Angelo Sato to launch Humble Chicken yakitori bar in Soho early next year
Called Humble Chicken, the concept is inspired by the informal traditions of Japanese izakaya restaurants.
The menu will follow a ‘comb to tail’ cooking ethos that will use every part of the chicken from cartilage and achilles, to gizzards and knee.
Yakitori will be cooked over Bincho-tan charcoal on a traditional Japanese grill imported from Kappabashi in Tokyo, served on wooden skewers with shredded cabbage and orange ponzusauces, and accompanied by sauces such as tare and burnt fat.
The yakitori menu will also be supplemented by short selection of small and large plates inspired by favourite dishes, flavours and memories from Sato's childhood
Smaller snacks will include miso foie gras with black sesame, pine nuts and rice crackers; and crispy chicken feet. Larger plates, meanwhile, will feature chicken alternatives such as Hakata pork belly chashu with braised daikon, yolk and mustard; and clay-pot rice dishes such as soba tempura, hakusai, shiso, tile fish and soy.
“I've been working to open Humble Chicken for over three years," says Sato, who cut his teeth working with Adam Byatt at Trinity in London, RyuGin in Tokyo and Eleven Madison Park in New York.
"It's definitely a risky time to open, but when the site came up we just knew it was time to be brave and just go for it.
"I'm hoping Humble Chicken will bring a piece of home to London. We’re not creating a super traditional Japanese yakitori-ya, we’re taking little things we loved growing up and working in Japan’s vibrant restaurant culture.
"We’re trying to take all that magic and let it loose in Soho.”
Sato also owns Bermondsey-based grab-and-go sushi concept Omoide, and prior to the pandemic also operated a katsu sando concept within Market Halls West End.
Freak Scene, which was owned by Kurobuta founder Scott Hallsworth, announced back in July that it would be closing its Soho restaurant permanently as a result of the impact of Covid-19.
