All fired up: sublime yakitori at Koji Charcoal Grill

Yakitori restaurants are a dime a dozen in Hong Kong. Few, however, can boast an authentic charcoal grill.

Koji Charcoal Grill states its claim to fame in its name. As well as that star player, fired by bincho-tan, a traditional type of Japanese charcoal that has been used in cooking for centuries, there is an electric grill and a regular kitchen for rice, noodles and soup dishes.

We start with a Wagyu beef chuck roll salad (HK$135), where slices of beef are surrounded by spring onions and a tangy vinegar jelly. It’s tremendously refreshing and full of umami notes. Moving onto the kushiyaki skewers, the chicken meatballs (HK$38), with meat sourced direct from Shikoku, are deliciously tender and pair perfectly with the sweet sauce. The soft-boiled egg wrapped in pork belly (HK$42) is made for the Boomerang app. The perfectly cooked egg gushes a rich yellow yolk as you pull it apart.

From the charcoal grill we opt for the anago (HK$210), a type of eel that lives in the sea – as opposed to the more common freshwater unagi eel. Less fatty and with firmer meat, the anago is delightfully crisp but the flavour is a little underwhelming, perhaps since we’re used to the delicate kabayaki sauce that accompanies unagi. The grilled tuna cheek (HK$150) has a wonderful charcoal aroma while retaining a fresh briny taste.

Koji’s Charcoal Grill is no gimmick. The dishes and flavours it helps create are rare in Hong Kong, making this a real stand-out venue. Judging by our visit, even the items on other parts of the menu should not be missed.