How to eat tebasaki karaage, Nagoya-style fried chicken wings | Hold the joint and go in for a bite!
When you visit Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, it will be hard to miss the classic izakaya (traditional Japanese pub) dish of tebasaki karaage, Nagoya’s local style of fried chicken wings. Of course, this dish can be enjoyed in Tokyo, too. The number of bones in a chicken wing may present a challenge, but with a few simple tricks, you’ll be leaving nothing but the bones behind. Master the art of enjoying these wings, and friends will be asking you for tips at the next party!
【Advised by】Sekai no Yamachan（世界の山ちゃん）
Table of Contents
Twist and peel apart
If you want to enjoy tebasaki karaage the smart way, start by using your hands. Use one hand to take hold of the meaty side, and grasp the wingtip with your other hand. The meaty side is called tebanaka (literally “mid-wing”), and the wingtip is called tebahashi (which means just that “wingtip”). Tebasaki refers to the entire wing, as shown in the photo above.
Once you’ve got the basic grip, twist one hand away from you while you twist your other hand in the opposite direction, peeling the wing apart into two pieces.
Hold the joint, and go in for a bite
Start eating from the meaty tebanaka half. Use your fingertips to grasp the joint that previously connected the two halves of the wing, and hold the piece upright. Now, open wide and go in for a bite, closing your teeth just above your fingers, right on the bones of the joint. Then pull the bones away briskly.
If all goes well, the meat will strip right off the bone. A perfect bite and pull will leave nothing but two clean bones, as shown above.
Savor all the way to the wingtip
After you’ve eaten the meat from the tebanaka, move on to the tebahashi. It may be small in size, but the wingtip is packed with flavor, and has the perfect ratio of skin to meat. Use your front teeth in a scraping motion to peel every delicious morsel from the bone.
If you’ve followed the steps so far, you should be left looking at bare bones like these. Every bit of meat on the bones of tebasaki karaage is good to eat, so leave nothing behind.
It only takes a few simple steps to cleanly eat tebasaki karaage. Now have a sip of your preferred beverage – may we recommend pairing with beer, or a highball? Repeat, and enjoy to your heart’s content!
* The published information is current as of August 2022. Prices and other details are subject to change.
This izakaya chain serves the famous Nagoya dish of tebasaki karaage (fried chicken wings). Their signature “Maboroshi no Tebasaki” (“Phantom Wings”) are seasoned with “Maboroshi no Kosho”, a secret spice blend the founder developed by trial and error, giving each bite a burst of spice and unforgettable flavor. They have many fans, even outside of Japan. Sekai no Yamachan Seibu-Shinjuku Restaurant in Tokyo kindly cooperated with the photography for this article.
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