TOKYO TRIBUTE
Burleigh’s newest eatery boasts more yakitori than you can poke a stick at, writes Sally Coates
THE latest from Gold Coast restaurant royalty Mitch and Nerissa McCluskey is Iku Yakitori Bar, an intimate Japanese dining experience that will make you feel as if you’ve wandered on to the streets of Osaka or Tokyo.
While they may have Etsu Izakaya just up the highway, Burleigh’s Iku is no cookie-cutter copy of their successful Mermaid restaurant, with the difference being the yakitori.
“Yakitori is chicken on a stick; grilled chicken, and utilising the whole chicken wherever possible,” Mitch explains.
“All the meats, all the insides, and grilling over Japanese charcoal.
“We source free-range chicken to start with and Japanese charcoal is a big component. We use Binchotan charcoal. It’s quite expensive and hard to get, but it’s so worth it.
“It’s just amazing, it brings a delicious flavour to the meat when it’s grilled and it’s quite smokeless too.”
There are 15 different types of yakitori on the menu to satisfy everyone from vegetarians with the shiitake mushroom or zucchini, an oyster yakitori for those with a seafood craving and tenderloin for red meat lovers, but as Mitch mentions, chicken is definitely the focus.
And he’s not kidding around when he says the whole chicken.
Chicken thigh, wings, tsukune (chicken meatballs), liver, skin, heart, cartlidge and tail are all on the menu, catering for diners who know what they like, and stick to it (no yakitori pun intended) but also diners who feel a little – or a lot – adventurous.
The yakitori come with simple, minimalist sides or seasoning, including sea salt, ponzu, onion, lemon and a signature tare – a dipping sauce unique to individual Japanese restaurants.
“Our signature sauce is called tare, which we have at Etsu too, but we’ve changed the recipe down here,” Mitch says.
“Every Japanese restaurant has their own tare recipe. Other than that, they come with really simple stuff that suit the flavours and textures of the yakitori. With the charcoal and quality of the produce, strong, overpowering flavours really aren’t necessary.”
There are other options on the menu, which features a few raw dishes, some bigger plates and smaller bites, the latter of which are ideal as bar snacks to enjoy around the purpose-built bar as you sample the fleeting cocktail list.
“At Etsu there isn’t much room to have a drink at the bar so that’s something we wanted to make sure we had here,” Mitch says.
“The drinks definitely focus on Japanese whisky, but instead of doing a permanent cocktail menu we’ll have a weekly changing cocktail list that will really depend on the seasons and what local produce is awesome at the time.
“We’ve brought our bar manager Adam Lawrence down from Etsu, who is a really incredible bartender, so each list will really be a showcase of his skills and talent too.”
While high-quality Japanese cuisine has been steadily gaining traction on the Gold Coast, Iku’s emphasis on yakitori places it in a field of its own.
“We decided to open this place with the focus being yakitori, I think there’s a need for it on the Gold Coast,” Mitch says.
“On our last trip to Japan, we went in February, we just went snowboarding and travelled around and, no joke, we ate yakitori the whole time.
“When we came back to the GC we were busy with Etsu, Commune and Aloha, so we were just going to focus on those and having our baby, but then someone offered to buy out Aloha so we took that opportunity to open Iku.
“We were meant to just relax, have the baby and not do a great deal, but that didn’t last long.” Iku Yakitori Bar, 1730 Gold Coast Highway or Justin’s Lane, Burleigh Heads