If you haven’t dined at a buzzy, smoky Tokyo izakaya, you really haven’t dined in Japan. And while izakayas can be as diverse and as specialized as the imagination allows, one name ticks all the boxes for a quintessential Japanese izakaya experience, and that’s Shirubee.

The place is just off the main drag of Shimokitazawa, a trendy student neighborhood filled with cheap drinking spots, live music venues, and vintage stores in seemingly equal measure. Not dissimilar to the neighborhood itself, Shirubee looks traditional and a little old-school, but it’s injected with a sense of youthful fun. It offers your standard izakaya fare, which is cheap, delicious, and diverse. If you can pull up a seat at the U-shaped counter to watch all the kitchen happenings, pots bubbling with oden stew, fish sizzling on the hot plate, and skewers being flame-grilled, it’s dinner and a show, Japanese style. —Lucy Dayman

raku-co.com
+81 3 3413 3785
1/F Pinecrest Kitazawa, 2-18-2 Kitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Shirubee Shimokitazawa

Tokyo Dining

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