Nikenme BAR

Nikenme BAR suits both a night of picking at food while exploring the shochu list and a proper meal built around its dishes. Diners have singled out the fresh bluefin tuna sashimi, Satsuma chicken dishes and sashimi platter. The menu also lists fresh bluefin tuna sashimi, seared sea bream and water octopus sashimi. Fish selection and prices may vary with the day's deliveries, so it is worth asking the staff what is available if seafood is your main reason for coming.

Alongside seafood, there is a range of chicken dishes, including salt-grilled Satsuma chicken, chicken skin with ponzu and chicken sashimi. One diner ordered a seafood bakudan, sashimi and salt-boiled asparagus and broccoli, a combination that makes it easy to mix fish and vegetables over several small plates. Other diners have mentioned Unzen ham, a Caesar salad with shrimp and avocado, and asparagus stir-fried with bacon as options when you fancy something beyond seafood.

Some visitors who expected a bar from the name have been surprised by both the shochu selection and the breadth of the food menu. The list is described as having more than 200 kinds, including varieties made from sweet potato and barley as well as chestnut, buckwheat, sesame and shiso. The menu explains that pre-diluted shochu is mixed with water in advance for a mellower taste. The pre-diluted Kuro Isanishiki is described as easy to drink, with its sweetness brought forward; it could be a good place to start before moving on to other bottles alongside the food.

To finish, there are rice balls and ochazuke with ume or mentaiko, as well as omurice with soft, runny egg, old-fashioned Napolitan spaghetti and mentaiko pasta. Some diners recommend the Napolitan, while another says the yakisoba won them over, so the menu offers plenty for those looking for a full meal rather than just snacks with drinks. Visitors have reported both counter and table seating, making the restaurant seem suited to a solo evening as well as sharing dishes with someone.