Every Japanese chef has a Tokyo dream, and every Tokyo chef has an America dream. Plenty put down roots in the city they dreamed of; plenty quietly retreat back to their hometown a year or two later.

「水づき」counts as a success story — once the No. 1 spot in Gifu Prefecture, it opened in Tokyo’s new-money enclave, and by now bookings already need to be made more than a month in advance.

Owner and head chef Junji Mizuki has no apprenticeship background at a famous yakitori restaurant, but his store back home in Gifu Prefecture won wide acclaim over its 12 years — even making the Michelin list and becoming a hard-to-book local favorite. At the end of 2024, Mizuki-san, already past fifty, opened a place in Tokyo.

A silver-haired guy who looks laid-back on the surface, and yet he made it all the way to Tokyo on his own strength. His yakitori has a style entirely his own — bold, leaning on charcoal aroma to carry the saltiness, while always keeping a touch of raw freshness at the core. Genuinely a man of ideas and grit.

Omidori chicken, breast, thigh

Softshell turtle and matsutake chicken soup

Right on time, I sat down to find Mizuki-san had already got the charcoal going, ready to start grilling.

Both cuts were Omidori chicken. The thigh still had a touch of pink, the salt on the outside applied boldly, firm and springy to bite into. The breast piece had a bit of crispy skin still attached, its smoky note distinct.

An opening with plenty of chicken aroma and real texture, instantly lighting up a sense of exhilaration in the mouth.

Fried chicken breast cutlet + blue cheese

Two surprises: first, that the fried cutlet used the breast, a naturally firm cut; second, that it was paired with something as bold as blue cheese.

A very light, crisp shell plus chicken breast cooked just to done. The chicken’s own fiber structure hadn’t been broken down — it simply showed off its springy, tender side here. The cutlet was fried so lightly that chopsticks alone could pull it apart.

The blue cheese was as pungently characterful as ever, but its creamy texture stood in clear contrast against both the crisp shell and the breast meat.

A precise expression of the ingredient’s state — a deliciousness that can’t be replicated.

Chicken white liver

Chicken meatball skewer

Akami (breast/thigh)

The white liver carried a grassy fragrance. The chicken meatball was firm, full of meaty aroma, tender to bite. The akami was crisp outside, tender inside, its chicken flavor unmistakable under a generous coat of salt.

From the very first skewer, Mizuki-san’s style came through clearly. Steady, precise, decisive hands — a textbook case of charred-outside, tender-inside balance with a bold hand.

Every skewer’s exterior was wrapped in charcoal aroma, yet the core still carried a faint touch of underdone freshness. The salt hand was heavy, but the chicken flavor it drew out was exactly right.

Shoulder

Bone-in thigh

Maitake mushroom

Big cuts of meat on the grill always stand out. A few pieces dripping with fat kept getting shuttled between near and far heat, flipped again and again by Mizuki-san — and kept not making it to the table.

The large bone-in thigh, moved between near and far heat, essentially got charcoal-grilled first, then smoked. The spread-out skin expressed both a burst of aromatic fat and a nearly crisp char. The meat pulled off the bone still carried a hint of blood, extremely tender. The chicken’s texture, its fat aroma, and the charcoal note were all beautifully expressed.

The maitake, surprisingly, leaned quite sweet — a clever way of drawing out the flavor of the mountains.

Ginkgo nuts

Chicken skin

Tofu

Chicken tail

Chicken skin and chicken tail are the two skewers with the highest fat content, but on Mizuki-san’s menu they showed off more of their crispness and spring instead.

The chicken skin, glazed heavily and lightly charred, had crisp fat; the heavily-salted chicken tail here combined a crackling texture with fat that melted the instant it hit the mouth.

Even the tofu wasn’t an afterthought — lightly seared over the charcoal, then tossed with minced meat, myoga, fresh scallion and shiso — a small, fragrant, soft happiness with a hint of charcoal.

Ebi-imo taro

Esophagus (chicken neck skin)

Neck meat (seseri)

You could see how beautifully Mizuki-san shifted between near and far heat — his handling of every single cut so practiced it looked like pure muscle memory.

The chicken chosen already had beautiful fat on its own, with the fragrance of a genuinely quality bird. The skin was always kept at just the right lightly-charred state, while the meat had that ultra-tender, half-done texture. Smoke was another crucial layer — Mizuki-san’s yakitori carries a smokiness draped over the chicken like a thin veil.

You might grumble that it’s heavy-handed with flavor, but skewer after skewer, it fills you with happiness all the same.

Gifu soba

Softshell turtle and matsutake zosui

Chicken curry

Mizuki-san’s menu already has two staples prepared. One of them is soba from his home prefecture of Gifu.

The noodles are made firm and silky-smooth. The first bite, tossed with wasabi and salt, fills the mouth with buckwheat fragrance. Then, soaked in broth and rolled together with plenty of fresh scallion, there’s fragrance on top of freshness, and the noodles’ slippery softness combined with a faint whole-grain chew feels genuinely pure.

For an additional staple, I chose the curry — a Southeast Asian-style chicken curry, with generous rice underpinning a diverse array of spices. Heavy-handed, but fragrant.

Overall, I really liked Mizuki-san’s cooking — bold yet meticulous. There’s boldness in how ingredients are handled, and every small detail is taken care of.

Sitting at this counter to eat feels especially full of life. During the grilling, you keep seeing smoke rise as chicken fat drips onto the charcoal, and sometimes bright flames flare up. And though the restaurant is heavy-handed with salt, the generous amounts sprinkled on always come out just the right kind of salty-savory — because the salt used has been pre-treated to reduce its sodium content.

While writing this piece, I also dug up some past interviews with Mizuki-san. Turns out that even though the restaurant has only been open 11 months, his approach to cooking chicken has been continuously refined toward an ever-higher level.

The additional-order list always runs to twenty-some options, and Mizuki-san handles the cooking time and intended flavor of every single cut with near-effortless ease — the kind of understanding that only comes from years of accumulated experience.

The kind of place that makes you think, ‘eating yakitori is such a rush.’ The overall sense of satisfaction is sky-high, and the impact comes at you from multiple directions.

Strongly recommend coming extra hungry. And for those who drink — strongly recommend skipping wine or sake entirely and going straight for a highball.

水づき

東京都港区白金6-23-2 白金宏和マンション 1F

Friday – Tuesday

17:30 PM -11:00 PM

Omakase Menu 13,200 JPY