There are those places where you walk in and immediately know you are not in a hype restaurant. Hakata Senpachi in the Rivierenbuurt neighborhood is one such place. Chef-owner Neil Roake has been running a yakitori-ya here for over twenty years as you know it from the backstreets of Hakata or Tokyo: compact, no-nonsense, and the smell of glowing charcoal as soon as the door opens.
The heart of the restaurant is the hibachi, the charcoal grill at the center of the room. Not hidden in a kitchen behind a wall, but simply in the middle, filling the entire room with the smell of grilling. Only French free-range chickens end up on that grill, skewered and slowly cooked over the coals.
Roake is not one to stick to good chicken. He personally travels to Japan to select sake from traditional breweries, far away from wholesale. You can tell by the menu: hand-selected Japanese sakes alongside authentic cocktails, not the standard assortment you find everywhere. Those who prefer to book a full evening can opt for the three-course Chef Menu for 82 euros per person. There is also a vegetarian Chef Menu for 40 euros, which in a restaurant that relies so heavily on chicken is a welcome option.
Neil Roake personally selects his sakes, uses only free-range chicken and draws his broths himself. No shortcuts.
Twenty years is a long time in the restaurant business, especially in a city where restaurants open faster than they close. That Hakata Senpachi is still doing it, in the same way as from the beginning, says it all. Neil Roake personally selects his sakes, uses only free-range chicken and draws his broths himself. No shortcuts. The Volkskrant called the restaurant the perfect cure for gloom, and after 20 years, that verdict still stands.