30 June 2023

I like to drink and eat my way around a city, so after landing in Haneda Airport (and a quick jetlag nap) we headed straight to SG Club, rated the best cocktail bar in Tokyo – and it’s cocktails certainly woke us up. You start off upstairs, and then are moved to the cosy, sexy downstairs bar, where the mixologists talk you through the ingredients in the same way a waiter at a Michelin star restaurant would talk to you about the menu. It included ingredients such as Japanese wax, soba noodles, kobe beef and wasabi, and we settled on some tamer options at first, like a miso infused apple pie martini – absolutely delicious, and a short drink that tasted like an espresso martini and a negroni – smooth, bitter, but so sippable. After more cocktails, and a bigger bill than originally planned we walked through the streets of Shibuya to Gyukatsu Motomura, one of the best meals of my life. You do need to queue for a while, but your order is taken while you wait, and especially for our first night we seized the opportunity to people watch. We grabbed a drink and a slice of fried chicken from a nearby 7/11 to soak up the cocktails while we waited. We were lucky enough to get a counter seat and got to watch the chefs cook steaks in the lightest tempura batter, served with all sorts of dips, rice and salads. You are then served the beef sliced, and are able to cook it to your preference on a small hot stone at your table. All washed down with light Japanese beer, with a total bill of around £25 for 2. I was quite surprised we were still awake at this point, having had a wedding weekend followed by a 13 hour flight, so we hopped on the metro back to lively Shinjuku, stepping past the karaoke bars and sushi spots to Hotel Gracery, getting in some much needed sleep before a few more days of exploring (and eating).