Yakitori (by G)

After the hustle and bustle of a Japanese formula one weekend I thought it would be good to go somewhere quiet and take it easy (which is all I basically ever do, but this time I would do it somewhere quiet). Otsu is on the banks of lake Biwa and, I gather, a seasonal tourist town. Once the last cherry blossom has fallen the people clear out and the place is deserted.

Instead of spending the afternoon prospecting dinner options I decided to take a stroll along the lake and up the mountain and take in the sights. This was an error because when dinner time came around I was not sure where to eat. I considered a couple of places with crumbed and fried prawns and pork chops and the like but persisted and found a yakitori bar.  Keen readers of the blog will know that I recently had yakitori in Tokyo, but that was a bit dissatisfying so I decided to try again.

When I went in there was a little confusion over my order, the guy was pushing me to order two sticks while I wanted the whole chicken menu. The misunderstanding was soon resolved and what came next was the second best yakitori I've ever had.  The liver and cartilage were better than I've had before. The ovary was something I have never had before - I initially thought the round blob on the end was a fried egg yolk which I guess, in a sense, it was. The texture was just the same - the tubes turned out to be a lot gnarlier than shown on the menu, confronting but not bad.

The leg meat with beef steak plant had a tangy sort of raspberry chilli sauce on it that was unusual and good.

This is the kind of place I could easily spent a couple of hour in under other circumstances but I was the only diner in the whole place and, much as I dislike people, they are useful for creating atmosphere in a restaurant.  Without that it can sometimes be a bit awkward.