May 25, 2015
When we mentioned to Mr. Akio Watanabe, owner of Bar EST! in Tokyo that we were heading to Niigata, he recommended that we visit Bar Owl. It was one of those things that we told him we would do but Yoko and I didn’t actually think we would actually make it there — Niigata prefecture is […]
May 22, 2015
*Yoko is in China for 10 days! And with no access to Facebook or Instagram, she is sending us photos the old school way — via postcards. We’ll be featuring these snapshots from Yoko in Chengdu and Shanghai all week here on the blog. Enjoy! – Kayoko I followed Washi into Shanghai’s Japanese-US pre-prohibition style […]
May 7, 2015
The name Caesarean derives from all things related to Caesar, the Roman general whose actions led to the rise of the Roman Empire. It does not derive from the caesarean section, which might have been more fitting, given that entering the bar felt like entering an altered womb-reality à la David Lynch. To go into […]
April 2, 2015
Looking back on our trip to Japan in February, the most memorable cocktail was at Bar EST!. A short distance from the Yushima train station in Tokyo, EST! is a dark, tavernous space filled with men drinking a scotch on the rocks and smoking cigarettes. At the helm is Akio Watanabe, “master” aka owner of Bar […]
November 10, 2014
We met the gracious Masako Ikegami in 2010, before we opened our shop in Oakland, at the Tokyo-SF Bartender Salon we helped host at Prizefighter. A few bartenders from Japan who had won the coveted Suntory Cocktail Award, presented cocktails and exchanged tricks of the trade with the Bay Area’s elite bartending community. It was […]
April 11, 2014
Male bartenders in Japan are full of themselves. There, I said it. From the few “star” bars we visited during our trip to Tokyo, I felt miffed by the arrogance and general unfriendliness of the bartenders. What is up with that? Where is the hospitality? People say that you have to keep going to these […]
March 14, 2013
The art of perfection is everywhere in Japan. In its laquerware, electronics and especially in its food. Dessert Le Comptoir in Fukasawa, Tokyo is an example of food perfection. A 10 minute bus-ride from Jiyugaoka, it’s a bit of a challenge to make it out here if you are not given specific directions, but when […]
March 1, 2013
*We asked our friend, Mr. Tomokazu Kai of Heuga Bar in Gifu City, “What types of towels and products do you use to clean your bar?” Mr. Kai, ever the thorough and serious bar professional, responded with this eloquent statement. Thanks Kai-san! Written by TOMOKAZU KAI Translated by YOKO KUMANO For cleaning the bar, I […]
October 3, 2012
A new cocktail bar opened in Copenhagen in the spring of 2012. The creation of the bar had been in the making for years. The owner is a friend of mine, who is an impressively ambitious and creative entrepeneur building bars around town with finesse and style. As soon as he mentioned the theme of […]
March 21, 2012
On Sunday 3/11, the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami in Northern Japan, Yoko and I helped organize a cross-cultural exchange between bartenders from Japan and San Francisco. Held at Prizefighter Bar in Emeryville, it was an intimate gathering of old friends, and new. Tomokazu Kai (Heuga Bar) and Masako Ikegami (Bar Shake) had won […]