Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Yardbird

This is a contemporary style Japanese izakaya restaurant that specializes in yakitori located on Bridges Street, a hip neighborhood in Sheung Wan. With no reservation service, we came early to get a table and already the restaurant is quite packed. We are seated on the lower level looking at the kitchen.

Quite frankly the environment was very noisy and a bit crowded, but maybe that would be expected in such restaurant. We ordered a Yardbird Caesar Salad to start, which is a normal Caesar Salad with some shredded seaweed on top. That provided another dimension to the salad which is decent as an appetizer.

Of course coming here the main attraction is their yakitori. We ordered Inner Thigh, Wings, Achilles and Meatball. The Inner Thigh is probably their signature skewer, with the juicy tender chicken thigh meat grilled perfectly, and plus a few lemon juice really made it memorable.

The Wings are sprinkled with the chili powder, adding the spiciness to it. Again grilled perfectly, the only thing I would hope is maybe a bigger portion. The wings are really tiny in any standard, while this may be due to the type of chicken (I am not sure...) still it looks a bit pathetic in my opinion.

The Achilles is recommended by the waiter, which is a good size chicken meat less tender and juicy than the thigh but more filling and chewy. This I would say is more mediocre than the last two but still quite decent on the taste.

The meatball is minced chicken meat, with a soy sauce and egg yolk to dip. The skewer itself is already tasty and nice, and dipping into the sauce provided further sweetness and savory to it which is another must try in this restaurant.

We also had a grilled Maitake mushroom but that honest speaking is not particularly impressive. There is an oily smell on the mushroom and while it did not got dried up, overall it was not something I would re-order.

Finishing off we had a Duck Fried Rice, again a small portion dish, with finely chopped basil adding the flavors and fragrance to the rice, which is fairly good. The duck was grilled and added a nice bite to the rice, which helps to fill us up on the night.

Service was quite good, with our waiter coming to explain the restaurant, the menu and recommending the dishes. As to the price, with a skewer per person, the total bill for three of us was $1,181. Very expensive considering the types of food and the restaurant setting, it is not a place for you to eat and get full, but more to enjoy the company of friends and have a small bite.

My overall rating is 45/100.