A popular fried chicken spot hailing from Japan is travelling across the world, opening its first Canadian location later this year. Headquartered in Osaka, the country’s street food capital, Torisho is known for its super crispy and flavourful takeout karaage chicken. Over the years, it has been rapidly expanding across the globe with over 300 locations in its native Japan, and additional locations in Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Ukraine, China and the United States.

The word Torisho translates to “laughing with chicken,” which is meant to inspire patrons to “eat our chicken and be happy,” and a quick peruse of Torisho’s menu proves that pure joy shouldn’t be hard to find. The menu boasts chicken six different creations, with your choice of chicken breast, legs and wings. The takeout spot also offers family pack meal deals, bento boxes and a popular Western style Japanese dish called chicken nanban, which consists of chicken thighs coated in egg and potato starch, deep fried and then coated in a tangy, sweet “nanban” sauce. 

Karaage (pronounced kah-la-ah-geh) is a Japanese frying method that involves lightly coating the ingredients–in this case, chicken–in flour, potato or corn starch, and then deep frying it lightly in oil. Technically, the word karaage is typically used for lightly breaded thigh, and the breast option at Torisho is chicken mune, which is a yakitori dish involving skewered, grilled chicken thigh.

The award-winning restaurant is opening up later this year at 1940 Queen Street East (though they have been teasing it for almost a year), and will offer pick-up and delivery. In the meantime, keep tabs on their grand opening plans by following their Instagram.