Dehydrators, water baths, blast chillers — these are just a few of the mod cons typically found in professional kitchens nowadays, with chefs constantly trying to find new ways of improving flavours and speeding up processes. However, while many modern pieces of kitchen kit are all about precision and using innovative technology, for a number chefs it’s the humble barbecue which catches their eye. The primal heat of glowing embers is unbeatable when it comes to getting that crusty char and wonderfully smoky flavour into meat and vegetables, and it gives chefs a chance to use their intuition and experience cooking over fire rather than relying on timers and thermometers.

The traditional British idea of a barbecue – vast quantities of sausages, burgers and chicken drumsticks cooked over open flames in the fleeting dry days of British summertime – are starting to look a little outdated. We’re more knowledgeable about barbecuing techniques from around the world, be it the USA’s low-and-slow approach or bringing the deeply marinated skewers and kebabs of Turkey’s ocakbasi restaurants into our own gardens. Talk to professional chefs, however, and it’s often the Japanese barbecues that get them the most excited. The yakitori and yakiniku restaurants found in Japan make up an entire sub-genre of the country’s cuisine, which over the past few years has been influencing and shaping dishes in British kitchens. It’s not just the techniques or flavours, either – the actual barbecues used by chefs in the UK often originate from Japan, all of which offer their own different benefits and uses. While some dominate the kitchen, others simply sit on the work surface; there are grills which are best for giving a brief lick of smoke to already cooked ingredients and ones designed for long, slow cooking.

Although Japanese grills are popular, there are plenty of other types used by chefs, many of which originate from very different parts of the world. Northeast London’s many Turkish ocakbasi restaurants, for example, typically cook using mangal grills, which can also be used as a type of rotisserie, while The Kudu Collective’s newest opening Kudu Grill sees the South African braii —an open grill that can be fuelled by both wood and charcoal — take centre stage. And then there are restaurants like Tomos Parry’s Michelin-starred Brat or Neil Campbell’s ROVI, where the majority of the menu is cooked on a vast open purpose-built grill.

However, it’s the practicality and the versatility of the grills originating from Japan which make them a favourite amongst chefs. These are some of the most common types of Japanese barbecues being used in restaurant kitchens across the UK.

Probably the most common type of grill used by chefs today, the compact nature of a konro, also known as a hibachi, makes it perfectly suited to busy kitchens where it takes up minimal space. Differing slightly from shichirin grills which tend to be rounder in shape, these box-shaped barbecues originate from Japan where they’re still used in the majority of restaurants offering yakitori. They’re incredibly simple – essentially a box made from a natural material called diatomaceous earth, which is a type of rock consisting of fossilized plankton. It has a single vent (or several, depending on the size) near the bottom which can help control airflow (and therefore heat), then a simple metal grill on top. Grills made from diatomaceous earth tend to lose very little heat, which adds to the blazingly hot nature of the cooking surface and ensures an even heat distribution.

Typically, konros are used for grilling skewers and small pieces of meat, but nowadays they’re also commonly used by chefs to finish off meat that has been cooked sous vide, to give it some added flavour and to caramelise the exterior. The proximity of the cooking surface to the charcoal means that a konro can also be used for crisping up skin on things like chicken. While the grills might be Japanese in design, they’re certainly not limited to Japanese cooking, with Michelin-starred chefs around the UK including Claude Bosi, Sat Bains and Tommy Banks using them for all manner of dishes.

Whilst any charcoal can technically be used in a konro, it’s suggested that you use Japanese white charcoal, better known as binchotan, which comes in the form of briquettes. Regarded as one of the most premium charcoals in the world, its ability to stay burning for hours on end works brilliantly alongside the heat-retaining properties of the konro – the perfect combination for a professional kitchen. Binchotan also doesn’t impart unnatural flavours into the food, like some cheaper charcoals which are soaked in chemicals to help them catch fire more easily.

These barbecues are often the choice for keen home grilling enthusiasts – more specialist than your bog-standard barbecue, but still easy enough to get to grips with and perfect for feeding a crowd. Some of the more recognisable brands of kamado-style grills include the Big Green Egg, which is favoured by both Gordon Ramsay and Tom Kerridge in their restaurants, and the Kamado Joe, used by chefs including Michael Caines. These deep, egg-shaped ceramic grills benefit from a heavy, tight-fitting lid, and they cook food both from the temperature of the charcoal they use and the secondary heat from the heated ceramic.

Kamado-style barbecues are loved by chefs for their versatility as the temperature can be easily controlled via vents in the base and the lid to provide a low heat for long, slow cooks, or an incredibly high heat for searing meat. They also usually come with a heat deflector – a large ceramic plate that can be positioned between the charcoal and the food to create an indirect cooking area – which means you can use them like an oven.

Kamado grills can be used to cook everything from a piece of brisket overnight to a flash-fried steak. The lid and ability to cook things with indirect heat also means they can be used as smokers. When compared to a konro grill, a kamado-style grill may be larger, but it offers chefs and home cooks many more ways to cook.

When it comes to the fuel used in kamado-style grills, it depends on what it’s being used for; for direct, fierce cooking, charcoal that burns for a long time is ideal, but for smoking, charcoal can be combined with different types of wood to add more complex flavours. Companies such as the London Log Company work with a number of top restaurants to provide them with charcoal and wood that’s high quality, sustainable and fit-for-purpose.

The robata grill (short for robatayaki) differs from both the konro and kamado-style grills in that the cooking process is all about adjusting the distance between the food and the heat, rather than controlling temperature. This requires real technical skill and timing, particularly when cooking an array of different ingredients all at once. The amount of space that a robata grill takes up in a kitchen tends to mean that restaurants which use one will focus their menu around it, rather than it being a piece of equipment which is only used occasionally.

When cooking on a robata grill, the idea is initially to get the charcoal as scorchingly hot as possible and then to keep the coals constantly glowing. Things which need to be crisped up and charred like meat and breads, for example, will then be put on the lower levels of the robata, while the upper levels are perfect for light smoking and slow roasting. The height of the grill’s shelves can then be further adjusted to ensure the ideal level of cooking. Although there are plenty of Japanese restaurants still focused around the robata, many British restaurants have also adopted this type of grill due to its versatility. Chefs have also started to experiment with fuels other than charcoal, with many favouring a wood-fired robata or a combination of the two.