Yakitori, grilled chicken skewers, are the meal that uses various parts of chicken. The meat are cut into bite-sized pieces and 3 to 5 pieces of them are skewed with a bamboo stick, then grilled over a charcoal fire. When using meat other than chicken, vegetables, and seafood, the meal is called kushiyaki, roasted foods on skewers.

There are a variety of Yakitori menu: Momo, dark meat from the leg, chewy and rich taste; Negima, sandwiching pieces of Japanese leek between pieces of chicken; Sasami, special part of chicken breast with much taste and less fat; Tebasaki, chicken wings with plenty of collagen; Leba, chicken livers; and Tsukune, chicken meatballs.

Anything can become the ingredients for Kushiyaki; beef, chicken, seafood, vegetables, and combination of all those meat and vegetables. Some restaurants even serve cheeses, atsuage (fried tofu), rice cakes, and sausages in this form. Choice of ingredients, skewering methods, and arrangements are unique to each restaurant.

There are two ways of seasoning, shio (salt) for plain taste and tare (sauce) for rich and sweet spicy taste. Most of yakitori restaurants let you choose whichever you like.