifically to skewers of various chicken parts, although they do offer a few from other animals. Here, the food is grilled over an electric burner, so it doesn't have the smokiness of being cooked over charcoal.

What attracted us most was the wide variety of innards, although the more exotic (such as kidney, spleen and unlaid egg yolk) were not available. Tsukune (HK$42 each) are a must at yakitori restaurants, and these small chicken meatballs were good, with a soft crunch from the bits of cartilage.

Chicken oysters (HK$42) — the oval-shaped nuggets of meat that nestle in the lower part of the backbone — were moist and dense. Esophagus (HK$38) looked like small worms, and had an interesting texture, but they were overwhelmed by sauce. Hatsu (heart, HK$38) was intense.

Our favourite skewers were the liver (HK$38), which was succulent, with a deep flavour, and the aorta, which had a rich taste. Peta (thick back skin, HK$38) was nice and fatty, although it would have benefited from more time on the grill.