Birds Nest Yakitori - Fortitude Valley

Back to work with Iron Fist, and we decided to start the year with a bang! Unlike most of my colleagues (and readers), I was more than pleased to go back to work, having lived a completely unregimented life of gaming through the nights and blogging through the days with complete disregard for time and structure. Finally, I was back to having three standard meals a day and at least six hours of sleep a night! To celebrate the start of the working year, Iron Fist and I decided to get lunch delivered. Pouring through the options we found Birds Nest Yakitori to provide a well balanced option that was neither too greasy nor too self deprivingly healthy.

 

Having already been to their West End store, I knew what to expect on the menu, which contained a selection of skewers, grilled meats, rice dishes, and surprisingly, burgers. 

Ordering through Deliveroo is much the same as Foodora. I liked that you could pre order and set a delivery time, but I didn't like that you had to install the mobile app in order to track the rider. If I ordered it on my PC, I should be able to expect to track the delivery through the PC.

Regardless, this was one of the most punctual food deliveries I had ordered. With the scheduled delivery at 12.00, it arrived at 12.01, which deeply impressed me.

Ordering two meals and a side, there was considerable food to be had.

First of all, we both tried and really enjoyed the complimentary chicken broth, especially Iron Fist who is recovering from a nasty bout of Tonsillitis. The soup was light, warming and hearty, with very strong chicken flavours and some green onion at the bottom for extra seasoning, making for a wonderful appetiser. 

Iron Fist had the Kaarage Chicken burger, which came with a side of fries. The burger contained chicken (obviously), wasabi mayo, tomato salsa, cabbage, tare and lemon. He loved the fact that the chicken was made from thigh meat, which ensured that it was sufficiently moist and juicy. What he did find lacking though, was the crunch, which can only be attributed to the fact that the whole burger was perhaps lightly steamed from the bike ride into the CBD. It would probably have been a lot tastier if eaten fresh on site.

I opted for the Toro Toro Kakuni Don, a slow grilled braised pork belly with rice, served with mayo, shallots, mustard and pickles. Honestly there wasn't too much pork to go with the rice, but coupled with the veges and mayo, it was ample. The pork was exceptionally tender and had a melt in your mouth texture, but it was also extremely fatty. I liked the caramelised parts particularly, which added a lot more texture to the soft pork, and wish it could have been grilled for a little longer. The rice was seasoned with the sauces from the pork, making it tasty and fragrant. Overall quite a good meal.

Without chips in my meal, I couldn't resist but to order a serve of spicy fries on the side to share. These were definitely spicy enough for me, but whilst they were crunchy, they were also quite hard and dry, which detracted from the experience a little. Of course the mayo on the side helped, but I couldn't help but feel the fries were a little overdone.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 7.5/10
Value: 8/10
Service: 8/10 (Deliveroo guy was polite, friendly and most importantly, timely)
Environment: N/A