Sake Manzo is a cozy Japanese restaurant with simple, yet stylish interior. It sits about 40 ppl max with long bars on the side. It's known for its extensive variety of Sake among the Japanese community in Beijing. The owners are a young and friendly, Japanese couple. You often find them chatting with their guests.

I was really lucky being able to stumble into such a nice and authentic Japanese restaurant in Beijing. MANZO offers authentic Japanese food, both traditional and contemporary for the discerning palette. Food comes in small portions but big on taste! My personal fav are the beef salad and fish cake. Everything is also nicely presented. Even the way they set the tables is simple and stylish.

Restaurant is sort of hidden from the mainstreet along with a few other Japanese restaurants.

Moving Up

4.5/5 stars

Sake Manzo lost its former home earlier this year to redevelopment in the Anjialou area, but moving has truly done the restaurant good. From a tiny, bare bones venue, it’s transformed into a spacious, stunning restaurant. The food remains very good, and the improved ambiance makes it all the more enjoyable.

There’s a large main dining area, with a sake bar and comfortable seating. At the back of the restaurant, there’s also a long corridor flanked by classy tatami rooms and other private dining areas. A small outdoor space is in the works as well. Tasteful Japanese art adorns the walls, and details from lighting to plateware are all perfect. Food is served extremely quickly, and the service stands out for its thoughtfulness and understanding of the menu. Our waiter was especially helpful in helping us navigate the extensive sake list.

A range of new menu items should be available by September 23, but there were only a small number available on our visit. We tried the potato cheese cakes (¥25), which are basically the Japanese version of the cheesebreads at SALT, but not quite as good. But the Sake Manzo classics are more impressive. The hitsumabushi (¥60), a bowl of rice with grilled eel, is unmissable. The eel is rich and slightly sweet, and perfect together with the rice. You can add a soup broth to the mix, but we preferred it without. The miso soup here is probably the best we’ve had in the city, with chunks of homemade tofu, seaweed, mushrooms and bean sprouts. The bowl is large and only ¥10. The sushi is great, from the very fresh fish to the delicious nori. We tried the assorted selection (¥60), which gets you 18 little pieces of tuna, salmon and pickled radish rolls. For dessert, the almond tofu is quite good, but the addition of canned fruit doesn’t do the dish any favors—we’re still partial to the one at Alba.

Sienna Parulis-Cook, September, 2011