KARASU

Free-range Aomori chicken, the daily standard. Salt or tare, your choice.

Thigh and Kyoto negi, alternated on the skewer. The fat from the meat bastes the onion on the grill. The reason this dish was invented.

Stretched and dried overnight before service, then grilled until it shatters. Three-year-old tare, brushed mid-grill. A wedge of sudachi alongside.

The most honest cut. Grilled hard and fast over maximum heat. Sea salt and house-made yuzu kosho, fermented yuzu rind and green chilli. One mouthful.

Served rare unless requested otherwise. The richness of good liver needs nothing beyond fresh ginger and house tare. The quality of the ingredient is the argument.

The cut most restaurants discard. Intensely fatty and collagen-rich, requiring patience on the grill. Finished with fresh sansho flowers from Wakayama, the numbing, floral spice of Japanese pepper. Pairs exceptionally with orange wine.

Trained in Lyon, returned to Japan. Rendered slowly until yielding, then finished hard over maximum heat. Grain mustard and a short reduction of the evening's natural wine.

One piece. Salt only. The wing contains more gelatin and more flavour than the breast. Eat to the bone.

When available. Poached gently in cold-pressed kombu dashi, served cool in its broth with a drop of sudachi. The ocean in restraint.

Kamaboko, a firm steamed fish cake, served cold with freshly grated wasabi and barrel-aged soy. A deliberate anachronism. Still right.

Braised thigh, shredded and dressed in shiro-ae: silken tofu blended with ground sesame, white miso, and a touch of mirin. Cold. Dense in the best way.

The day's carcasses, simmered six hours, strained twice, seasoned only with salt. Served hot in a small cup. Drink between skewers or at the very end.

Cooked in the drippings from tonight's grill with whatever the chef found at the market this morning. Never the same twice. Best ordered early in your meal.

Skin contact for five days, ambient yeast, zero additions. Orange-gold colour, lighter on the palate than it appears. Saline and long, finishes dry. The house white.

Carbonic maceration. Japan's most underrated grape. Bright, slightly sparkling on opening, smells of fresh cherries and spring herbs. The house red.

Late harvest, no chaptalization. Apricot, white peach, long acidity. Made by a former pastry chef who planted vines in 2014.

Changes monthly. Tonight's producer listed at the entrance.

From a small brewery in Shizuoka. Cold and honest.