eatingtheweekaway: Seeing what all the fuss is about--Trying out Birdsnest

I've never been keen on trying out restaurants featured on TV--the exception being of course Masterchef where you know, the restaurants and chefs were good before they went on TV, or they are so good and that's why they're on TV.
As for places that are on TV for entertainment --there is generally no interest , particular when you consider that they may be on TV to try and gain publicity for a failing business.

Exception was made this time since it was our friend's 30th birthday and she LOVES reality TV, in particular Hotplate (why? why couldn't she love masterchef) and naturally had to choose Bird's Nest, the winners of the series to try.

Admittedly I haven't watched much of the show--enough to have some reservations of this place. While I loved the food in Japan when I was there, I didn't have yakitori and remain sceptical of how skewers can be interesting or form the basis of a restaurant.

Snippets I did hear regarding Bird's Nest on the few glimpses of the show was that there were:

chicken skin, liver , artery --other offcuts that I love to eat on offer
dishes can be one dimensional

Enough said, I'm ok to try it, especially for a friend.

Arrived, seated all in good time--Sunday night so place was busy but not packed as I was expecting (as a consequence of post tv hype)

Menu seemed like it was way too much effort to go through and the waitress pretty much rammed the set menus down our throats anyway. Everyone got some sort of set menu, kudos to the staff to remember what went in each set.

To keep it simple: TV was right. Though the skewers came out in good time, they all started to blend in after awhile. The first one was the stand out purely because of the saltiness of the plum sauce. At least menu descriptions were honest:

Grilled rice ball means literally ball of grilled rice. Fills the stomach because I guess you can't really rely on skewers to do that.

Clearly vegetables are not a priority in this joint.

Ginger creme caramel dessert was pleasant enough but really good enough to want to have again. Also looks a tad stingy in a mini jam jar right out of those hampers you never want.

Birds nest feels like it has a lot of potential to turn into a place for get togethers, snacks , drinks but not really a place for a full meal. If that's the aim then at least have the staff not pour beers out of the cans in front of the patrons.