I’ve heard izakayas described as Japanese pubs, which is an apt comparison if the pubs you frequent offer cool damp towels to cleanse your hands and serve chilled sake and small plates of gyoza, instead of pints and chicken and chips in a basket.

Recently, I was delighted to discover an izakaya in Paris, a bento box of a place in the 5th called Lengué. On a recent visit, we enjoyed a series of small plates washed down by beer, sake, and refreshing yuzu-soda and shochu cocktails. (Shochu is a type of Japanese distilled liquor, similar to vodka.)

The food, like fried vegetarian dumplings, is simple, even homey, if your home is a tiny Tokyo studio apartment. And yet it also achieves the unique quality of being exactly what you want to eat at exactly the right moment. Chicken meatballs? Tender and savory, glazed in a sticky, salty-sweet yakitori sauce, they were a satisfying counterpoint to a chilled Asahi beer, or tiny earthenware cup of perfumed sake.

31 rue de la Parcheminerie, 75005, tel: 01 46 33 75 10

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