Yakitori is the Japanese art of skewered grilled chicken — from yaki, grilled, and tori, bird. Bite-sized pieces of chicken — thigh, breast, skin, meatballs, giblets — are threaded onto bamboo skewers and grilled over binchotan charcoal, basted with either a sweet-savoury tare sauce of soy, mirin, sugar, and stock, or simply seasoned with salt. The charcoal’s fierce, clean heat gives a smoky char while keeping the interior juicy, and the specialisation is extreme: dedicated yakitori chefs grill each cut to its ideal doneness. Served in izakaya pubs with beer, it is Japan’s definitive grilled snack — proof that chicken, fire, and salt need little else.