Izakaya

Pizza

We are totally in love with izakaya and our favorite chain is Wara Wara. An izakaya is a casual Japanese pub where you can relax and eat and drink pretty much as long into the night as you like. Different chains have different hours, of course, but most don't open until 5pm. The menus are large and have dozens upon dozens of choices, and plenty of liquor and beer. The portions are on the smaller side because the whole idea is to order several different things and nibble and drink with friends for hours after a long day at work. One of our favorite things about Wara Wara is that the tables are sectioned into private rooms so you and your friends can chat and laugh it up. The sections have wooden doors that slide open, and the  table is near the floor. The seats are on the floor, however there is open space down below the table so your legs dangle and you don't have to sit cross-legged. It's always an adventure (for foreigners anyway) to eat at these places because of the huge selection of dishes to try. They have ordinary items like pizza, fried chicken, french fries, edamame, etc, but they also have more exotic items like spicy beef entrails, raw chicken, raw horse, grilled fish entrails, beef tendon stew, grilled chicken tails, just to name a few! I'll try anything except the raw chicken - I don't think our western guts can handle that! My all time favorite dish at Wara Wara are the yakitori (grilled) chicken tails with wasabi and Jonathan's absolute favorite dish is the fried chicken with a sort of remoulade sauce. It's great to try new things, and since the portions are small and the prices are cheap, you don't feel regretful if you don't like something.

Yakitori chicken tails in the back, grilled fish in the front

Beef tendon and tofu stew 

Prosciutto