Transplanted salarymen sit shoulder to shoulder at the bar. As the shochu and sake flow, their faces flush and their speech becomes ever more slurred and syncopated. It's a familiar scene if you dine out in Gubei enough. But there aren't many restaurants quite like Robatayaki Ryuonosuke in town. Robatayaki is a lot like yakitori, meaning, basically, that it’s Japanese barbecue, only they do away with the skewers and add a bit of dramatic flair. The center of any robatayaki restaurant is the hearth. It's manned by a cook who sits dutifully on his heels, hands in his lap, like a Buddha statue, waiting for your order. The ingredients of the day are laid out on display in front of you. It looks little bit like this... Once you make your selection, the cook springs into action, grabbing a clutch of mushrooms here, a fresh oyster there, maybe a whole sea bream. Then he puts it on a grill that looks like this. When your food is ready, the cook places it on a platter like this and proudly extends it to you. That's grilled pork in the picture, by the way. It was bound for a different party. I’m still trying to figure out why I didn’t order that for myself; it looks amazing, as does pretty much everything else coming off the grill. Mentaiko, or cod roe, for instance, is an acquired taste for some, but Ryuonosuke is a great place to acquire it. It doesn’t burst on your tongue like caviar or salmon roe. It’s more like a delicate briny, lightly mealy paste. Reading that last line back to myself, I realize that doesn’t sell the mentaiko experience terribly well, but hear me out. When lightly seared and topped with a chiffonade of shiso, it pairs beautifully with the mild, milky flavor and distinctively slippery crunch of Japanese yam. It's a surprisingly photogenic dish too. Dig that color! Mentaiko stands up on its own as well. Here, they've seared it with a torch. The heat binds the roe together for precisely the amount of time it takes to bring your chopsticks to your mouth. Then it just dissolves on your tongue. When it's available, abalone is also not to be missed here. They grill this magical mollusk to such a consistency that sinking your teeth into it is like nibbling on your lover's ear lobe. Top it with some fresh sea urchin... utterly sexy. Then there is beef tongue, grilled to medium, sliced into chopstickable chunks, amply salted and peppered, and squeezed with just the right amount of lemon juice. But if all of that's just a little too exotic for you, there is always tried and true avocado, grilled in its skin to buttery perfection. Or, if you prefer your fat saturated, there is this. A cake of creamy grilled Camembert cheese. Now, it's worth noting that you will drop a fair chunk of change here. Plan on spending around 400rmb per person, and that allows for a couple of beers too. Reservations are advised. This place is tiny and fills up fast. Also, if Hongmei Lu is too much of a hike for you, a branch on Julu Lu opened recently. You can find a listing for that right here.