Bacchus: Nihonbashi

0 | January 5th, 2009 | Posted in Beer Pub, Japanese

It was a last-minute reservation. I knew that in December you should make dinner reservations weeks in advance, but I was stupid enough to not do it until two days before our dinner. I googled for good looking restaurants, but they were all booked out. In the end I started calling ALL the restaurants one by one.

Despite the unfortunate selection method, Bacchus did look promising. The review said they have “good selection of Japanese craft beers”. I don’t know about “Japanese craft beers”, but I’m a fan of craft beers, microbreweries  in general.

The location is excellent, the restaurant is very easy to find, a short walk from Tokyo station Yaesu north.

They have an unusual system that you pay after every order. We asked them to keep a tab for us but they said no, arguing that they won’t be able to keep track of customers. However, later we could move to a table next to the counter, where they do allow to keep a tab and pay in the end. By the way the tables are tall, with tall stools, so not very comfortable.

They have a top 3 of craft beers, all on tap. I tried those and a few others, they were excellent, true to what I normally expect from craft beers. The food was quite ok, my company liked it more than I did, which is good. Overall, I can definitely recommend this place top stop by for a drink or too.

Homepage: http://www.bento.com/rev/2796.html
Phone: 03 - 3231 - 4666
Map: http://www.bento.com/gmaps/2796.html
My rating: 4/5

Antwerp Central, Marunouchi

0 | September 5th, 2008 | Posted in Beer Pub, Belgian, Restaurant

Mmmm, this is a funny place. Well, if you have a sense of humor (which is always good anyway). I remember the first time I went there, and my food order was nowhere around after almost one hour waiting, I told my friend “well I guess we won’t be coming back here…”. But then, after another hour passed and we finished that amazing(!!!) lamb, we both agreed that “yeah, we might be coming back afterall…”

In terms of beer, they have Leffe Blonde on tap, my favourite beer ever since I had it there (about two months ago). It goes for 900 yen, I think. They also have Hoegaarden White, which is pretty good of course, true to its fame. Interestingly, Stella Artois (also on tap) is their number one drink, but it didn’t really do anything for me.

The amazing(!!!) lamb + 3 beers + bread (yummy!) will set you back for about 5000 yen, but it’s worth it. On the side of the lamb (and many of their other dishes) they serve a variety of grilled vegetables (green pepper, eggplant, asparagus, beans, carrots, and others), which have a truly amazing taste.

On another occasion I had the chance to try their roasted chicken and grilled fish, which had the same grilled vegies on the side as the lamb, and were likewise quite amazing. We also had the mussels, supposed to be famous but didn’t really do anything for me.

Be warned! The second time we went they made us wait twice as much as the first time. Despite complaining at least 5 times (I’m not exaggerating!), the waiters kept saying the food is coming but it took waaaay too long. They also forgot about some food and drink orders, which was a first experience for me.

To me none of that mattered. The food is amazing, the beer is great, the rest doesn’t really matter in a good company, does it?

Homepage: http://belgianbeercafe.jp/index.html
Phone: 03 - 5228 - 7370
Map: Tokia B1
My rating: 5+/5

Franz Club, Marunouchi (ShinMaruBiru)

0 | September 5th, 2008 | Posted in Beer Pub, German, Restaurant

I didn’t have a good feeling about this place, it stinks of what I call the ShinMaruBiru hype. If you’ve ever been to the ShinMaruBiru, you know what I’m talking about. At 11am it’s packed with middle-aged ladies out for a splurge. Most of the places are ridiculously overpriced for below average experience. I’m not saying that all are like that, but just be cautious.

Anyway, against my better instincts, and despite the unfriendly waiter who didn’t seem to give a flying banana whether we spend our money there or elsewhere, we ventured into Franz Club. Ok, I don’t mean to be too hard on them, the food was fairly decent, but just not quite special at all. We had:

  • Lamb dish - Tasty, but not so special, very expensive
  • Roasted pork dish - Tasty, but not so special, very expensive
  • … and probably one more something small but can’t remember …

The drinks are good. Franz Club is part of the Franziskaner chain, so yeah, you cannot go wrong with the beer. You can safely choose any of them, the more expensive the tastier. They have Franziskaner WeissGold on tap, and you can have it in various sizes ranging from 0.3l to 2l. (I went for 0.5l (for 1200 yen) as I like to try a variety of beers rather than knocking myself out with just one.)

The above menu and 3 beers each cost us about 6k per head, and we were still a bit hungry.

To conclude, if you are dying for Franziskaner beers and happen to be nearby, then sure, you’ll get what you want. If you’re planning something, go for another place (for example any of the other Franziskaner shops). Ok, to be fair, they might have great dishes I haven’t tried. If I’m ever compelled to go back, I will check out their other stuff and update this review. But just beware of the unfriendly snobbish staff.

Homepage: http://www.zato.co.jp/shop/shop04.html
Phone: Not telling you for your own good.
Map: ShinMaruBiru 5F (If you need more details go get a life!)
My rating: 3/5 (It really should be 1/5, but that’s how much I love Franziskaner beer!)

Franziskaner Bar & Grill, Nihonbashi

0 | August 26th, 2008 | Posted in Beer Pub, German, Restaurant, Sports Bar

Team dinners are always fun. Not only they are for free, the food is usually pretty good. But today was no average day. Boss decided that I be in charge of the venue, something I love doing. Armed with my beer bible (beer pubs pull-out guide from Tokyo Metropolis Magazine), I set out on the mission to blow their minds with the best German beers and cuisine.

The timing was perfect, I long had an eye on the Franziskaner chain, and in fact was just about to go any day. I swiftly checked the homepage for the phone number to make a reservation (03 - 6225 - 5485) and the dinner course. Going a la carte was the obvious choice, as the dinner course did not include Eisbein.

My colleagues left it up to me to decide all the menu, it went like this:

  • “Salmon salad” - …Or something like that. It was pretty good, and relatively large.
  • “Smoked ham salad” - …Or something like that. It was average, and relatively small.
  • Assortment of sausages - Pretty good, as expected. The serving was nice size.
  • Assortment of cheese - Compared to the price the serving was suprisingly small. But it tasted really good. (Meaning, I probably wouldn’t order on my own budget…)
  • Ratatouille - Looked weird, but tasted excellent. It was refreshingly cool on the hotter summer evening.
  • Eisbein - Amazing, as expected, worth every penny (uhm, yen) of it.

…And of course, the beers. Ah, those German beers… I can only speak for the ones I had myself. (Btw, I prefer fruity light over bitter dark beers.)

  • Franziskaner WeissGold - On tab, their best.
  • Spaten PremiumBock - On tap, was very bitter for me, but supposed to be one of their best.
  • Franziskaner WeissDunkel - Bottled, good, but still a bit bitter.
  • Franziskaner WeissGold - Bottled, great. (I ordered this by mistake… Must have been drunk already.)
  • Franziskaner Crystal - Bottled, great.

And how much was all this? About 10k yen per head. But what a feast. We all got very full, very satisfied, pretty drunk, and the next day pretty hungover… It was team dinner so no price limit. But if on my own budget, it shouldn’t be too difficult to keep it under 5k and still be very very happy, by drinking less and no Eisbein, and a bit of self-moderation.

Homepage: http://www.zato.co.jp/shop/shop03.html
Phone: 03 - 6225 - 5485
Map: http://www.zato.co.jp/shop/shop03_map.html
Extras: big screen tv
My rating: 5/5

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