Bincho Yakitori - Preston St - Brighton

How to cook the perfect chicken. It’s a question has vexed the great gastronomic minds for as long as Neolithic man has been slaying and burning poultry. It’s like a philosophical conundrum meets a soul-searching mission, wrapped up in a nostalgic national dish.

Food writer Simon Hopkinson evocatively said there was little better in life then a roast chicken – and it’s hard to argue with that sentiment. The French may call us Brits rosbif - but really its poulet that gets our juices running.

But as well as being a reliable comfort, chicken can be a dull old bird. For every Hopkinson champion, there is an Anthony Bourdain, frothing with disdain that diners could choose something so tedious.

Too often there’s no imagination, no heart and no soul. Dry breast wrapped in something crispy, stuffed with something gooey. Maybe we haven’t moved on much from the chicken kiev. Perhaps that's no bad thing.

Literally putting the heart into chicken is Bincho Yakitori, which serves the blood-pumping organ on skewers, squat nuggets of offaly goodness grilled and basted in a rich umami juice. If that sounds off-putting there’s plenty more delicious anatomy charred on sticks. There is rippling skin salty, crispy and sweet, which wraps around the skewers like meaty jewellery. Or the karage chicken Japanese style - torn shreds of flesh deep fried in a light batter. In fact you can create a whole chicken tasting menu, with meatballs, livers, wings and thighs all on the menu too.

The trend for nose to tail eating has been with around for a while, but usually with pig, so there’s something quite ingenious about this ‘beak to claw’ approach.

Inspired by Tokyo’s izakaya - informal drinking houses that serves food on the side – Yakitori literally translates into "grilled bird", which is skewered and traditionally cooked over dense coals known as Bincho-tan made from oak.

In a previous life founder David Miney worked in fine dining restaurants in Tokyo, but kept finding himself drawn into the boozy dens of inequity where the more visceral booze-fuelled thrills took place.

The idea has already proved a success once in the OXO Tower, where it was founded and resided for seven years. Following its summer relocation to Brighton under Miney it has already caused a frisson of excitement among Brighton’s foodies, a steady stream of bookings and walk-ins keeping the usually quiet Tuesday buzzing.

From the vibrant but wildly inconsistent Preston Street, Bincho Yakitori blends in to the point of near invisibility alongside its globe-trotting neighbours. Yet the location could well prove a shrewd move, with its current cheap rents and downmarket perception surely likely to change as restaurants fan outwards and the regenerative shadow of the i360 spreads.

True to its izakaya roots there is plenty of sake on the menu, and for those uninitiated there is a handy tasting selection of three for £9, in varying shades of creamy and cloudy, dry and poky.

Décor-wise the restaurant is tiny but inviting, Miney in plain sight in the open kitchen. There is cool, effortless feel, ambient house music and moreish saki cushioning you in for a devoted feed.

A rock-oriented music journalist once said to me how he couldn’t critique dance music because he would always revert to talking about the “toe tapping beats” and there are similar pitfalls for Westerners talking Asian food and its “tastebud tingling” traits.

But this is humble, soulful food. There’s no obscure concept to get worried about. People come in and order, eat and leave. Service is fast and assured. The food comes when it’s ready.

Service was a little shy at first but overall staff were knowledgeable and efficient.

Unlike some types of Japanese cookery, there was little exotic or complicated, just juicy mouthfuls banging with flavour.

And it is astonishingly affordable, most skewers coming in at around £3 a pop.

Get in there now while the prices are cheap and its still possible to get a table.

Food *****

Service ****

Restaurant ****