Japanese BBQ is a very different experience than Western-style grilling. There are no monster grills or pitmasters, and a lot of the meat is cooked on tabletop grills instead.

In contrast to American bbq, Japanese BBQ often features an array of fresh, seasonal ingredients grilled over charcoal. Meats like clams, scallops and prawns are grilled to a delicious crisp, and whole fish are salted and grilled to perfection.

Meat and seafood are often seasoned with just a dash of soy sauce or sake, but some Japanese restaurants go a step further by serving marinated cuts of beef. These bite-sized morsels of meat are often paired with sides that highlight the meat’s flavor, including pickled cucumbers and fried pork dumplings.

There are also restaurants that specialize in Robatayaki, which is a type of fireside cooking. It involves using Binchotan charcoal and grilling a variety of meats and seafood on a special box.

The traditional Robatayaki technique is rooted in the northern island of Hokkaido, where fishermen carried the box with them on long fishing trips and used it to cook their catch. Today, you can find this method in restaurants across Japan.

Various sauces are commonly served with Japanese BBQ, including soy sauce and wasabi. Soy sauce has a simple and sweet flavor that goes well with most meats, but may not suit some offal cuts. Wasabi, on the other hand, has an earthy rootiness that can add a different dimension to your BBQ.