Firebird by Suetomi: Wood-fired omakase yakitori restaurant, opened by chef with 1-year waitlist in Tokyo

Have you heard of yakitori so good that it has a one-year waiting list in Tokyo, a city where you can find great restaurants on basically every corner? 

If you haven’t, you really need to bookmark Makitori Shinkobe, an intimate omakase joint in Asakasa, for when you’re planning your next trip.

But if you aren’t planning to head to Japan any time soon, here’s the next best thing: Chef-owner Makoto Suetomi has opened a sister concept here in Singapore named Firebird by Suetomi!

Like Makitori Shinkobe, Firebird by Suetomi is made for the chicken lovers, and is located in Mondrian Singapore.

Instead of focusing purely on wood-fired yakitori, the Singapore restaurant presents a much more holistic tori-focused (chicken) wood-fired omakase experience.

It takes its wood fire very seriously, as guests can witness for themselves from their counter seats, wrapped around the open kitchen where they can witness the pyortechnics up close.

To ensure the best quality meat, the restaurant also uses mainly organic French chicken in its chicken-based dishes.

The dinner-only omakase goes for S$188 and you’ll be pampered with 13 courses — there might be special skewers of the day available on the menu too, if you’d wish to add on something a little different!

P.S. Remember to visit the washroom when you’re here, it’s one of the nicest ones we’ve seen in Singapore!

Tokyo’s hottest yakitori, now in Singapore

While we say Firebird by Suetomi isn’t a yakitori restaurant per se, much of the meal still focuses around chef Makoto’s wood-fired chicken skewers.

As any Japanese chef worth their salt would tell you, yakitori is the art of simplicity and letting the produce speak for itself.

And the starting momo (chicken thigh skewer) articulates this ethos perfectly — this skewer is made with organic French chicken thighs and simply seasoned with salt, before being sent to the grill.

And the result? Juicy, slightly fatty and perfectly cooked with the right amount of salt and smoke to not overwhelm the chicken’s richness.

But the thing that enthralled us the most was how Firebird by Suetomi handles its chicken wings with spicy miso.

For this dish, Firebird by Suetomi first debones the chicken wings, then brushes the skin with a layer of chicken fat.

That ensures a salacious crackle on the skin when you bite down, before you’re met with the luscious flesh. The spicy miso adds a mild, but satisfying kick, too!

Interestingly enough, the omakase at Firebird by Suetomi includes a repeat of the momo (chicken thigh) in the form of the momo ichimai yaki with shironegi mustard sauce.

“Ichimai yaki” translates to grilled in one piece and, unlike the skewer, the momo here is grilled in this fashion to fully preserve the thigh’s juiciness.

It is as they claim: This is even more tender and juicy, and the ensemble of wood-fire-grilled shironegi (white onion) also elevates it with acidity and sweetness.

But some more discerning yakitori aficionados might also ask: “Where are the off-cuts?” Items such as gizzard, heart and liver are a regular feature in yakitori meals, after all.

Don’t worry, Firebird by Suetomi has a revolving cast of skewers of the day available a la carte.

Fortunately for us, the heart (S$10) was available when we visited and, as you’d expect, it’s expertly cooked till supple with a bouncy crunch.

Even if you’re not into offal, Firebird by Suetomi also offers a range of rarer yakitori parts such as harami (side skirt, S$18)!

Not just yakitori at Firebird

There’s no doubt yakitori and chicken are the protagonists at Firebird by Suetomi, but don’t discount the wood-fire magic on the other dishes, just yet.

For example, the chawanmushi with sakura ebi and endo was a notch above most other restaurants’ chawanmushi.

This chawanmushi uses snap peas that are sauteed over the naked flame of Firebird by Suetomi’s special wood-fire grill, which imbues it with this intoxicating smokiness.

Combined with the chicken dashi’s flavours and sakura ebi’s umami, it’s also like it’s enrobed with prawn-hor-fun-esque wok hei!

Another non-chicken dish that truly floored us was the shiitake mushroom with mushroom beurre blanc.

Some might think: “Just one lone mushroom”? But it ended up being one of the bona fide highlights of the night.

Not only is it stupidly juicy — one of the juiciest pieces of mushroom we’ve tasted — but Firebird by Suetomi also serves it with the silkiest and most robust mushroom beurre blanc sauce and the pairing is genius.

Claypot rice fans would also swoon when served the soboro (ground chicken) claypot rice that is mixed in with minced chicken and white onion, and infused with burnt oakwood smoke prior to serving.

By itself, it’s superbly moist, starchy and inundated with the most gratuitous dose of wood smoke fragrance.

However, the key to this dish is in how Firebird by Suetomi serves it.

The chefs will scoop a small portion into your bowl and, after trying the claypot rice by itself, they will offer you subsequent bowls with different toppings.

First, there is a ginger sauce that is balmy and comforting, and chef Makoto’s love letter to Singapore’s Hainanese chicken rice.

Then there’s the unanimous crowd favourite, an amalgamation of tempura flakes, shichimi powder, seaweed, tare sauce and raw Japanese egg yolks that are cured in soy in-house by Firebird.

This one is a sublime textural affair where everything was coated in that jammy and umami yolk, while crunchy pops of tempura punctuated every bite. 

We also can’t end off without mentioning the dessert of smoked ice cream with lapsang souchong cold brew — a very fitting coda, reflecting Firebird’s infatuation with smoke.

The ice cream is wonderfully addictive with a tasteful perfume of smoke, while the tea sported a crisp acidity and trailed off to a faint smokiness.

We can’t judge this against the OG Makitori Shinkobe, but as far as Singapore goes, this is definitely a place that chicken — and smoke — lovers would relish.

This was an invited tasting.

For more ideas on what to eat, read our stories on the new Korean grilled chicken concept at Telok Ayer and what to look out for at this year’s Gastrobeats.

Enjoy up to 50% off when you dine with GrabFood Dine Out.

You can also book a ride to Firebird by Suetomi at Mondrian.