Yamazaru

Yamazaru’s signature Fox Croquette is filled with potato salad and coated in aburaage, thin fried tofu skin. The menu says shiso leaves add a fresh note, and diners have singled out the texture on the first bite. The croquette is said to stay crisp even when cool, making it a natural choice to start with.

Part of the pleasure here is choosing a few familiar drinking snacks with a twist and taking your time over them. Diners have mentioned iburigakko (smoked pickled daikon), fried garlic potatoes, toro-taku (fatty tuna and pickled daikon), and agedashi aubergine and tofu. The menu also offers iburigakko on its own or dressed with sake lees and cream cheese, giving the same ingredient a different spin. For something warm, there is tofu baked with mentaiko and cheese, as well as deeply charred onion. The latter is served with house-made meat miso; one diner recalls enjoying it with the miso.

There is a wide selection of sake, including several varieties listed for serving warm. Visitors have described enjoying warm sake with the Fox Croquette and other drinking snacks, making this a good setting for a leisurely drink alongside small plates. The menu also lists draft beer, sours and non-alcoholic beer, among other options.

Yamazaru also has several ways to round off a meal. Choose a set of barley rice with grated yam and miso soup, or opt for takana fried rice or Morioka cold noodles. The izakaya is near Fudōmae Station and welcomes solo diners as well as groups. Reservations are available, and recommended for dinner.