Things on Sticks: a quick look at Oishi-Q

One of my once-favourite shows, Iron Chef, opened every episode with this quote from Brillat-Savarin: "Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you what you are."  Thanks to Iron Chef this has become possibly one of the best-known food quotes of all time.  Which well-known food writer was it, though, who observed that "Putting things on sticks always makes them taste better"?

Actually I don't know that anyone has made that quote famous so far; probably I just made it up.  But it contains at least a grain of truth: satay and kebabs; the pintxos of Barcelona bars (little bread canapes, sort of like bruschetta -- but ON A STICK); toffee apples.  Even cubes of processed cheese with kabana and pickled onions taste a little less worse when skewered with a toothpick than they might otherwise.

And then, of course, there is yakitori.

Since my first visit to Japan last year, I have harboured a not-so-secret love of izakaya culture and yakitori joints.  It's not the grilled chicken itself (which is, after all, a commonly found thing) but something about the atmosphere: the smell of the charcoal, the shouts when you enter ("Irrashaimase!") and from the chefs working the yakitori grill as orders are ready to be served, the frenetic pace of the kitchen and floor staff while all you as a customer have to do is relax, sip sake and decide what to order next, and the ordering format which allows even encourages, you to pick just a couple of things at a time and then ask for more of whatever you want whenever you want it... all of this provides the perfect setting for a cosy evening.

I have sometimes wondered how this kind of venue would go over in Manchester and why we don't have a yakitori-ya here.  Well, it seems now we do!  of a sort, at least...

Oishi-Q is the latest venture to open up in the block that used to be a rather desolate wasteland opposite the BBC on Oxford Rd; the BBC is now gone and the block is now called the Quadrangle and home to an increasing number of semi-trendy eating places including Zouk, Rice, Nando's, Blue Ginger takeaway, Lameizi and as I recently noticed a newly-opened branch of Wasabi.  I was alerted to this 'new kid on the block' by a post from local food guru Hungry Hoss and, seeing as I pass by the side street where Oishi-Q is located almost every day, decided I should stop in and check it out.

The inside looks promising, with a clean, modern feel that avoids soulless minimalism by virtue of the fun fact-filled walls.  The space behind the counter is rather bare, though; no smell of charcoal and no bustle.  The latter may improve as custom picks up, but the electric grill doesn't create quite the same smoky ambience. 

The menu is limited to a dozen or so different types of skewers, all priced at £1.55, including some of the classic varieties: breast, thigh, chicken & leek, meatballs (tsukune); skin and liver, common in Japan but less often seen in restaurants here; quail eggs; and some different vegetable options such as mushrooms, asparagus and broccoli, some of which can also be ordered wrapped with pancetta.  There's also rice and salad for £1.50 a serve, but on my visit the salad looked somewhat forlorn and wilted, which wasn't really an incentive to order it.

Seeing as I had only popped in for a snack, I decided to take advantage of their opening "free taster" special -- "free" meaning if you buy two, you get one free; the normal offer is buy four get one free.  There is a minimum order of two skewers, although I didn't realise until later that it doesn't have to be two of the same sort (in most yakitori places I've been in, if there's a minimum order they have to be the same), so I went for two of the chicken thigh, this being the yakitori archetype and therefore a good test, and for the extra free one, the pancetta and enoki, for something a bit different.

The skewers were fairly small, as was typical in my experience at most Japanese izakaya, with about three pieces of meat each.  The chicken was suitably moist, juicy and tender, with some pleasingly crisp bits on the outside, though overall I would have liked it a bit browner with more char and the tare sauce was a good balance of salt and sweet.  The pancetta was quite salty but made a nice addition to the chicken, and the little bundles of enoki wrapped in each piece had the usual toothsome texture which is what I like best about them.

The big downer here, though, is that they don't serve sake!  Nor do they have plans to get a license, according to the waitress who took my order.  This is a great pity as to me, it's the combination of sake and yakitori (and other little snacky foods) that makes an izakaya.  Without it this is just a place that serves things on sticks -- but tasty ones!  I'll be interested to sample a few other types of thing-on-stick next visit and meanwhile hold out hope that they will introduce sake to the menu soon...