Syun Izakaya is tucked into the bottom of an old library in Hillsboro that looks like the sort of musty brick building you’d find on an aging college campus. The tiny room is crowded with sake bottles (there are about 50) and a diverse clientele sitting at little tables and at a sushi counter. There are also a few tables outside in a sort of makeshift garden.

If Yuzu is an authentic izakaya that’s not at all for sushi seekers, Syun is kind of its more placid, accessible opposite. It’s better lit, and it’s pretty well patronized by a whiter shade of pale, so the fare is less salted-and-dried cuttlefish and more miso-marinated cod. Not that there’s anything wrong with miso-marinated cod. What you get here is spot-on flavor, no pretense, and a quirky setting in which to enjoy it all.

What you won’t find is a ho-hum attitude. There’s passion behind this operation. One night, the sushi chefs handed out an amuse-bouche of surprisingly tender, tinny-sweet geoduck clams. Grilled mackerel is ridiculously good (when isn’t it?), all oily and charry. Marinated pork belly, also charred a bit on the grill, is tender, juicy, and deeply porky. We understand the desire to put raw, fresh fish in your mouth, but if you’re here for sushi rolls, you’re just completely missing the point. Stick to nigiri and expand your horizons with small plates (which people tend to refer to, kind of annoyingly, as “Japanese tapas”).

There are a few Korean conceits here, as well, which is pretty typical of the izakaya genre in the Pacific Northwest. Don’t bother with the perfunctory, weird grape wine selection—this is a sake bar. While you’re here, get off that hot crap you might have been drinking (it’s served hot for a reason; same reason bad beer is served at subzero temperatures), and try some delicate, complex cold sake. A handy guide on the back of the sake list gives an introductory lesson in the different degrees of seimaibuai. Take advantage of this educational opportunity—one that is, no doubt, more fun than the studies that once went on in this space.