Yakitori @ Torikizoku VivoCity ($3.90 each)!
First visit to Torikizoku VivoCity. Japan's $3.90 flat-price yakitori chain. Chicken thigh, chicken meatball, kizokuyaki thigh, stuffed bell pepper, edamame gyoza, vegetable croquette, karaage.
Finally caught the new Torikizoku at VivoCity (Lobby F)! Japan’s most-loved yakitori chain, with over 600 outlets back home, just opened their first Singapore branch on 29 May 2026. It’s the world’s largest Torikizoku with 174 seats overlooking the waterfront. 😍
The headline draw is the flat-price model: every skewer, every side, every rice bowl is $3.90++ per plate. Doesn’t matter if it’s a humble cabbage salad or a premium chicken thigh, all the same flat rate. Alcoholic drinks and kids’ meals are the only exceptions ($9.90++).
What we ordered (a lot of it):
- Thigh (chicken thigh): ordered both shio (salt) and tare (sauce) versions, juicy with lightly charred skin
- Chicken Meatball (tsukune): both tare-glazed and plain shio
- Kizokuyaki Thigh: the signature big skewer, chicken thigh with green onion
- Pork Belly: from the “Others” section, fatty and smoky
- Stuffed Bell Pepper with Ponzu: green bell pepper stuffed with minced chicken
- Chicken Breast with Mentaiko Sauce: drizzled with pink mentaiko mayo
- Karaage (Fried Chicken): Japanese-style with kewpie mayo
- Vegetable Croquette (yasai korokke): 2 panko-fried pieces
- Edamame Gyoza (Deep-Fried): crispy shell with edamame filling
- Cabbage Salad: free-flow? Nah, only in Japan. Here $3.90 per plate like everything else 😅
Kizokuyaki Thigh, the signature big skewer with chicken thigh and green onion, glazed with tare. The standout of the meal, juicy with crisp skin.
Edamame Gyoza, deep-fried with kewpie mayo on the side. Crispy shell, plump edamame filling.
Chicken Meatball (tsukune) glazed with the sweet-savoury tare. Plump and bouncy, with a quenelle of mayo for dipping.
The tsukune (chicken meatball) skewers were a highlight. Proper bouncy texture, the kind that only comes from properly minced and emulsified chicken, not from frozen patties. Both versions worked (tare-glazed and plain shio), but the tare won out for the caramelisation. ✅
Pork Belly shio (from the “Others” section). Plain salt, lets the fat-to-lean ratio speak for itself.
Stuffed Bell Pepper with Ponzu. Green bell pepper stuffed with minced chicken, the ponzu sauce brings citrus brightness.
Chicken Breast with Mentaiko Sauce. The pink drizzle is the spicy cod-roe-and-mayo combo, very Japanese-comfort-food.
Vegetable Croquette (yasai korokke), 2 pieces. Crispy panko shell, soft potato-and-vegetable filling, served with kewpie mayo.
Karaage (Fried Chicken). Japanese-style, golden crust, kewpie mayo on the side.
Cabbage Salad. Free-flow back in Japan, but here it’s $3.90 a plate like everything else. Light and crunchy though.
The yakitori grill work was solid across the board. Bouncy chicken, the sweet-savoury tare glaze done right, decent char without burning. Not the next-level kushiyaki precision you’d get at a specialist izakaya like Bincho or Shukuu, but for $3.90 a plate, hard to fault. The portions skew small per skewer (you’d expect that at this price), so order generously.
How to get there: VivoCity Lobby F, #01-104/105, closer to the HarbourFront MRT side than the main mall entrance. Open 11am to 10pm daily (last order 9.30pm).
The Singapore yakitori scene already has Bincho, Ki-Sho, Shukuu Izakaya at the high end. Torikizoku slots in below them as the affordable Japan-chain option, closer in spirit to Ootoya or Yayoi’s accessibility play, but with a single-dish izakaya focus.
Overall: 4 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Solid value yakitori, great VivoCity lunch / dinner option. Would absolutely come back post-launch for the full menu.
