Guests sit down at an L-shaped wooden bar as the restaurant's namesake prepares his legendary chicken skewers—juicy, lightly charred morsels of delight. Yakitori is typically more about the flavor than the elegance, but here you get a solid serving of both. The ingredients here are ultra-high-quality, but the presentation remains instantly recognizable and reasonable prices encourage experimentation.

Fitting perfectly into the classy Aoyama neighborhood is Yakitori Imai, a restaurant that will satisfy your street food cravings but while seated in comfortable, stylish surroundings. Grab a seat at the counter, and then order the multi-course dinner set (4,500 yen), sit back and enjoy. Reservations are recommended; they can be made in advance in English through their website.

It's cheap, dirty and needs to be washed down with copious amounts of ice cold beer, right?. For the most part, that’s how it should be. However, if you're ready to try the refined side of the grill, then enter Yakitori Imai just off Gaien Nishi-dori north of Aoyama.

Yakitori Imai offers courses featuring both yakitori and a variety of other dishes. Shamo chicken is a given, but a wide variety of prestigious ingredients are also present in these dishes, including Basque pork, an ancient product from this region, French Challans duck, Scottish turtledoves, and wild-caught eel from Lake Shinji!. Unsurprisingly, the advertised choice here is the Imai Yakitori, featuring primarily Matsukaze jidori whose springy texture is a pleasure to chew and whose every bite is overflowing with umami.

The chicken used for the dishes served is mainly Matsukaze chicken, and also uses red chicken and Okukuji Shamo. Depending on the part of the chicken, the cutting method, heating level, and skewering method are changed to maximize the flavor of the chicken. In addition to yakitori, the course uses vegetables grown using natural farming methods, and you can feel the season through the dishes.

This sleek, shiny kitchen surrounded by counter seat is miles away from the traditional smoky yakitori joints hit up by hungry office workers. The menu goes beyond the traditional sticks of grilled chicken, with juicy, organic jidori chicken wrapped in nori, grilled pigeon, rich pork belly and delicate house-made pate all on offer.3-42-11 Jingumae, Shibuya, Tokyo; +81 3 6447 1710

Located in Shibuya City, Tokyo at 3 Chome-42-11 Jingumae (year-round contact at (036) 447-1710), the elegant dining space that is Yakitori Imai is transforming the traditional art of yakitori. It fuses top-notch culinary skills with the sumptuousness and simplicity of skewered meat, creating a unique gastronomic sensation.

102 3-chōme-42-11 Jingūmae, Shibuya City, Tokyo 150-0001, Japan. Yakitori Imai in Tokyo is a modern, spacious restaurant that showcases inventive takes on yakitori with a focus on seasonal ingredients. It has a wine list leaning toward natural selections and also provides an English menu for convenience.

Head over to a more youthful area of Tokyo, and check out a surprisingly refined Yakitori joint in Harajuku. Yakitori is often ordered by the skewer, though you can generally also order an assortment of skewers. Yakitori Imai takes it to the next level and offers a personalized course style.

Yakitori Imai tells the beautiful story of Takashi Imai who was the one-man show behind an Izakaya, making waves. His Yakitori place got so famous that he moved his business to Aoyama now, a rather expensive and quieter neighbourhood near Omotesando. He also added a strong crew to his team.

3 Chome-42-11 JingumaeShibuya City, Tokyo 150-0001, Japan(036) 447-1710. Yakitori Imai is a chic 30-seater that’s revolutionizing the yakitori craft and specializes in the haute cuisine potential of skewered meat.