Fry Me a Liver

Fry Me a Liver

Can we agree that everything is better fried? At Kushiya, twenty-five hundred yen gets you your own little deep fryer and an endless supply of stuff to fry in it. For me and my crew, that’s heaven.

Kushiage is essentially deep-fried yakitori, which in turn is essentially bits of meat and veggies skewered and roasted on sticks like miniature shish kabob. It’s a common favorite all over Japan. You’ll see the yakitori trucks in front of markets and at festivals. That’s good enough on it’s own and no one should spend a week in Japan without having some. It’s even vegetarian-friendly. But how about if we take some yakitori, roll it in batter and bread crumbs and give it a few minutes in hot oil? Mmmmm, if Homer Simpson knew about this…

While you can find these kushiake restaurants at the top of many department stores, this is the only one I’ve ever seen that lets you do it yourself. We were initially a little worried about letting our eight year old get that close to a deep fryer, but the way it’s set up put us at ease.

The table is a lot like the yakiniku tables you see with the griddle in the middle, only instead you get a narrow trough of hot oil encircled by a draining rack. This design was such that we never felt threatened and our son who’s normally terrified of getting burned became at ease with it before too long.

You start by taking a little plate down a row of deli windows where the chefs have cut and skewered any number of edibles on pencil-sized sticks and laid them out for your approval. Take any and all you want; it’s a buffet. It’s the only buffet I’ve ever really enjoyed in Japan, the rest being just a smorgasbog of mediocre food. But this was good food and so much fun. After you’ve collected your foods, you’ll need to get a boat of bread crumbs and another of batter. Get some more trays of different sauces. Some rice, some salad, a drink, pickles, miso…I must have made a dozen trips between my table and the serving area before we were ready to start, but that was also strangely fun.

Once you’re all set and ready, you take a skewer of whatever and roll it first in the batter, then in the bread crumbs. Dangle it in the oil for a few seconds to get a firm shape, then put it the rest of the way in. The end of the skewer will stick up far enough above the surface that you can retrieve it without getting burned. It doesn’t even pop that much. Very easy.

But here is where the real fun lies. Kushiage is not easy to make, but it’s not so difficult, either. It has a nice, sharp learning curve and in no time you’ll have your own technique down and feel like some kind of tempura master. Each one of us thought we had the better method. My family doesn’t realize that I had the best way. But however you do it, you only give it a minute or two and then pull it out to drain and cool on the rack.

Beyond the sheer fun of the cooking is the surprising variety of fry-ables on offer. Asparagus, ocra, cheese, shrimp, beef, bacon, various mushrooms, tater tots, sweet potato, acorn squash, lotus root, okonomiyaki…I asked my son what he liked most.
“I liked that broccoli thing, that egg thing, that shrimp thing and that takoyaki thing, too…that was nice! Yes, we all loved the deep-fried takoyaki (grilled and battered octopus bits). It was our unanimous favorite. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside.

Then for the sauce. We have over eight different sauces including four kinds of soy, a cheese mayo, and a pickled ume (plum) sauce that was out of this world. But if you have a truly refined palate for Japanese food, they say you’ll prefer just a light sprinkling of salt.

We’d found this one at the Kawaguchi Jusco Carat mall and we’d originally intended to go by the Krispy Kreme afterwards, but by the time we waddled out we knew we’d have to take the donuts on the road.

Kushiya

串家物語　靖国通り店
■住所： 〒160-0021東京都新宿区歌舞伎町1-6-1　ｼﾛｰﾋﾞﾙ7F

■TEL/FAX： 03-5292-9401

■定休日/営業時間： 無休/平日16：00～22：00 日･祝12：30～23：00

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串家物語　新宿西口大ガード店
■住所： 〒160-0023東京都新宿区西新宿1-3-1　ｻﾝﾌﾗﾜｰﾋﾞﾙ5F

■TEL/FAX： 03-5321-6166

■定休日/営業時間： 無休/16：00～23：00

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串家物語　吉祥寺店
■住所： 〒180-0004東京都武蔵野市吉祥寺本町1-11-30　ﾀﾞｲﾔﾊﾟﾚｽ吉祥寺2F

■TEL/FAX： 0422-28-7735

■定休日/営業時間： 無休/17：00～23：00

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串家物語　立川北口店
■住所： 〒190-0012東京都立川市曙町2-5-17　ｲﾉﾀｹﾋﾞﾙ5Ｆ

■TEL/FAX： 042-540-8948

■定休日/営業時間： 無休/平日16：00～23：00　土日祝11：30～14：30 16：00～23：00

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