Adelaide restaurant Shobosho opens intimate yakitori experience, Sho, today
WHERE there’s smoke, there’s fire-fuelled yakitori you’re going to want to eat.
CITY diners who pull up a pew at new city dining concept Sho will have three menu options to choose from.
The eight-seat yakitori bar, constructed in restaurant Shobosho’s ground-level space, brings the fire-fuelled action of Japanese cuisine to Leigh St, tempting walkers by with skewers and smoke.
“The offer is three set menus, starting with a cheap entree-level menu,” says Shobosho chef Adam Lison. “It will be three sticks and also a little snack, finishing with rice or ramen. That’ll start this week.”
Menu sizes will increase to five, and seven sticks.
It’s no secret that yakitori, or grilled skewered chicken (and other meats), is something Adam is passionate about, thanks to his travels in Japan.
“I just like how something that’s perceived as being quite simple actually has a lot of layers,” says Adam. “Breaking down the chickens, using the whole bird, using the bones for ramen — it’s just the whole package. It’s not pretentious, not cheffy, no ‘plating up’ — it is what it is and there’s no hiding it.”
Creating a yakitori bar is also an opportunity to better showcase the restaurant, and allow diners to see the action — something that has made the bar seating inside Shobosho popular, Adam says.
“We can engage the street,” he says. “Not many people speak Japanese so when you look out the front of Shobosho we didn’t have something to help people understand what we do.
“Now we have someone down there all the time; a person you can speak to.”
That person will be Adam most of the weekend “because I love cooking yakitori, but I have two others, a Korean girl and a Korean guy who are really good with people”.
Sho can also be booked for exclusive use.
“When there are people sitting around the grill, and people are drinking beers and stuff, the vibe is really good,” Adam says. “It’s just fun.”
Open Tue-Sun from noon, 17 Leigh St, city 8366 2224