Muku is a small neighborhood izakaya serving excellent charcoal-grilled meat and fish alongside a very serviceable sake list. You can choose from around 40 different craft sakes from both large and small breweries, and there's always a page of monthly specials to explore. You'll also find a diverse shochu list if you're so inclined.

The grilled-skewers portion of the menu covers everything from typical chicken, pork and vegetables to less common ingredients like chorizo sausage, pork tongue, beef short ribs, yellowtail, and shrimp wrapped in bacon. From among the non-skewered grilled dishes we enjoyed some expertly grilled salmon belly and miso-marinated chicken, both of them first rate.

Miso is the perfect companion to sake drinking, and it made additional appearances on our pork-belly skewers and alongside our fresh cucumbers, which were matched with two contrasting flavors of miso. If you want to concentrate on your sake-drinking without filling up on too much food there are plenty of suitable small dishes like smoked iburi-gakko pickles, miso-marinated Sakurajima daikon and eggplant pickles.

The basement dining room is old-fashioned and unpretentious, with a small counter and several tables for groups. Smoking is allowed, but the ventilation seems to be adequate. Budget around Y3000-4500 for food and drink at dinnertime.