Sake fans can choose from more than fifty different labels here, most of them served in smaller, 90ml pours so that you can try a few different types at one sitting. The food menu features creative, somewhat refined versions of sake-friendly izakaya dishes, many with a distinctively Kyoto influence.

One section of the menu is devoted to obanzai-ryori - informal home-style Kyoto small dishes - along with other Kyoto specialties like tofu-ryori, fu (wheat gluten) and lots of vegetable-focused delicacies. Bagna cauda - nowadays a Tokyo izakaya standard - is made with beautiful Kyoto heirloom vegetables, an interesting corn-flavored sauce and a very garlicky anchovy dip. Even the oden, about as pedestrian a dish as you can imagine, seems rather more sophisticated than usual here.

The meatier section of the menu features grilled lamb and duck, horsemeat sashimi, and anago (conger eel) both grilled and tempura-fried. The sake list takes up several pages, with detailed information (in Japanese) about flavor profiles, and the staff are always ready to make recommendations. The dining room is quite pleasant and modern, with a comfortable counter area right next to the outdoor patio. Budget around Y3000-4000 for dinner with drinks.