Yakitori Yagumo Maebashi

Yakitori Yagumo is an evening grill restaurant in the Omachi district of Maebashi, Gunma, specialising in charcoal-grilled chicken skewers using locally raised Gunma jidori — a category of free-range chicken bred under defined welfare and feed standards that produces meat with more developed flavour and firmer texture than standard broiler chicken. The restaurant offers more than twenty skewer varieties covering the full range of jidori cuts: momo (thigh), mune (breast), kawa (skin), reba (liver), sunagimo (gizzard), and tsukune (hand-formed chicken meatball). Each skewer is grilled over white binchotan charcoal, which burns at higher and more consistent temperatures than standard charcoal and imparts a clean, faintly sweet smokiness without the petroleum taste of briquette heat. Tsukune, the restaurant's most iconic skewer, arrives with a cup of raw egg yolk for dipping — the hot minced chicken contrasting with the cooling raw yolk in a preparation common at specialist yakitori restaurants and executed here with close attention to the meatball's texture and seasoning. Set menus (¥2,000–3,500) compile a selection of recommended skewers with rice and miso soup; ordering à la carte allows visitors to focus on preferred cuts. Gunma sake pairings are curated to match the range from lighter breast skewers to the richer liver and skin preparations. Seating is primarily at a counter facing the grill; a few booth tables accommodate groups.