Yakitori 38

On East Row, in one of Canberra's heritage Sydney Building shopfronts, a compact izakaya channels the charcoal-smoke bars of Osaka into a late-night city haunt. The counter runs on skewers, chicken negima and the traditional yakitori canon, cooked over coals until the edges catch, but the snack menu is where the kitchen shows its range: a cream croquette with Japanese tartare, chicken nanban buried under angel-hair potato, lotus chips dusted with Parmigiano Reggiano. Executive chef Guno Chung arrives with a Michelin pedigree, working alongside a team that includes a cook drawn from one of the capital's better-known Japanese rooms, and the result reads as equal parts tradition and mischief. Drinks matter here too, Japanese wines and signature cocktails aimed at nights that stretch past midnight, with the kitchen holding on well into the small hours. A sibling katsu bar next door handles the crumbed-cutlet cravings. It is intimate by design, a handful of tables and a warm, low-lit hum, the kind of place built for a long unhurried evening rather than a quick bite. In a city not overrun with genuine yakitori, this one earns its following on the strength of the grill and the confidence to play beyond it.