September 2, 2023

Salt & Fire @ Cheras, KL

Salt & Fire

Located just next to Pun Shan半山, Salt & Fire is quite a family friendly yakitori place, specializing in Japanese yakitori – grilled chicken skewers and various chicken parts and innards such as heart, liver, gizzards, feet, wings, and exotic parts such as Chochin, chicken blood, gizzard skin, inner thighs, small intestines. These exotic parts come in limited quantity a day!

There are counter seats at with high chairs and tables, as well as table seats for bigger gang. And deep inside here is this semi open kitchen, where you can observe the chef grilling your skewers over the fire on the charcoal grills.

And worry not; ventilation is really good inside here! You will not smell greasy or bad after your meal.

Honestly, I am really happy to see such a scene in Cheras area, and I dare say this is the best in Cheras area! Plus points, chicken yakitori here is priced really affordable with the given portion size; ranging from Rm 4 per skewers to Rm 9, while those limited parts are priced up to Rm 13 per skewers. This round I picked up more of their spare parts because last round the family members weren’t into it.

Lai, first thing first, Sake! How can we not having a glass or two to pair with yakitori?! If sake if not your thing, they have other selection of alcoholic drinks such as beer too. Sake or Beer is always yakitori’s best friend!

Salad
Cabbages dressed with appetizing yuzu dressing, garnished with seaweed and rice pops(?). Simply refreshing!

Tori Senbei (Rm 8)
As thin as paper sheet chicken crackers, nicely flavoured and served best as drinking snack! Sinfully addictive!

Yaki Imo (Rm 15)
Baked Japanese Sweet Potato with butter! Sweet and buttery!

Yonsoku (Rm 18) – Pork Leg
New thing on the menu! The pork leg is braised beforehand and run on the charcoal grill to get a touch of flame before serving. The pork leg is tender and chewy in its collagenous layers, touched with the aromatic charred smokiness! You can opt to go with the special ponzu dipping or not. Without the dipping sauce, I found it very aromatic with its beautiful charred edges; whereas with the dipping sauce, it turned out to be really refreshing! Very yumz!

Homemade Chicken Soup (Rm 12)
Rich, creamy and nourishing chicken soup, with its sticky collagenous texture, silky smooth. Got to know that the soup is boiled for long hours and vegetables are added in for its natural sweetness.

When it comes to the skewers, Kawa (Skin) and Bonjiri (Chicken’s tail), these two artery-clogging agents are always my must order in yakitori place. If you have not tried grilled chicken tails, please please please give a try. Bonjiri here was seriously addictive, aromatic with its fats but not greasy. Kawa was ok-ish, this time it was made to slight chewy with crispy end; I still prefer the whole crispy version.

Tebasaki (Chicken Wing) was very well seasoned and grilled to perfection. Don’t forget the Tsukune (meatballs) as it was enhanced with soft bone to give a crunchy texture. Soft and tender Leba (Liver), chewy Momiji (Feet), crunchy Sunagimo (Gizzard), all were nicely done over the fire without overcooked them.

Fancy something really exotic? Spotted these limited skewers on the menu and I think there is a need to try out how their textures! Zuri Kawa (Gizzard Skin) was thin and super crunchy, it surprised me! Obi (Inner Thigh) was truly tender. What most wow-ed me was this Nakaochi Karubi (Pork Rib Finger)!!! It was really cute in its size, very tender and succulent with a nice meaty chewiness. Oh gosh, how should I put them in words?! It’s really hard to describe the texture but Nakaochi Karubi tasted really good!

My happiness gotta be the Chochin 提灯! The very rare piece and always limited in the house, Chochin is the unfertilised egg yolk grilled in its membrane, served dangling like a lantern, skewed along with the cube of liver and meat. Love it when the egg yolks pop, bursting with creaminess; double creaminess with the liver cube! It was so yum! My must have when dining in Salt & Fire.