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Doris Lam

There is never enough chicken when it comes to Matt Abergel. The chef behind Yardbird, Hong Kong’s celebrated chicken yakitori restaurant, opened Always Joy in March 2025. Despite the modern izakaya sharing none of the dishes of its older sibling, a chicken item still remains popular: the stuffed chicken wing.

“We prep 40 of them a day,” Abergel says inside the kitchen. Standing next to two fryers, Dan Koh, the tempura station cook, is beginning the day’s prep with the chicken wings. He makes a small cut along the top of the wingette, gently creating space between the meat and bone.
The signature three yellow chicken is used – a breed of bird that Abergel has repeatedly advocated for over the years, and the same one Yardbird uses just next door.
A version of a stuffed wing has always been on the menu, dating back to Abergel’s 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.
“It was really good,” 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.
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.

“This drumstick meat has a really good separation of lean meat, fat and also connective tissue and collagen, so it has a nice bounce to it,” the chef says, explaining that it is the same meat used for Yardbird’s meatball skewer.
But before the filling can be piped into the wings, there are still a few steps left. Koh demonstrates the precision needed to remove the wingette’s bones: he places the wing vertically – standing it on a paper towel to prevent it from slipping – then puts his fingers in the small opening he created earlier.
Using his fingers, he firmly pushes the meat down with ease, revealing two clean wing bones until the joint’s cartilage is revealed. From there, he either pulls the bones off with a strong tug or releases stubborn tissue using a small pair of kitchen scissors.

The skin is flipped back around into its original shape, and the filling is piped in. Then, once all the wings are filled, they are skewered shut and steamed at 80°C for 20 minutes, which cooks the filling while rendering the fat on the skin. “You’re going to get a much easier bite through skin, and it also allows us to cook it to the desired texture,” Abergel explains regarding the parcooking method. He draws its parallels to Cantonese za zi gai, the traditional crispy fried chicken.
Once steamed, the wings are chilled for a few hours, ideally overnight, to dry them further. During service, the wings are cooked to order: first coated in a dry mix, then dropped into a wet dredge. Over a digital scale, Koh pours iced water into a bowl of dry ingredients and combines them using a whisk. The paprika in the wet dredge turns the batter a light red hue.

The wing is then dropped into 180°C oil for five minutes, and glazed with sauce while still hot. “Our [sauce] is based on the Yardbird tare, then we add Kampot black pepper, garlic, sugar, white and black pepper,” Abergel explains. To finish, freshly ground sesame is sprinkled on top.
The result is a glimmering, golden wing. Koh cuts the wing in half using a long pastry knife and places it on a plate. The first bite feels indulgent. The filling merges into the rest of the wing, as if it were boneless all along, offering meaty mouthfuls. The skin is crisp and sweet, while the meat’s savouriness balances it altogether. The texture becomes crispier along the wing tip and the sauce even more noticeable.












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Anatomy of a Dish
Name: Nagoya-style stuffed chicken wing
Restaurant: Always Joy
Price: HK$160 for two wings
Main ingredients: Local triple yellow chicken wing, minced drumstick meat, shio koji, Cambodian Kampot black pepper, Yardbird tare, garlic, white pepper, paprika-infused tempura wet dredge, mirin, freshly ground sesame seeds
Flavours: Deep savoury, rich chicken umami and caramelised sweetness from the skin. The ground sesame adds a nutty touch.
Presentation: Served halved on a minimalist plate, the wing is cut on the meatiest part to showcase the core of the stuffing. The exterior features golden brown skin, glistening from the sweet glaze, with ground sesame sprinkled on top.


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Matt Abergel turns a chicken wing into one of the diner’s most playful signatures: a Nagoya-style stuffed wing that is crisp and juicy


Matt Abergel turns a chicken wing into one of the diner’s most playful signatures: a Nagoya-style stuffed wing that is crisp and juicy.


Dish in Focus: Nagoya-style stuffed chicken wings at Always Joy

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Matt Abergel turns a chicken wing into one of the diner’s most playful signatures: a Nagoya-style stuffed wing that is crisp and juicy

Matt Abergel turns a chicken wing into one of the diner’s most playful signatures: a Nagoya-style stuffed wing that is crisp and juicy