The curtain's come down on our Japanese Foood Fight, and Hatsune remains king, retaining two of the top three places. Despite the new reviews, Beijing's top rated Japanese restaurants (based on places with three or more reader reviews) remain as follows:

"Back for More” is a regular magazine column in which we revisit old favorites.

Relocated from a demolished Anjialou lot to swish new quarters, Sake Manzo is all pale wood, black counters and simple lines. The new decor is great for dates, with “couples’ stools” at the long sushi bar. Manzo’s house-made tofu (RMB 18) is a masterpiece in subtlety – as different from Max Levy’s salt-water tofu at Bei as ricotta is from haloumi. The barest smidge of fresh grated ginger adds a little punch to each mouthful.

A school friend of mine had a peculiar food foible. He would insist that his baked beans be served apart from his sausage and chips. Far apart, as in a separate bowl. This inconsequential tic lay dormant in my subconscious for years … until I had the dipping ramen (RMB 29-35) at Moon Concubine Izakaya. Noodles, pork, egg and nori in one bowl, soup in another. The menu warns that on no account should you add the soup to the noodles. Presumably doing so would usher in a reign of Akira-esque chaos. Or maybe it’s just something about dulling the texture of the noodles. Cleverly, the soup is thick and salty enough to ensure each dunking imbues a satisfactorily saucy coating. Lots of fun, but they also have regular ramen for you stick-in-the-muds.

Four minutes after sitting down, my party of two was forced to make way for an unscrupulous foursome. We waited 15 minutes for another table. Eventually, the waitress delivered a complimentary omelet, glazed deliciously with soy and miso, and all was forgiven, if not forgotten.

Kiichiro Asano comes from the family who founded Japan’s respected Inagiku restaurant brand. He’s long since sold his stake in Inagiku, but has brought that restaurant’s tasty trademark tempura to the newly opened Restaurant T, which also specializes in high-quality kaiseki.