Machiya are Kyoto's old merchant townhouses — narrow, deep, and built of dark timber, with lattice windows that glow from within at dusk. Hanbe wears that face on Thái Văn Lung: wooden lattice, a warm noren at the door, and lanterns that tell you the counter is open.
Inside, the house keeps one promise: the price on the board is the price at the table. The omakase runs three lengths — twelve, fifteen, eighteen kinds — each chalked plainly where everyone can read it.
Hanbe is an evening place — 17:00 to midnight, six nights a week. On Sundays the lanterns stay dark.