I Went To All The Best Bars In Tokyo

33,000. That's the number of bars Tokyo has, more than any city in the world. Izakayas, wine bars, brew pubs, bars themed like jail cells, bars where muscular women slap you in the face, you name it, and Tokyo has it. And of course, cocktail bars. Tokyo has a lot of cocktail bars. So, I'm here in Tokyo, and that can only mean one thing. If you're a regular viewer of my channel, you know what we do best here is cocktail bars. Of course, much like pretty much anything in this country, Japan excels in the cocktail game. Numerous global competition victories, originators of multiple iconic bartending techniques, Japanese art of perfection is on display in so many different incredible Japanese bars. One of those bars is Ishinohana, a textbook definition of a classic Japanese cocktail bar. These types of bars, of which there are plenty, don't lean too heavy into innovation, but rather they focus on perfecting classic techniques and cocktails. Me, personally, I tend to favor the innovative and experimental, but it's hard to deny the skill and attention to detail you find at a bar like Ishinohana. It's easy to see why this bar has been open for over 20 years, and its lead bartender has won more than one major competition. It's a great spot. One of Tokyo's all-time best bars from one of Japan's most iconic bartenders, the SG Club, is numerous bars rolled into one. The SG, while also being the initials of founder Shingo Gokan, actually refers to the two concepts found inside, Sip and Guzzle. The main floor bar, Guzzle, features a lively atmosphere with innovative and delicious cocktails that tend to present themselves as more classic. Highballs feature heavily on the menu. The vibe is certainly more upbeat, with guests often spilling out onto the street. Regardless of what order you visit the two bars, Guzzle is a great place to start a night. It's a great place to end a night, too. Downstairs at Sip is a bit more of a subdued vibe, with cocktails taking the opposite direction. Immensely inventive and experimental drinks using ingredients like Kobe beef or Japanese wax. Whether you're at Sip, or Guzzle, or the third bar upstairs that I didn't get to try out, you're going to be in an exceptional bar drinking delicious cocktails no matter what. If you're from Toronto like me, you recognize the name Bellwood. The iconic park in the west end of the city does, in fact, lend its name to this bar. The owner and head bartender at Sushi spent time working in Toronto, and believe it or not, was actually my neighbor for a very short time. He worked at a bar called Ursa, which was right next door to my bar way back in 2014. Small world. After moving on from Toronto, he spent time in Shanghai and Tokyo with the SG Group, and eventually opened up the Bellwood, a bar themed like the old-style Tokyo coffee shops of the 1920s. The cocktails definitely feel very familiar to the cocktails at SG Club, and that is in no way a bad thing. Delicious, innovative, cozy, friendly, talented staff, all the hallmarks of an amazing cocktail bar. I don't know what else to say. I love this bar. There's nowhere I'd rather be for a night out in Japan than Shinjuku. Incredible pubs, izakayas, beer bars, nightclubs, grab-and-go highballs from Family Mart. Whatever you fancy, you can find it here. Even cocktail bars. On the west side of Shinjuku Station, in a nondescript high-rise, you'll find two of the best bars Shinjuku has to offer. Head straight to the top, 10th floor, for Spirits Bar Sun Face, a top-notch rendition of the quintessential Japanese cocktail bar. No menu, no problem. The bartender asks you a spirit preference paired with a seasonal fruit, and then magic. Mastery. I chose tequila and grape first, followed by mezcal and strawberry. Both phenomenal. Sun Face leans heavily towards agave, a rare find in Tokyo. Awards on display throughout the bar, relaxing atmosphere, and talented staff. It's clear that this is an incredible place to drink. And even more incredible, is the fact that this isn't even the Ben Fittich. The interior feels like a mix between a botanist's lab and a hunting lodge. The cocktails lean in the herbal direction, utilizing ingredients hand-picked weekly from the farm owned and operated by the head man himself. Farm-to-bar cocktails. Some of the crops head straight back to the bar, some are distilled into house-made absinthe. Shokunin. Mastery. Perfection. Again, no menu. Talk to the bar team and explain what you're in the mood for, and be amazed. I was in the mood for a daiquiri, and was presented with a daiquiri made from fresh sugarcane brought home from a recent trip to Bolivia. Something boozy with yuzu? Check. Absinthe and refreshing? Absolutely. A coffee cocktail using the slow-drip coffee that's been brewing over candlelight for the past six hours? Uh, wow. That is some real nerdy shit right there. And, one of the most boring. Honestly, compared to the rest of Tokyo, there isn't really much to do in Ginza. It's fantastic if you love luxury shopping, and obviously the fish market is right next door, but other than those things, what else is there? Well, there is one thing. There's a very distinct style of cocktail bar that I consider to be the quintessential Japanese cocktail bar. They all follow the same basic set of standards. Simple yet well-made original cocktails, perfection of the classics, meticulous service, and no menu. Ginza is full of these types of bars. Star Bar is one of them, and we will be visiting plenty of others. Personally, they aren't my favorite type of bar, but I do respect the quality and attention to detail on display at these places. Simple, classy, elegant, expensive? The type of bar that fits in perfectly in Ginza. The cream of the crop is High Five, one of the best bars in the world run by one of the most iconic legendary bartenders of all time, Ueno-san. Do they do anything different than the other bars? To be perfectly frank, not really. They just do it better. High Five is world famous for a reason, so don't be surprised when you notice that nearly every single person at this bar is a tourist. Little Smith is on the opposite end of that spectrum. Not a single tourist in sight, but more of the same high quality Japanese bartending that we've seen countless times before. I think I'll have another daiquiri. Another spot worthy of a visit is Bar Landscape, yet another prime example of how good a Japanese cocktail bar can be. Writing this script is getting hard. I'm running out of ways to say the same thing over and over again. All these bars are good. They're all fantastic. They're all very similar, and there's so, so many of them. Way more than I can fit within this video and my budget, so I chose a few of my Japanese cocktail bar. Much like the others, there's no menu, but that's where the similarities end. You pick a fruit, pick how intensely alcoholic you want the drink to be, and then sit back and wait to be amazed. Drinks inside of baby bottles, drinks served in ceramic penguins, astronaut drinks, bubble baths, shark attacks, some of the goofiest funniest things you'll see in a cocktail bar. This is my type of place. Somewhere that doesn't take themselves too seriously, is willing to do dumb shit just for a laugh without sacrificing on flavor. I think part of the reason I love this place so much is because it reminds me of the bar that I used to own. Creative drinks in both taste and visual appeal. Something that not only tastes great, but brings out a laugh and gets you talking. Anyone can make a delicious cocktail these days, but finding a way to elevate a drink beyond the taste is something that I truly appreciate. It's something that Orchard masters. In my month in Tokyo, there's only three bars that I went back to more than once. Orchard is one of those bars. If you feel the need to move on from Orchard, you can head up two stories to the ninth floor tender bar, another Japanese classic. A fun tidbit for my fellow cocktail nerds, the head bartender has been bartending since 1966 and is credited with inventing the Japanese hard shake. That's cocktail amazing cocktail bars, plus a cocktail boutique store, as well as an additional bar in Singapore. This is one of those bars. Mixology Heritage, a bar focused on classic cocktails and vintage spirits. Classic oriented, yes, but definitely a bit more nuanced when it comes to the cocktail creation. House infusions, original cocktails, and a real printed menu. What a rare treat. The group uses the bar as a training ground for its other more elaborately themed bars. Lots of nice options, as well as a menu of cocktails using vintage spirits dating back to the 1960s and beyond. And an incredible happy hour too for the salarymen that work in the area. A few doors down from Heritage is Folklore, another bar from the Spirits and Sharing group. This bar focuses heavily on Japanese spirits and terroir. So many interesting ingredients that I have never seen or heard of, served in beautiful glassware handcrafted by Japanese artisans. It's hard to call other bars Japanese bars when a place like Folklore exists. This bar is Japan in every sense of the word. An amazing lesson in everything from sake to shochu to Japanese gins and liqueurs. A must visit if you have any interest in learning about the world is hard to explain. Apollo is that bar. Hidden in the basement of a basement off a side street near Shimbashi Station. Lit predominantly by candle and cell phone ambient light reflecting off the vintage bottles and experimental whiskeys overflowing from the back bar to the bar top. A singular spotlight above the bar highlights the next drink to be served. The soundtrack is Tom Waits. Nothing else. The perfect background noise for a bar like this. The exact type of bar that makes you feel like you'd be a character in one of his songs. It's dark and moody in all the best possible ways. Come alone, pick a whiskey and spend the night contemplating life's wonderful misery and all the great things it doesn't offer. The night is young so we might as well keep the best day ever going even longer. There's still plenty of amazing bars I've yet to visit so that's the plan from here on out. First stop is Memento Mori inside of the Toronomon Hills Business Tower. A cocktail bar that specializes in drinks made with cacao whether it be pure chocolate, cacao fruit, cacao distillates, tea and any other variation you could think of. The drinks are delicious and full of cacao flavor in many different ways. The menu is massive with so many different choices but the staff are friendly and knowledgeable and willing to help out with whatever choice you might have. I let them pick my first drink and they recommended the cacao pulp fizz which was a perfect starting point for the rest of the menu. If you have any interest in cocktails or chocolate Bar Trench would be the opposite. A classic cocktail destination as classic as they come yet still modern and vibrant evolving with the times like a great cocktail bar should. Bar Trench is one of the true stalwarts of the cocktail game in Tokyo having made the 50 best list every year since 2015. Classic cocktails are mastered and elevated to new heights using simple ingredients in unique ways. The room is tiny so make sure to come early. I got extremely lucky to grab a seat this late into the evening. It fills up fast and rightfully so. Trench is one of the grandiose as they come, Virtu is the best new bar in Asia debuting at number 20 on Asia's 50 best list in 2023 and winning the award for highest new entry. Everything is as expected from a four seasons cocktail bar. Elegance and opulence without pretentiousness. All the highs of a four seasons experience without the need to break the bank on a hotel room. The four seasons having an incredible cocktail bar is no surprise and Virtu is an absolute master class in top-notch service. Each guest has an experience tailored just for them. Whether it's the older couple who don't know much about cocktails, to the finance bros pre-gaming before a night out, to me the dumb cocktail nerd geeking out by himself. Keith and the team at Virtu know exactly how to give each guest precisely the experience they're looking for. No snobbery, no pretension. Everyone in that bar is treated as if they're the most important person in the world. In just a few short hours sitting at the bar observing, I felt like I learned an incredible amount on how you should treat a guest who comes into your bar. It's experiences like this that make me want to keep traveling the world and visiting all the best bars everywhere I go. Learning as much as I can from the world's What an incredible end to the best day ever. I don't like trade shows. I've been to enough trade shows in my life to know that I am just not a trade show person. I don't like how crowded they are. I don't like how you have to pretend to be interested in every product just because you have to maintain relationships and save face. I don't like how there's never anywhere to sit and the bathrooms are always packed and my feet hurt and it's too hot out and it's too early in the morning and I should have worn better shoes and my ticket was too expensive and I could be at home sleeping but I'm a part of this industry and it's my job to be here so I'm here and I'm gonna pretend to like it. I don't like trade shows. I do however like seeing old industry friends and I really like all the free samples. Lovely, lovely samples. If there's one way to power through a trade show, it's alcohol. And luckily this is an alcohol trade show so there is a lot of free alcohol. When it comes to big shows like the Tokyo Bar Show, Bar Convent, or Tales of the Cocktail, brands go all out. Flying in famous bartenders to man the booths, handing out copious amounts of free product, hosting numerous after parties. The amount of money spent on shows like this is astronomical. The amount they make is astronomical. One of the better things about coming to a trade show in a foreign country is the wide array of new products you get to experience. Back home, every show is the same thing over and over and over. But Japan has such a vast catalog of whiskeys, gins, and other things that I've never seen before. It's a great learning experience. This is, this is research. I'm gaining knowledge, feeding my brain and my liver at the same time. One of the brands I didn't have too much experience with before coming to Japan is Kinobi by Kyoto Distillery. They're a relatively new gin distiller based in Kyoto but have been gaining a massive following over the recent years. We don't really see them in Canada but having been here in Japan and tasting their product, I can confidently say that they make one of my favorite gins I've ever tasted. They're also super involved in the cocktail game, hosting plenty of great bartenders and events around the bar show, so this is definitely a brand I can get behind. Are you enjoying this compilation of me slowly getting drunker and drunker off free samples? There's a reason this segment got relegated to the deleted scenes. It's really hard to talk about a boring trade show. Although this trade show isn't too boring. It's quite all right actually. Everything's all right. Everything's wonderful. Booze is really kicking in and the day has barely just begun. Looking back on this footage, it's quite shocking to see how much I drank at this event. Ladies and gentlemen, I am a trained professional. Please do not follow in my footsteps. Please drink responsibly. I was hesitant to come to this event beforehand. I only really made the decision earlier that morning but I'm glad I went. Tokyo Bar Show is definitely one of the better industry events I've been to and even though the show is over, the night's only getting started. I need to carb up and get some magical Japanese vitamins inside of myself because there are industry parties that we need to attend. If you're truly in the know, the main event is only the beginning of the festivities when it comes to a bar trade show. The real fun happens after the show is over when the industry parties begin. Me, being very popular and important, I get all the juicy details of all the best parties. These events are definitely invite only and you, the lowly viewer, will never be able to get into events like this. Sorry, what's that? It's open to the public? They don't need to know that. Don't tell them that. The first event was at a bar called A10 hosted by Kinobi. Running the bar at A10 is the new head bartender from Charles H in Seoul and the head bartender from the Capella Hotel in Hanoi. The venue is a cool hidden listening room in Ebisu and obviously these guys are the peak when it comes to service, being in charge of some incredible hotel bars. From there, some friends and I headed around the corner to Trench but I forgot to film because let's be honest, I have had a lot to drink at this point. I'm surprised I got any of this on camera at all. After Trench, we headed to another Kinobi event at the Trunk Hotel where some of Singapore's best bartenders were behind the wood. If you watch my Singapore video, you'll recognize Shaw, the man in charge of Papa Doble. Amazing bartender, amazing dude. Very pleasantly surprised to see him at this event. The other bartender, Nisa, is another amazing bartender from Singapore at Origin Bar. Kinobi really pulled out all the stops to get these awesome bartenders to Tokyo. I've talked a lot about Kinobi in this segment but I promise this is not sponsored. Although, Kinobi, if you want to talk, hit me up. I am extremely for sale and you make good stuff. After the after party, we rounded up a whole crew and headed to the after after party and to be quite frank, this is like watching found footage at this point. The rest of the night is an absolute blur. Jin Laybacks will definitely do that to you. Highly, highly recommended. This feels like I'm doing React content at this point. I'm surprised these shots are so crisp. Is it me holding the camera? I don't even know. Oh yeah, Bellwoods. I definitely remember going there. It was full of industry folks, obviously, and that's all the commentary you're gonna get out of me. I can proudly admit that I did make it back to my hotel in one piece and I did wake up without too much of a hangover, thanks to those Japanese magic vitamins I took earlier. Oh, SG Club. Yeah, we did go there. I hope you enjoyed this compilation of all the Tokyo bar segments from all my other videos, including this deleted scene of the bar show, which didn't quite fit anywhere else. Thank you for watching. Subscribe for more cocktail industry content because there are lots more videos in the pipeline to come over the next few months. And please drink responsibly.