Media
Monocle Magazine
We were interviewed by Monocle Magazine to talk "Sake & Small Plates". We include a mention of our favourite Misty Mountain, a Junmai Bodaimoto - a slightly sour, unfiltered, nigori sake. Paired with our smoky yakitori, it's an absolute winner!
Cereal London Guides
Totally flattered to be included within the beautifully photographed and carefully curated Cereal London City Guide.
G2
It’s the most primal way to eat, as old as cooking itself. As long as humans have had fire, we – and it does seem to be universal – have threaded edible things on to sticks and put them in or on the heat. So, food on a stick is nothing new. And yet, scroll through pictures of the hippest party spreads or the biggest restaurant openings on Instagram and you would be forgiven for thinking skewers were some newfangled thing.
Vogue Paris
We were included in Vogue Paris "Confidential Guide to London" for London Fashion Week "This Japanese small plates restaurant has exceptional yakitori, chicken on a stick, cooked over glowing charcoal, alongside personal favourites like aubergine doused in miso butter and katsu curry Scotch egg.»
Root & Bone
We had a bit of fun talking about learing to love karaoke through food. True story! "Karaoke is the entertainment equivalent of marmite. You only ever get extreme reactions to the suggestion of karaoke - absolute horrow and furrowed brows, or, looks of glee and dreamy eyes as the mind escapes to "their" song. My heels were firmyl dug deep in the former camp for years. I endured many teeth-clenched, arms-crossed, hiding-in-the-dark-corner evenings, watching my friends get stuck in while I counted down the hours."
Time Out
A 4 star review for our Covent Garden restaurant! Off the yakitori menu, the tsukune was killer. It was a deliciously salty minced chicken sausage on a stick, served with a dish of soy sauce that had a bright yellow egg yolk plopped on top of it (stir the two together and dip). The negima was also excellent: soft, smoky pieces of charcoal grilled chicken with little bits of aromatic spring onion wedged between each bite. The katsu curry scotch egg, with crispy batter, soft meat and a jammy egg, was a perfect starter, as were the rough chunks of cucumber that came doused in chilli and sesame.
Samphire & Salsify
Our lunch time chicken katsu curry! The star dish here is their chicken katsu curry. It’s £8.50 but at lunch you can add a soft drink for a tenner. As far as lunch goes it’s the perfect plate of food. The chicken is free range from Yorkshire which is then breadcrumbed and crisp fried. It’s generously salty and the skin has been left on the thigh meat giving a lovely blend of textures.
Guardian
Try making our pork tonkatsu sando at home for a quick snack or dinner Serves 1
Prep time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 6 minutes For the pork 1 piece of pork loin Seasoned flour 1 egg, beaten Handful of panko breadcrumbs Sea salt For the sando 2 slices of white bread White cabbage, shredded Kewpie mayonnaise Bulldog sauce 1 tsp togarashi spice mixPort Magazine
We talk about all things YAKITORI for Port Magazine
”Natalie Lee-Joe extols the democratic virtues of the uniquely Japanese grilled chicken skewers, with a recipe to try at home".
British Vogue
Friday Night With Raven Smith: Karaoke At Jidori
”Please, please try the tsukune, a small chicken kebab which comes with a barely cooked egg yolk that you stir at the table to emulsify your own dipping sauce (a small but memorable touch of theatre). It tastes like heaven. I’m absolutely smitten. Jidori tsukune is *chef’s kiss*. There’s also a katsu curry scotch egg. I know that the notion of a Katsu Curry Scotch Egg is a witty British-pub-cum-Japanese-eatery one liner but the dish is a star turn, externally crispy, surprisingly yolk-y and delicate, the chicken-y hash is tender and moorish. Finally, there’s a ginger ice cream with miso caramel that I was just going to taste a bite of “for the column” but mysteriously disappeared.
Jidori offers power ballads and power flavours. Sing and eat your heart out. Jidori is the wind beneath my chicken wings.”
Eater London
Jidori’s Yakitori (Plus Karaoke) Will Arrive in Covent Garden in February
”The team behind Jidori in Dalston has announced that it will open a second location for the yakitori and Japanese small plates restaurant. It is set to open — with the addition of a karaoke room for private parties — in Covent Garden on Tuesday 27 February.
It is the second collaboration between owners Natalie Lee-Joe and Brett Redman. Redman is, of course, also one-half of Neptune (due to open in March) and the Richmond whose quiet closure now begins to make a little more sense."
Time Out - 5 stars!
We received a glowing 5 stars from Time Out when we first opened in December 2015!
"Go with a group of friends, try as many dishes and drinks as humanly possible, and give Morley’s a miss on the way home."
Observer Magazine
Going crazy for izakayas!
"Jidori, which opened on Kingsland High Street in east London in December, specialises in yakitori: skewers grilled over hot charcoal. But while Tokyo’s yakitori joints are often ramshackle and packed to the rafters, Jidori is sleek, minimal and decidedly Dalston. Chefs serve small plates of food straight from an open grill. True to the Japanese beak-to-tail philosophy, chicken hearts and parson’s nose (the end of the chicken’s tail) feature on the menu, as well as more traditional pieces. Brett Redman and his business partner Natalie Lee-Joe both grew up in Australia, where they were exposed to a mix of Asian cuisines. They wanted to open a local restaurant where they would want to eat regularly. “Funnily enough, 80% of people who come through the door have been to Japan and say they’ve been waiting for somewhere like this to open up,” says Lee-Joe. “We have tried to change it a bit to fit its context. In Tokyo you knock knees with everyone. We’ve tried to make it a bit more refined.”"