This popular after-work drinking spot offers very affordable prices - you can enjoy a couple of drinks and snacks here for under Y2000. Deep-fried kushiage skewers start at around Y140, and you can supplement your skewers with grilled pork belly, chicken cutlet or soba noodles.
The kushiage is rustic in style, with a thick, rough layer of batter that's fried to a satisfyingly crunchy consistency. Some recommendations include skewers of curry-flavored pork belly (buta bara), deep-fried cheese, chicken breast with ume (plum), shrimp and scallops. The latter two are Y250 per skewer, the most expensive items on the menu.
One big drawing card here is the stylish setting, with warm lighting and a sleek central blond-wood counter contrasting with the coolly lit terrace garden and the Marunouchi night sky just beyond the windows. The atmosphere tends to be quite lively, and there's often a crowd here until midnight and beyond, unusual for this business-district neighborhood.
The restaurant is part of the Shin-Maru Building's seventh-floor "House" complex, and it's open until 4am every night but Sunday. Limited English menus are available.
by Robb Satterwhite