{"id":63641,"date":"2026-06-25T14:34:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T06:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=63641"},"modified":"2026-06-25T14:34:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T06:34:06","slug":"dish-in-focus-nagoya-style-stuffed-chicken-wings-at-always-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=63641","title":{"rendered":"Dish in Focus: Nagoya-style stuffed chicken wings at Always Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">There is never enough chicken when it comes to Matt Abergel. The chef behind <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Yardbird<\/span>, Hong Kong\u2019s celebrated chicken yakitori restaurant, opened Always Joy in March 2025. Despite the <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">modern izakaya<\/span> sharing none of the dishes of its older sibling, a chicken item still remains popular: the stuffed chicken wing.<\/div>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-1vtntpq e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-bjn8wh e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Matt Abergel and Lindsay Jang of Always Joy. Photo: Handout\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/06\/25\/4c8924b8-d18a-44e4-99d5-11b026a6ef24_872f0c95.jpg\" title=\"Matt Abergel and Lindsay Jang of Always Joy. Photo: Handout\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">Matt Abergel and Lindsay Jang of Always Joy. Photo: Handout<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cWe prep 40 of them a day,\u201d Abergel says inside the kitchen. Standing next to two fryers, Dan Koh, the tempura station cook, is beginning the day\u2019s prep with the chicken wings. He makes a small cut along the top of the wingette, gently creating space between the meat and bone.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">The signature <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">three yellow chicken<\/span> is used \u2013 a breed of bird that Abergel has repeatedly advocated for over the years, and the same one Yardbird uses just next door.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">A version of a stuffed wing has always been on the menu, dating back to Abergel\u2019s now-closed izakaya, Ronin. Changing the stuffing every few months, the team has rotated flavours from pizza stuffing and shrimp and scallop, to more daring flavour combinations such as mango sticky rice.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cIt was really good,\u201d Abergel says, recalling the Thai dessert-inspired wing. The sauce was inspired by amba, an Iraqi-style fermented mango sauce; the filling combined sticky rice and mango with a spicy mango glaze.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The current chicken wing on the menu, however, is much tamer. Using minced drumstick meat as stuffing, mixed with shio koji, salt and pepper, Abergel pays homage to Nagoya-style wings, a style of deep-fried chicken wings coated in a peppery, sweet soy sauce originating from the eponymous region of Japan.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-1qeofuq e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-bjn8wh e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Always Joy opened following much anticipation last year. Photo: Handout\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/06\/25\/8662da42-9a95-4689-9293-4b1378c4a458_ef852233.jpg\" title=\"Always Joy opened following much anticipation last year. Photo: Handout\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">Always Joy opened following much anticipation last year. Photo: Handout<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">\u201cThis drumstick meat has a really good separation of lean meat, fat and also connective tissue and <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">collagen<\/span>, so it has a nice bounce to it,\u201d the chef says, explaining that it is the same meat used for Yardbird\u2019s meatball skewer.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/100-top-tables\/article\/3358304\/dish-focus-nagoya-style-stuffed-chicken-wings-always-joy?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is never enough chicken when it comes to Matt Abergel. The chef behind Yardbird, Hong Kong\u2019s celebrated chicken yakitori restaurant, opened Always Joy in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[663,1264,2051,8974,25397,1075,4321],"class_list":["post-63641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-chicken","tag-dish","tag-focus","tag-joy","tag-nagoyastyle","tag-stuffed","tag-wings","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/63642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}