Yardbird
Yardbird grills more than twenty kinds of skewer from local three-yellow chicken over binchotan charcoal, from beak to tail.
Why go
Matt Abergel cooked at a Japanese restaurant in Vancouver, at Masa in New York and at Zuma in London and Hong Kong before he opened Yardbird in 2011.1 He owns it with Lindsay Jang.7 At the end of 2017 it moved from Soho to a bigger room on Wing Lok Street in Sheung Wan.1 MICHELIN has given it one star since 2021.72
Come for the chicken. In 2018 the birds came from the nearby Sheung Wan market and were slaughtered the same day, as Jennifer Che of Tiny Urban Kitchen reported. Abergel told her that nothing comes close in flavour to the Hong Kong yellow chicken.
1 The MICHELIN inspectors wrote in 2025: Rare cuts like thyroid and ventricle can be hard to find elsewhere, as are the crispy meatballs with tare and egg yolk.
2 Che liked the touches on the skewers: yuzu kosho with the neck, crispy garlic with the gizzard, and mounds of spring onions and ginger with the heart.
1 Annie Atherton of SAVEUR wrote in 2026: Neck, gizzard, and skin make for phenomenally flavorful bites bursting with salt, smoke, and acidity.
3
Order this / avoid
- Order: the chicken meatball glazed with tare, with egg yolk to dip it in. The Ranting Panda (2023):
you can dip the balls into the egg yolk, and you get a rich, delicious dish.
4 - Order: the sweet corn tempura. The Ranting Panda (2023):
Never have I had sweet corn in a tempura form, and this is an amazing tempura dish on its own.
4 - Order: the sesame ice cream sandwich to finish. Annie Atherton (SAVEUR, 2026):
The housemade sesame ice cream, sandwiched between sesame cookies, makes a perfect cooling finale.
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What locals & experts say
- Foodie (2018): Jason Atherton, a chef with a Hong Kong restaurant of his own at the time, named his order:
The KFC (Korean fried cauliflower) at Yardbird. I'm a huge fan of Matt Abergel and his restaurant.
6 - Time Out Hong Kong (2022):
The chicken here is treated no differently than the finest piece of toro, that is, with love and care.
5 - Award: one MICHELIN star, MICHELIN Guide Hong Kong and Macau, since 2021.2
Good to know
- Booking: book online. MICHELIN's inspectors (2025):
Yardbird is always jam-packed, so book online or expect to queue.
Even with a booking, the Ranting Panda meta crazy long queue at the entrance
at 6pm in 2023.24 - Timing: dinner only, shut Sunday and Monday.2 Jennifer Che's advice from 2018:
Come early, for certain choice parts get sold out quickly.
1 - Price: skewers were HKD52 each and large plates HKD130 in October 2023.4
- The room: the front has the bar and high tables. The back is quieter, with seats at normal height. Choose when the server asks (Che, 2018).1
- Where: G/F, Winsome House, 154-158 Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan. The phone is +852 2547 9273.3
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Famous yakitori place. From local tongue"
Verdict
should-visit — Go for skewers of local chicken, nearly every part of the bird, grilled over charcoal. Book, and expect a line at the door even so. Skewers were HKD52 each in 2023.