I returned to Tokyo the day before my flight home to meet up with my friend from work who was arriving in Tokyo that day. After a few days of Cocktail Crawling Ginza at the start of my trip, I chose Shibuya, and built a solid map of bars to check out. I was excited to have a friend to share the experience with as I felt like having a companion was what I was missing from many of my cocktail adventures in my 2 weeks previous in Japan.
Shibuya was crazy tourist busy and I was not interested in wading through the masses. I had booked a ticket to visit Shibuya Sky, but it was windy and the outside viewing area was closed. The hoards of people trying to get their perfect shots turned me off, so I made a quick round and left.
I decided to treat myself to a junk meal to serve as a good base before I started drinking. Mos Burger was never one of my “musts” but it’s one of my brother’s favourites so I thought I’d have another go at their Spicy Mos burger. I loved the thick cut fries I ordered with my meal and the burger was good. But my preference for fast food in Japan is still the ebi burger from Loteria.
I had time to kill as I wasn’t meeting my friend until later in the evening. I knew we had an aggressive bar crawl planned for the night, but couldn’t help but add a first stop to my evening.
Bar Ishinohana is a grown-up bar, filled with locals when I visited. I was hesitant when I walked in as I’d had mixed experiences with these types of bars throughout this trip to Japan . Some were way too serious with a cold, almost clinical experience while at others, I was warmly welcomed and treated with great care. I was only at Ishinohana for one drink, but I felt if I’d stayed longer it would have turned more into the latter than the former. After a short discussion with one of the staff on their menu, I decided a matcha martini would be the perfect start to the evening. The drink was perfectly balanced and for me, way more superior to an espresso martini as a pick me up.
I had a number of Shibuya-area bars on my list, but I chose SG Club because I could make a reservation, which I thought was crucial with our time of imbibing in the city.
SG Club is divided into multiple spaces. Guzzle upstairs is their casual space and was a raucous party of foreigners when I arrived. The calmer Sip downstairs was also packed but I was promptly seated at the bar. SG Club was similar to Bar Orchard where the guests were less experienced cocktail connoisseurs but eager to learn and be wow’d. The cocktails on the menu pushed the boundaries of creativity with thought and care to the vessels that each were presented in.
I found SG Low while looking up SG Club. I felt their izakaya menu would suit our night of drinking perfectly and when I saw photos of their Bone Marrow and Uni Mazemen I hit the reserve now button without second thought.
The bright cheery izakaya was a great choice for that point in the evening. Their cocktail menu included a long list of lemon sour variations which, was exciting for a citrus/gin lover like myself. Everything we ordered was delicious but the highlight was the Mazemen. The bone marrow was so plentiful and rich which resulted in the most unctuous dish perfect to soak up the alcohol we’d imbibed so far.
I chose Bar Trench as our last stop in the evening because I knew it would be our best stop. We’d met Tench’s bartender Rogerio at an event in Vancouver a month before and told him at the time we’d be visiting his bar when we were in Tokyo. I loved the cocktails he served me in Vancouver so I was eager to visit him in his space. When we walked into Bar Trench, Rogerio immediately recognized us and welcomed us with his huge infectious grin.
I loved welcoming warmth of Bar Trench and its library wall of liquor in the background. We were at the point in the evening where we didn’t want to look at a menu, but shared my preferences with Rogerio and let him guide the way. After finding out Rogerio was about to get on to a plane to do an event at Salon Rosetta in CDMX, he served me a Mezcal Milk Punch to continue the conversation. The rest of the drinks through the evening were equally as delightful, but to be honest, I was concentrated more on conversation (and was at the point of being over=served) to remember what I had.
After a few hours at the bar, I realized how late it was and how hungry I was feeling. We asked about late-night dining options in the area and were told everything was closed. Well, except we could go somewhere technically closed but they’d have food for us if properly introduced. Lucky for us, one of the staff from Trench walked us a couple blocks away and knocked on a closed door where we were introduced us and we were given entrée. The staff were so friendly but apologetic that they didn’t have much other than oden to feed us. They wouldn’t believe me when I explained that a big serving of oden would 100% satisfy my late night hunger, until I quickly devoured the bowl and asked for more. I have decided oden is my new favorite late-night post drink food.
A late afternoon flight home meant I could wake up easy after my big last night out in Shibuya. I did some last minute shopping and grabbed some pre-flight snacks including the cutest mini-chirashi, I love the mini-sized versions of pre-packed meals they have in Japan and wish they’d make serving sizes more reasonable at home.But after 2 weeks in Japan, I was ready to return home but already with thoughts and plans for next time I’m back 🙂
The places I mention in this post:
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