Like so many casual eating/drinking spots opening in these cash-strapped times, Maruni keeps things simple and cheap. It's basically a standing bar serving yakiniku barbecue, with a brightly lit interior and retro wooden facade. What sets it apart from just about any other place of its kind is that the old- fashioned look is not just skin deep.
Maruni occupies a two-story wooden building that — on the outside anyway — looks a little different now from when it was built, back in 1927. Until last year, this was a functioning rice merchant's store (you can still see what it used to look like on Google Street View). It's a classic and one of the last of its kind in this part of Shinbashi, and that is why the local authorities have slapped a preservation order on it. Obviously, City Hall has no say over how it's decorated inside.
No attempt has been made to deck it out with period fixtures and fittings. One wall is painted black, the other scarlet. And instead of cluttering the compact floor space with tables and chairs, the only furniture is half a dozen large oil drums painted in the same bold colors and decorated with traditional montsuki (kimono crest) motifs.
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