Hakata's standard-bearer for torikawa — chicken-neck skin wound on skewers and grilled and basted over successive days, crisp outside and springy within.
By SHOKU NOREN TeamFacts last verified September 2026How we check
In shortYakitori, Hakata's famous torikawa of skewered chicken-neck skin. It takes no reservations: you queue on the day.
Price
Torikawa ¥220 a skewer; a ¥200 cabbage cover charge starts the evening
Hours
17:00–23:00 (last orders 22:00)
Closed
New Year holidays, plus four or five irregular days a month
Seats
65, over two floors
Payment
Cash only; no cards or e-money
Getting there
Yakuin Stn; Fukuoka
Fukuoka has a yakitori — grilled chicken skewers, Japan’s everyday
counter food — all its own: torikawa, the skin of the chicken’s
neck, and this Yakuin house is the name locals reach for first. The
skin is wound tightly around the skewer, then grilled, basted in tare —
the sweet‑savory house glaze — rested, and grilled again over
successive days, each pass rendering fat and layering the glaze deeper.
That repetition is the whole dish: it comes off the final grilling
crisp and rustling on the outside, springy as gristle‑free cartilage
within, at ¥220 a skewer. Regulars order by round numbers — ten at a
time is how the kitchen batches them — and the second name to know is
shigi‑yaki, the house’s other signature, ordered alongside.
What you eat
Torikawa above all, days of grilling behind each skewer, ordered by the
ten; the shigi‑yaki regulars pair with it; and the ¥200 plate of raw
cabbage in vinegared sauce that lands unbidden as your cover charge —
Hakata’s palate‑reset between skewers, refilled freely. It is counter
food built for a long evening of small skewers and cold drinks, across
sixty‑five seats on two floors, open until eleven, last orders at ten.
The booking reality
The counter takes no reservations, and neither does a party of two:
you turn up at five when the doors open, or after 20:00 when the first
wave has left, and queue if you must. Only the sunken‑kotatsu tables
upstairs can be held, for parties of three or more, by telephone in
Japanese from 14:00; no reservation platform carries the house, and it
takes no online bookings. Payment is cash only, worth knowing before
the bill lands. For a group, the 14:00 Japanese phone call is the
entire game — which is why our desk makes it, and why we brief you on
the ten‑at‑a‑time ordering before you sit down.
Who it’s for
Travelers who want Hakata’s own yakitori from its leading house, and
who will order by the ten, carry cash, and settle in for the long
evening the counter is built for.
Free release-date alerts: the day before, on the morning of release day (08:00 JST) and about 30 minutes before when the time is known — or a weekly summary if the house opens a little every day.
Torikawa Suikyo: common questions
Can you book Torikawa Suikyo?
No. Torikawa Suikyo takes no reservations, so there is nothing to book: you queue on the day. Our Tokyo desk can tell you its opening days, or suggest a bookable restaurant nearby.
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