Had some take-out here and I loved the concept, the food, and just the overall execution of Chat Bar. This will definitely be my go-to place for just Northern Chinese BBQ skewers.
All the skewers skewers were excellent and I believe they use charcoal here which adds to that extra smokiness and crispiness.
I had the privilege of trying many different meat skewers and in general they were all very well seasoned. The earthiness of the cumin combined with some spices and an overall garlicky flavor was very tasty. My favorites included the lamb, the chicken knuckles, and the squid. The chicken knuckles were delightfully crunchy and there's a nice succulent sweetness coming from it. The lamb and squid of course are the very safe choices here and they were done very well; tender yet crispy. I tried many others including the chicken heart, some intestines, and some sausages. For the most part they just tasting like meat with different textures but I was actually surprised with the pork intestines which were crunch on the outside yet had a nice chew to it. Think tripe, except imagine a super crisp skin around it.
For the veggies, the house special potatoes were thinly sliced and steam baked with a hearty dose of garlic (Think scalloped except the inside of the bake). Likewise the eggplant was wonderful with the powerful garlic, coriander, and some chilies all balancing out with the sweetness of the eggplant itself. When I say there was a hearty dose of garlic I mean a REALLY hearty dose of it, so just a heads-up for all the garlic sensitive people out there! We wanted their okra but they didn't have any that day.