type
status
date
slug
summary
tags
category
icon
password
When you think of Japanese izakaya, drunken and noisy office workers and slightly shabby and noisy storefronts may come to mind. But when it comes to Japanese coffee shops, the old Showa feeling and the aroma of coffee and ketchup on toast come to mind like a picture. ...... It is a common image that Japanese boys and girls in Shibuya and Harajuku neighborhoods, who dress boldly and energetically, have nothing to do with the aforementioned izakaya and old-school coffee shops, but they are out of place, so to speak.
In this article, however, we're going to break away from that stereotype and introduce you to new izakayas and coffee shops that young Japanese people love to visit!
🤗 01 New School Izakaya SG LOW
SG LOW is a Prohibition style bistro. It is located, as the name suggests. In a noisy, bustling place like Shibuya, Tokyo, but in a small, unassuming building. There is no door sign, no light box ...... Even the front door looks like a passageway for the staff of a restaurant, and if you don't pay more attention, you won't even know that it's the front door.
SG LOW Store Door
SG LOW is the new izakaya of legendary Japanese bartender Shingo Gohan, the leader of a new generation of Japanese bartenders who created the world's 10th largest bar, “The SG CLUB”, the third largest bar in Asia, and the most popular bar in the world. Shingo is the new generation of Japanese bartending leaders who created “The SG CLUB”, the 10th largest bar in the world and the third largest in Asia. He is also the founder of Speak Low and Sober Company in Shanghai, and is a prominent figure in the industry.
The opening of SG LOW, however, was a coincidence: in 2021, Japan's Emergency Declaration prohibited the operation of SG CLUB as a bar, but there was no such restriction on restaurants serving food, such as taverns, and so SG LOW was born. SG LOW is a new type of izakaya, but it has a completely different image from the traditional izakaya, from the store decoration to the food and wine list. The small storefront is divided into a bar and tables, and the concrete and wood-toned interior of the store is a bit cool and relaxing in its neatness.
“Aperitif” martini.
At around 6 p.m., the place was packed with people, mostly young faces.
Generally speaking, when you enter a Japanese izakaya, you will be served an “appetizer” (otoshi), but SG LOW is so different that when I visited, I was actually served a martini! The sweet potato shochu martini supervised by Shingo Gohan, together with passion fruit and elderflower, has a sweet floral and fruity aroma that goes down well and leaves you wanting more. Because it changes from time to time, it actually has a sense of surprise every time you go.
“yam, burdock, wasabi.”
After an aperitif, it's time to order the specialties of the place. Each dish has a unique and cute name. For example, the “yam, yam burdock, yam wasabi” dish (やまいも、やまごぼう、やまわさび), which is pronounced like a jingle in Japanese, is in fact a small gazpacho dish of yam and burdock flavored with wasabi. The wasabi is a selection of rare white wasabi, which is softer than the usual green wasabi, with a better balance of spiciness and sweetness, giving it a “high class” feel.
There is a thick-cut ham called “あのハムカツ”, which has the feel of the Asakusa food court of the last century, as if the shopkeeper secretly sliced a thick piece of ham when the owner was not around, and then threw it into the frying pan with a bit of flour, which made it sizzle. Asakusa's ham is thick enough to make it solid and chewy, but SG LOW's is a novelty with a fresh, crispy texture that takes the nostalgia out of it.
Of course, how can you have fried chicken in an izakaya in Japan? Here, the chicken is not only seasoned differently, but also comes with a North African olive oil chili sauce (harissaソース), and a caramel-crusted lemon sauce. The taste of the chicken is so new that it's a real izakaya rivals.
Of course, the sake is the main focus of Izakaya. As a spin-off of a famous bar, the sake here is very good. There are 16 varieties of lemon shawarma alone (compared to two or four varieties at a typical izakaya), which is the most familiar to Japanese people. The Szechuan lemon shawarma is a lemon shawarma made with Szechuan peppercorns to give flavor to the base wine. There is also the “Honki no Remon Sawa” (本気のレモンサワー), which is made with the same base wine as the Martini. The base wine used is the same as a martini, a rice shochu supervised by Shingo Gohan, and the amount of lemon used is very strong, so the sweetness of the rice and the sourness of the lemon are intertwined in the taste, and the aftertaste is long and lingering.
In addition to the Lemon Shava series, there are other sakes that are also noteworthy. The SG Martini, for example, is a blend of SG Shochu's sweet potato shochu and the famous Rokujin, and is clean and soft, with fruity and floral flavors. The name “CALPIS sparkling wine without CALPIS” (カルピスサワーカルピスةC↩き) is a “haughty” name, but it is actually a blend of Kikuhime's cloudy sake, lemon juice and sugar, and is not related to CALPIS, the famous lactic acid bacteria drink in Japan. It's amazing that the flavor and appearance of a lactobacillus drink can be created from ingredients that have nothing to do with the famous Japanese lactobacillus drink CALPIS.
Plum Classics and Premium Cassis Oolongs
If you can, we recommend ordering a few more to try.
For example, the Plum Classic (a framework adaptation of the classic cocktail “Classic”, using plum-flavored shochu, imperial whiskey, orange bitters, etc.), the Premium Black Currant Oolong (black currant-flavored shochu, oriental beauty tea), Long Island Oolong (a framework adaptation of the classic cocktail “Long Island Iced Tea”, using sweet potato, wheat, rice SG shochu, roasted tea, cola syrup), etc., each of them is a good choice. (an adaptation of the classic cocktail “Long Island Iced Tea,” made with three types of SG shochu (sweet potato, wheat, rice), roasted tea, and cola syrup), etc., each of which has a unique flavor and distinct personality.
Noodles with Sea Urchin and Beef Bone Marrow
There's also a hidden menu that has to be mentioned. If you order the sea urchin and beef bone marrow noodle dish at the restaurant, you can choose to bite into the empty shell of the beef bone and have the clerk pour a bullet-shaped glass of SG shochu along with it after eating the bone marrow. This special way of drinking is amazing, as the shochu cuts through the warm beef bone and brings in the aroma of the oil from the beef bone marrow, making it taste a bit like the “oil wash” in mixology, smooth and delicious. You might want to ask your friends to take a picture of you drinking with the beef bone in your hand!
SG LOW (ゑすじろ)
Address: NC Building 2F, 1-9-4 Kannan, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Business hours: 17:00-23:00 (open all year round)
Reference cost per person: from 5,000 yen
(Reservations are recommended on the store's FB page)
🤗 02 Zero Waste SDGs Coffee Shop “æ”
Japan has always been full of boutique coffee shops on street corners, ranging from those that emphasize the origin of their beans, to those that focus on in-house roasting, to those that serve daytime coffee and nighttime cocktails. But I think æ (pronounced ash) is the only place in Tokyo where you can get a high-caliber coffee cocktail during the day with zero waste.
æ is also planned by Shingo Gohan and will open on May 30, 2022, Japan's Garbage Free Day (ごみゼロの日). The name of the store, æ, means “ash” or “ashes,” which means “use all the ashes” (灰まで使い切る).
Therefore, there are no paper cups, no plastic cups, no straws, no physical menus, and not even a receipt (if you want one, it will be sent via e-mail). The coffee grounds are transported to a farm on the Miura Peninsula, where they are used as fertilizer, and the vegetables that are grown are then purchased by SG GROUP for use as ingredients in various stores.
The coffee grounds are also used to make the base for the store's signature cocktail, the Coffee Martini.
Mexican Curry Negroni
Not only at æ, but also at its sister stores, where the leftovers from the making of flavored cocktails are used in æ's cocktails. For example, in one of SG CLUB's signature cocktails, Tomato Tree, the leftover tomato residue from clarifying the tomato liquid is used to make æ's Mexican Curry Negroni, which is not only a fun idea, but also a flavor that's worth trying.
Because it is a “zero-waste” specialty store, the store does not provide takeaway cups, so if you want to take away, you can buy the store's mugs or to-go cups, which are said to be made of recycled materials. However, according to the clerk, you can bring in your lunch bowl and even make a flower arrangement.
In keeping with the concept of eco-friendliness and sustainability, the staff's uniforms are also made from recycled materials and washi paper. On the back of the shirts is the phrase “Fuck Waste”, which means no to waste. Together with the white letters, it reads “Fucking Wasted,” a word that also means “drunk. However, the cocktails at æ are relatively low in alcohol, so it's not easy to get drunk.
coffee martini
æ(アッシュ)
Store Address: 1F Kawamura Building, 1-5-2 Kannan, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Business Hours: 10:00～23:00 (Closed on Tuesdays)
Reference per capita spending: from 600 yen
Note: The store only supports cashless payment
SDGs: Abbreviation for United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Moderate drinking, happy microbrewing, and what's not to love about letting loose with a frothy coffee martini on a drizzly afternoon?
- Author:japan guides
- URL:https://japan-guides.com/article/diet-47
- Copyright:All articles in this website, except for special statements, adopt BY-NC-SA agreement. Please indicate the source!