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

On a summer day of growling skies, sticky T-shirts and short tempers, thoughts of flight drove us to seek out this little-known slice of the Mediterrranean. Inside the glass courtyard, restorative A/C coursed over tables like a levant breeze, and, bolstered by good olive oil and the Verdejo grape, we were soon lost to the delusion of deliverance – chewing, chatting and clinking glasses as if on the Catalan coast. But the tremendous squid ink paella (RMB 198 for two) still caught us by surprise.

CORRECTION: The following article appears exactly as printed in the Beijinger's November issue. Otaku's management has since pointed out that Otaku should not be linked with Izaka-Ya and Jazz-Ya as part of a "family" of venues, as our article implies. We apologize for any offense caused. 

Otaku follows Spice Factory as the second recent addition to Li Bo’s stable of stylish venues, also including Jazz-Ya, d lounge and Izaka-Ya. It’s as obsessively tasteful as the rest of the family, but gets bashful with manga art and cocktails in bubble tea cups. The quirks won’t wash with everyone, but are minor distractions.

Food explorers will be excited at the rarity and variety of live freshwater fish maintained in tanks – regional specialties from Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Tibet. Any of these can be on your table within moments, if you have the necessary means.

New Japanese restaurants are a trending topic in Gulou lately. Suzuki is cool and cheap, but the food is hit-and-miss. Kiko needs customers like a whale needs Greenpeace. And as for Yoshi Izakaya, that was an insult to sticky rice grains everywhere.

This place is the first Gulou Japanese that feels right as soon as you walk in.

For the next year or so, you’re bound to see a few tourists loitering at 29 Nanluogu Xiang, staring dumbly, hungrily, at an abandoned shell. If only they knew to walk 500 meters east for the Korean fix they seek. But they don’t – not until the next edition of their guidebook appears.