The Verdict
YAKITORI IMAI is the Roppongi yakitori counter that holds a Michelin star through the specific discipline of a kitchen that has devoted itself entirely to one form and one bird. The chicken — sourced from a farm in the Kyushu region whose specific breed and raising methods the chef has been involved with since the restaurant opened — arrives at the counter as a whole bird daily, and the team breaks it down and portions it for the evening's progression before the service begins. Nothing is pre-prepared.
The omakase moves through the bird in the traditional yakitori sequence with the Imai kitchen's specific additions: preparations that use the less-common parts — the liver membrane, the neck muscle, the small oyster tucked against the backbone — in ways that most yakitori counters lack either the sourcing quality or the technical confidence to attempt. The tsukune meatball, assembled from the day's trim and seasoned with the kitchen's aged tare, arrives at the progression's midpoint as the preparation that most completely demonstrates what the whole-bird philosophy produces.
One Michelin star and a Roppongi location that positions the counter as an alternative to the neighbourhood's hotel dining rooms for guests who want genuine culinary quality in a format that is simultaneously serious and informal. The sake programme at Imai is assembled with the specific attention to chicken's flavour profile that a dedicated yakitori counter can justify: light-bodied junmai expressions that don't compete with the char.
Why It Works for Solo Dining
The yakitori counter at Imai — the chef grilling in direct view, each skewer arriving at the moment of its perfection, the tare glaze catching the charcoal light — is the solo dining experience for guests who want the counter engagement of a sushi bar combined with the specific pleasure of watching fire transform protein in real time. The counter's intimacy means the chef's narration — why this piece from this part of the bird, why this degree of char — is as accessible to a solo diner as to any table.
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