Great sake and fantastic charcoal-grilled fare served in a relaxed, pleasant dining room, all for a very reasonable price - Nanadaime Tora comes pretty close to embodying the Platonic ideal of the perfect izakaya. The counter is wide and comfortable, and the open hearth adds a warm, homey feeling to the room. As an added bonus, there's no smoking and the restaurant is open on Sundays.

The specialty here is what they call "genshiyaki" - roughly translated as "primitive grilling" - with a slight emphasis on seafood but respectable offerings in the beef, chicken and vegetable departments as well. The beef wasabi was one of our favorite dishes here - the cuts they use retain a good amount of fat, and the smoke from the fat dripping onto the charcoal adds an incredible flavor to the meat, well balanced by the pungency of fresh wasabi.

Our grilled fish and shellfish dishes were also extraordinary, with beautifully crisp skin on the fish thanks to the very hot coals they use for grilling. Our sashimi assortmeant also reached the same high standards, and was attractively presented.

Although we started with beer, we found several decent sakes that were well matched to the food. Budget around Y6000-8000 at dinnertime. They also serve lunch, though not on Mondays.