Carat

Opening the front door and walking through a waft of cigarette smoke, we seated ourselves at one of the many cracked-​leaf patterned gold tables. Surrounded by gold toned walls and gold paper mobiles dangling from the ceiling like shimmering curtains, I started to feel as if I was playing at being a maniacal Bond villain… until the American pop music started playing over the sound system while an inebriated patron at the corner booth burst into song with a heavily accented accompaniment to Miley Cyrus (and there is no karaōke night.) Needless to say, the alcohol flows freely here with a decent selection of beer and liquor.
As fun as all the commotion was, the cooking was surprisingly good. Excellent fried maguro, tender broiled ika with unagi, and delicate grilled hamachi pleased our palate more so than the background harmonizing did for our aural enjoyment. All in all, it was a very good story about a girl and a guy walking into a random izakaya bar way too late at night (as it’s open 24 hours a day.)