It's a surprised birthday dinner for a friend, and after many searches for izakaya on the night, 一杯屋 Yi Pai Ya was the only place still with tables available. The staff were mostly young and courteous. They always tried to help and provided chilled glasses for our sake, a nice touch indeed. We ordered a variety of food to share among us:

Amuse bouche: Marinated eggplants with bonito flakes. Quite tasty!

牛たんユッケ Korean Style Ox Tongue Sashimi
韓國風牛舌刺身Not as "thick" as shown in the picture. Smooth texture. Quite nice

芯たん炭火焼き Grilled ox tongue toro
炭燒極上牛舌The best center cut of the tongue. It's fattier than the 上たん but cut thinner which made the mouthfeel a bit weak and a bit.

The best ox tongue is still the thick cut premium wagyu tongue @ Iroha.

上たん炭火焼き Grilled Ox Tongue
炭燒上等牛舌The more front end cut so not the fattiest part of the tongue. They were relatively thick cut and the texture was a bit chewy without much luscious feel.

石焼スタミナもやし炒めFried Bean Sprouts x2
石燒銀芽Came in huge piles (we didn't expect) on sizzling iron plates but they were very yummy with garlic and scallions. We ended up finishing all!

骨せんべい Deep Fried Eel's Bones
炸鰻魚骨Crunchy and quite salty. Best to go with a lot of alcohol! XD

河海老の唐揚げ Deep Fried River Shrimps
炸河蝦 Surprisingly delicious. Crunchy with a lot of umami. Very addictive

明太子の炭火焼き Charcoal Grilled Mentaiko
炭燒明太子Came in medium rare (半生熟) as requested. One of those umami-packed food that I love to eat

とりわさ Chicken Sashimi
雞肉刺身 I have had fresh chicken sashimi in Japan before, and this wasn't quite like it. The chicken sashimi I had in Japan had mild chicken flavor and was firmer in texture. This one didn't have much flavor on its own, so it needed to be eaten with the onion slices, condiments and ponzu sauce. Too soft in texture for my liking.

[特製つくね Chicken Tsukune x 2
雞肉丸棒Didn't know why it's called 特製 until we cut it open... There were 2 (!) quail eggs inside the tsukune so each bite would have one! Interesting!

げその唐揚げ Deep Fried Geso (Squid legs)
炸魷魚鬚
げその塩焼き Grilled Geso (Squid legs)
塩燒魷魚鬚 Got to love those suckers (Line from Pretty Women )
My friends loved them but I found them a bit chewy. The salt grilled ones went very nicely with the kewpie mayo.

砂肝 (Sunagimo), ぼんじり x2 Chicken Gizzards, Chicken Tails
雞腎，雞尾
ししゃもの焼き Shishamo no yaki x2
炭燒多春魚 I only tried the chicken tails and they were too small as the Japanese style only extracted the little meat on the sides of the tails. I want the whole chicken tails like the Taiwanese version! XD
The shishamo were too skinny. Not much to munch on...

牛たんつくね Ox Tongue Meat Ball x4
牛舌丸棒Got intrigued by what minced ox tongue would be like. Though this time there wasn't any quail egg, the minced ox tongue was soft yet still maintained a bit of the chewy texture. Quite nice

Overall, simple food served simple ways without too much fuzz. It's a great place for a relaxing night of chats and laughters with friends!

Note:
1. Join their membership for $20 and you get an instant 10% off (and 10% on all your future visits), like we did this time.
2. Corkage is $100 - very cheap!
3. During the night there were a lot of Japanese families visiting the restaurants!