If you're spending an evening in Sendai and want to experience the nightlife here you might want to go and check out the down town area called Kokubuncho (国分町). Here you can find a lot of the typical things Japanese nightlife has to offer, such as karaoke, traditional izakaya bars and restaurants. During my recent trip to Sendai my friend Amee and I ended up at a small Japanese restaurant in this area called Ruriza (瑠璃座). Here are some pictures for those who might be interested in checking the place out:
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| Entrance to the Kokubuncho area |
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| Entrance to Ruriza |
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| Details from the interior |
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| Details from the interior |
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| If you sit by the counter you can watch as the food is being prepared |
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| Sushi ready to be served |
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| Otoshi (お通し) |
At a lot of Japanese izakaya-style restaurants it is common to get served an
otoushi (お通し), which is a small appetizer that you pay for in lieu of a cover charge. This restaurant served us a couple of pieces of sushi with our drinks (picture above), and the cover charge was 432 yen incl. tax.
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| Sashimi (raw fish) |
All in all it was a nice place. We payed around 2500 yen each in total for our food and drinks there, but the food came in relatively small portions so if you don't mind spending more on a dinner you might want to order more than we did. For those interested in trying the Sendai speciality Beef tongue
gyuutan (牛タン) you can also get it here.
Either way the atmosphere was good, and an evening here will definitely be a nice dining experience in Sendai.
