Tokyo

A bar on the second floor of a converted old house in a Tsukishima back street, two minutes from the station. It keeps whisky, wine and sake, and it also serves ramen: the owner worked in a well-known ramen restaurant before opening here, and makes both a thick iekei-style bowl and a clear shoyu one.

The hours have a gap in them. It serves from 11:00 to 20:00, shuts for an hour, and opens again from 21:00 to 01:00. It is closed on Mondays, has sixteen seats at a counter and tables, and welcomes dogs.

Good to know

• Closed on Mondays.
• The bar shuts between 20:00 and 21:00, so do not arrive in that hour.
• Only sixteen seats.
• The large ramen portion is not available.

A yakitori restaurant a minute from Tsukiji Station, one of three places on the same block run by the same company. It grills Shingen-dori chicken from Yamanashi, and the room is laid out in a quiet Japanese style on the second floor.

Skewers start at ¥380 and a set of five is ¥1,800. On weekdays it serves dinner from 17:00 to 22:30; at weekends and on public holidays it opens earlier, at 15:00, and closes at 22:00 with last orders at 21:30. It is open every day of the week.

Good to know

• At weekends and on public holidays the kitchen closes earlier, at 21:30.
• Tables may be limited to two hours when primary-school-age children are in the party.
• All listed prices include tax.

The bar on the eleventh floor of the Tokyo Ginza Shiseido Building, open from 15:00 to 23:00 from Tuesday to Saturday. It opens earlier than most bars in Ginza, and from 15:00 to 18:00 it serves an aperitivo list with non-alcoholic cocktails at ¥1,000 and a glass of champagne at ¥1,500.

Standard cocktails start at ¥1,850 and the bar's own at ¥2,000, with a ¥1,000 cover charge per person at any hour. Food is served from 16:00 to 21:45 and includes the house cream croquettes at ¥2,000 and a wagyu fillet cutlet sandwich at ¥4,500.

Good to know

• A cover charge of ¥1,000 per person applies at all hours.
• Guests under 20 cannot use the bar.
• Closed on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays.
• Food is only served between 16:00 and 21:45.

A nightclub a minute from Roppongi Station, on the ground and basement floors of the Tower of Vabel, open from 21:00 to 5:00 every day of the week. Its own site describes it as one of the largest in Roppongi.

Entry is priced by day and by gender: on weekdays men pay ¥2,000 with a drink ticket or ¥5,000 for the open bar, and women enter free with the open bar at ¥2,000. At weekends men pay ¥4,000 for two drink tickets or ¥10,000 for ten, and women still enter free. Everyone is asked for photo ID at the door and a dress code is enforced.

Good to know

• Bring photo ID. The club states that every guest is asked for it at the entrance.
• There is a dress code, and the club asks guests to dress up.
• The open bar excludes bottle drinks and Red Bull products.
• Prices and entry conditions can change for special events and in some seasons.
• VIP tables are charged as two-hour sets, and 25 percent is added for tax and service on top of the table charge and the required bottles.

Two kitchens on the twenty-seventh floor of the Asakusa View Hotel, about a hundred metres up: Chinese cooking under the name Karakurenai and French teppan cooking under the name Makie. Both work in courses, built around ingredients from around Japan, and both look out over the same view.

Dinner runs 17:00 to 21:00 with last orders at 20:00. Prices quoted already include a 10 percent service charge and tax, which is not always the case at this level.

Good to know

• A window table carries a ¥3,000 charge and is limited to two people.
• The anniversary plan is available with the French menu only.
• Courses change with the season and are not served over Christmas (19, 20, 24 and 25 December) or the new year (31 December to 3 January).
• Parties of four or fewer order from the regular course menu rather than the private-room plans.

A Japanese restaurant run in the manner of an izakaya, in a converted house about sixty-five years old with an earth floor. There are counter seats, tables, private rooms set apart like an annexe, and tatami rooms behind a curtain.

The dish it is known for is Edo negima-nabe, a hotpot of tuna and spring onion. The kitchen also serves shumai, duck tsukune, simmered beef tendon and simmered whale, and works with Edo vegetables such as Kameido daikon and Shinagawa turnip. The sake and shochu are chosen by the owner, who is a certified sake taster and sommelier.

Good to know

• The restaurant describes a wooden-token system — you change money into tokens at your seat at ¥100 to one token, and change the rest back when you leave — but its own page states that the tokens are currently suspended.
• On the days of the Tori-no-ichi fair the restaurant works differently: two-hour sittings, no choice of seat, and only the first floor takes walk-ins.
• Hours are later on weekdays than at weekends: 18:00 to 23:00 Monday to Friday, 17:00 to 22:00 on Saturday and Sunday.

A bar that opened in 1880 and has been in the same spot by the Kaminarimon crossing ever since. It is known for Denki Bran, a cocktail created here in 1882 with brandy as its base, blended with gin, wine, curaçao and herbs. It is 30 degrees; the Old version is 40.

The ground floor is the bar itself, where you buy a ticket at the door and then sit down. The first floor is Restaurant Kamiya, a western-style restaurant suited to families and groups, and the second is a Japanese restaurant. The main building was registered as a tangible cultural property in 2011.

Good to know

• On the ground floor you pay at the entrance first and receive a ticket; that floor does not take cards.
• Closing time is 20:00, with last orders at 19:30 — earlier than most bars.
• Closed on Tuesdays, and on two Mondays each month.

Bar Ishinohana is a basement cocktail bar a minute from Exit C1 of Shibuya Station, opened in 2003 by owner-bartender Shinobu Ishigaki, who won the senior category of the Bacardi Martini Grand Prix in Turin in 2005. The list runs from classic long drinks and stirred and shaken cocktails to a monthly set of original recipes built on Japanese fruit, and there is a separate low-alcohol and non-alcohol list. The bar is closed on Wednesdays, Thursdays and public holidays, and asks guests to be 20 or over. A cover charge of ¥500 per person applies.

Good to know

• Guests must be 20 or over. Under-20s are not admitted in any circumstances.
• A cover charge of ¥500 per person applies, and each guest must order at least one drink or one dish.
• House rules: no shots, no cigars, no baseball caps, no bomb-style drinks of any kind, and proper attire is requested.
• Closed on Wednesdays, Thursdays and public holidays.
• Sunday hours are given differently by the bar's own pages: the shop information and English location pages say 17:00–24:00, while the English reservation page says 16:00–23:00. Check before you go.
• Booking is not essential but is strongly recommended. The online form takes reservations for one or two people and asks for at least one week's notice.
• The bar states that reservations cannot be made through AutoReserve.
• The number of seats, payment methods, the smoking policy and whether prices include tax are not stated on the official site.

Bar BenFiddich is a 15-seat bar on the ninth floor of a building in Nishi-Shinjuku. There is no menu: the bar asks you to tell the bartender what you like and a cocktail is made for you. Bookings are taken through an online reservation page for three seatings a night, at 19:00, 21:00 and 23:00. The bar keeps an irregular schedule and closes when owner-bartender Hiroyasu Kayama is away, with the next month's dates announced on the 20th of each month. A sister bar, bar B&F, is on the second floor of the same building.

Good to know

• The bar strongly recommends booking in advance, as reserved guests are given priority and walk-ins may not be seated.
• Reservations are not accepted for groups of more than five people, and one group must not split itself across several bookings.
• A reservation is cancelled if you are 15 minutes late.
• The bar cannot always meet a request for a particular seat.
• The phone is not answered during opening hours, so use the online reservation page.
• Opening days are irregular and the bar closes when the owner-bartender is away; the next month's schedule is announced on the 20th of each month.
• Prices, cover charges, payment methods, the smoking policy and any age limit are not stated on the official site.

The TRAD is an authentic bar and cigar bar in Yushima that opened in 2016, with more than 1,000 single malts on the shelves and cocktails made with seasonal fresh fruit. The room has 20 seats in total, 10 at a single-slab counter and 10 at tables, with records played through a vacuum-tube amplifier. All prices on the menu include tax, and the menu is printed in both Japanese and English. Smoking is allowed everywhere inside and no one aged 20 or under may enter.

Good to know

• No one aged 20 or under may enter, under the local ordinance.
• Smoking is allowed throughout the bar, so it does not suit non-smokers or families.
• Alcohol is not served to anyone who arrived by car or bicycle.
• Cover charge ¥1,200 per person (tax included); a private room adds ¥2,000 per group.
• Cigars cannot be ordered within the last hour before closing.
• Payment is by credit card (JCB, VISA, Mastercard, AMEX).
• Closed over the New Year period.