Yakitori is like satay in our local context – skewered meat on sticks. It is a very popular dish in Japan sold as street food with many grabbing a couple of sticks from yakitori stalls on their way home from work. Yakitori is also a common cheap accompaniment (like pub food) to beer in Izakayas, a casual place for after work drinking.

The meaning of their shop name – Tori Q:
Yakitori, which means Grilled Bird is a Japanese type of skewered chicken. On the other hand, “Q” is merely a short form for barbequing with good quality and service resulting and hoping for rapid long queuing. In order, to deliver all the essence from this Japanese skewered chicken, we decided to give our shop the most original yet meaningful and inspiring shop name Yakitori in short Tori Q. With much passion and mission in deliver the ultimate most primary taste directly lifted from Japan. – Tori Q, Singapore
My memory is far from perfect good these days and food, my favourite food name can be easily forgotten. Whenever I forget the skewers that I like, I would just tell Vanessa to buy “Bento A” which consists of 2 sticks of chicken, 1 chicken ball and 1 pork, all these for S$5.90.
I wasn’t feeling well last wednesday and asked Vany to *dabao Tori Q bento on her way back from work. I told her to get me meatballs and quail eggs as these items do not require a lot of effort to chew
I like their home-made special recipe yakitori sauce, which takes about 30 hours to prepare, over my rice. The pickles also did a great job in perking up my appetite.

This would have cost S$6.40 but there’s two more chicken balls stashed away
In many ways, Tori Q is comfort food to me.
Tori Q has about 14 items to choose from (there’s deep-fried items, too). Listed below are my favourite ones:
- Tontoro Pork – S$1.40
The entire meat is from the pig’s neck. The texture is slightly chewier than other pork cuts. - Pork With Asparagus – S$2.20
Hand-rolled sliced pork with crunchy asparagus. - Chicken Skin – S$1.30
Crisp outside and chewy texture within. - Quails Eggs – S$1.20 each.
Hard-boiled and cooked in dark soy. - Chicken Balls – S$1.50
Minced tender chicken with some vegetables that added moist and crunch to the texture. - Chicken – S$1.10
Although this is their signature and original item which is selected chicken thigh meat and specifically shipped from Japan, this would be my last choice (when all else sold out). This has nothing to do with the dish itself but rather my personal choice.
From 9th June to 8th August, you can enjoy their new Hokkaido Rice (100% Japanese rice) at the usual price but only at Orchardgateway Tori-Q outlet.
Tori Q @ Paragon
Address: 290 Orchard Road,
B1-K1 Paragon.
Singapore 238859
Operating hours: Daily
10.30am to 9.30pm
Orchardgateway
Address: 277 Orchard Road
B1-11, Orchardgateway.
Singapore 238858.
Operating hours: Daily
11am to 9.30pm
Happy eating
*dabao = 打包 = take-outs