Seeing that I'd spent so much time tracking the opening of Yakitori Koubou, I really don't know why it took me so long to visit the place. I finally got my act together, and along with FOY (Friend of Yoso) Candice paid Koubou a visit.
The place looks pretty big from the outside, but much like Tsuruhashi next door, the place is relatively small with a bar area, and a few tables near the East wall.
The menu has the Yakitori "standards", but also a few other items which Yakyudori doesn't have.
We decided to order a couple of items for comparison and a few other things that caught our fancy.
As Dennis noted in his post on Koubou (please check it out here), a shot of milk is served before alcoholic beverages to help prevent the ravages of over-indulgence.
We started with an order of Torisenbei – basically chicken flavored chips/crackers.
These were surpringly low with regards to chicken flavor, and I felt were kind of oily.
Even though the Gyu-tan (Beef Tongue) seemed priced on the high side at almost four bucks a skewer….. we couldn't resist ordering them.
As I noted in previous posts, I like a thinner cut with a bit of charring around the edges. This was cut very thick, lacked flavor, and was on the tough side. I also found the flavor imparted from the Binchotan here to be a lot milder than at Yakyudori….. if you find Yakyudori's flavors to run too intense (which I do not) perhaps this will be more to your liking.
It would be crime if I didn't order the Kawa Ponzu – Chicken skin salad:
We started noticing something as this dish arrived…… the portion sizes seemed a bit larger than what I've grown accustomed to at Yakitori/Robatayaki places. The chicken skin was chopped into rather thick un-uniformed pieces, and not enough ponzu was used, making this dish pretty weak with regards to flavor.
The Buta-shiso was also a non-starter for us.
Even though it looked nice and moist, it was pretty dry and on the tough side.
The Tsukune was not bad.
As Dennis noted, the chicken is ground coarser at Koubou, versus the mousse like texture of the Tsukune at Yakyudori, not necessarily a bad thing. The tare here is still very mild, and I think the exterior could have been grilled a bit more to add another dimension of texture to this.
After this, we moved on to a couple of different menu items.
Our favorite of the night by far was the Nankotsu Piri Karaage (Spice deep fried chicken cartilage):
These were fried right….. good crunch on crunch action here along with mild spice and a touch of saltiness. I usually like a cartilage chopped into pieces a bit more substantial than these. There were times I felt I was eating deep fried chicken gizzards….. Good beer food.
Candice had seen Tendon Stew on the specials board…… 'nuff said.
Not much tendon….. mostly tough meat…..
I had high hopes for the Tebakara.
These lacked the crispness I enjoy in these type of wings. When dipped and served right away, there's usually a good amount of crackle still there, but not in this case. The weak tare was also in display here…… it obviously needs a bit more time to ripen.
When eating at a Yakitori place, I usually end my meal with something substantial…. Chazuke, Natto Gohan, and the like. We decided to check out the Natto Omelet.
The omelet itself was a fairly hefty affair. The egg was nice and fluffy, but sorely in need of some additional flavor because the natto sure didn't do it. Sure, the filling was natto-slimy, but the wonderful flavor of the natto was almost non-existent.
Since Koubou just opened a few months ago, I think I'll give them a pass on this one. Along with the tare, the cooking techniques and flavoring seems a bit "raw", so I'll try them in a couple of months to see if things improve.
Yokohama Yakitori Koubou
3904 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
