Yakitori Bamboo

“Hi, I’m home!” — A yakitori restaurant, where you feel at home.

Do you know a yakitori restaurant where everybody feels relaxed? Even alone female customer must feel relaxed. The restaurant is on a small street, a five-minute walk from the south exit of Tachikawa station. The restaurant is run by a mother and her daughter. Let’s go there.

A beautiful lantern and a wooden board are full of a quaint atmosphere. You see them hanging on the wall of an old Japanese style house. The owner’s sister, a calligraphy teacher, wrote the name of the restaurant on the board.

Ms. Shigeko Naito is an owner of the restaurant and Ms. Naoko Suda is her daughter. They must be really close.

The inside of the restaurant looks very comfy. You feel a nostalgic Showa era from things around and posters on the wall. There are both counter seats and a small tatami room to sit. You can enjoy anytime either with your friends or alone.

You see two happy smiles inside the kitchen. The owner and her daughter grilled Yakitori by a far infrared grill and roasted them to increase the savory smell.

A plate of Yakitori includes Negima (chicken with leeks), Bonjiri (coccyx), Hatsu (heart), Kawa (skin) and Nankotsu (cartilage), the price of which is 800 yen (Tax excluded). Enjoy them with a homemade sweet and hot miso sauce. Yakitori is skewered daily and grilled with their special salt and sauce.
 

The restaurant opened in October 2020. When asked about the origin of the restaurant’s name or Bamboo, Shigeko said, “I wanted the shop to take root in the community like bamboo.” She used to run a restaurant in Yokohama. When her daughter got married and moved to Tachikawa, she left Yokohama and opened Bamboo. She soon realized that Tachikawa was similar to the downtown area of Yokohama. She smiled and expressed her love for Tachikawa. She works with her daughter lively and happily.
She says, “I want my customers to use it like their own living room, and I want to fulfill their selfish wishes as much as possible.” As you sit at the counter, you feel at ease as if you have returned to your parents’ home. You naturally want to join in the conversation. Many customers come to see Ms. Naoko and Ms. Shigeko. They are like family members for customers. Surprisingly, some customers come from Yokohama every week. You can enjoy annual events such as Halloween with them. The notice is on their Instagram. Two of them seem to have been Tachikawa residents for a long time. The communication between customers makes anybody feel relaxed.

※The content of the article is as of the time of publication. (Posted in February 2023)