The kindness of strangers: a knight in dining armour scored me a seat at a Michelin star restaurant
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On my last night in Japan, I had a front-row seat to a beak-to-tail feast – then a surprise was waiting when I went to pay. In Osaka in 2017, at the end of a trip to Japan, I decided to treat myself at Torisho Ishii, a yakitori joint (that is, specialising in skewered grilled chicken) with a Michelin star. My calls to the restaurant went unanswered so I decided to try my luck in person.
Behind its discreet entrance not far from Naniwabashi station, I found an intimate, minimalist space with counter seating for 10, a few small tables and a private dining room. Serendipitously, there was one spot left at the counter. But for reasons unknown (at least to me), the waiter wouldn’t seat me. I whipped out my phone, hoping Google Translate would help. What came back from the waiter’s Japanese was nonsensical, but the message was clear: there’d be no yakitori for me tonight.
I was about to leave when a man at the counter intervened. The chef weighed in, and within 15 minutes I was seated with a menu and a glass of beaujolais. An English-speaking waiter rushed in from another restaurant, on loan especially to wait on me. Here was the omotenashi (Japanese hospitality) I had read about and experienced in ryokan and tea ceremonies, one that puts the comfort of the guest above all else. In my head I had concocted a million reasons for being denied a table. Little did I realise it was my comfort at stake: no one at the restaurant spoke English.
What followed was an extraordinary beak-to-tail omakase (where the food selection is left up to the chef): fried sweetbread, harami (diaphragm) punchy with wasabi, crispy neck, mizutaki (chicken hotpot), chicken breast sashimi, plus gizzards and a fallopian tube skewered and grilled, served with two golden yolks.
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