Our neighbourhood bar

Whooo….I’ve been missing for a bit, haven’t I? August was an insane month so I’m just starting to sit down and think about blogging again. Lots of news, so stay tuned.

Here’s something that makes my neighbourhood feel like home to me. One of the ways to endear yourself to your adopted country is to have a regular joint where the staff know you and call you by name. Feels cosy…

When we were living in the shoebox, we were right around the corner from a hole-in-the-wall jazz bar that you would most likely miss if you were walking down the street. Tucked away in the basement. G’s Bar is a lively nook for jazz die-hards and live music….and great cocktails.

The bartender is a friendly Japanese guy in his 40s and I would say his affable personality and keenness to speak Japanese to a pair of gaijin are the biggest draws for us. He even has a digital dictionary handy if we get stuck mid-convo.

Oh and he has an excellent selection of whiskey if that’s your poison, and all his drinks are made with precision and loving care. I’ve never had a bad cocktail there, ever.

He also always remembers the kangaroo’s fave cocktail at G’s Bar: Bondo martini, shaken, not stirred. I do have one if I’m in the mood for something heavy but I’m very much a grazer at heart so I tend to try something different every time.

What also makes our neighbourhood bar different is that it has live jazz performances every night of the week, except for Sundays when they are closed for business. From 8 to 10pm daily, a different jazz band or singer will rock the tiny place.

When I first landed in Tokyo, I used to go out by myself a lot. I even popped down to G’s Bar after a long day at work. Sometimes I met people who lived in the same neighbourhood and sometimes it was just the two bartenders and me having a laugh over shouchu.

I stopped going there solo because I got the feeling it was weird for me to go alone as a woman. I felt shy when the bartenders asked me if I was lonely for the kangaroo and if I would find another boyfriend. We eventually moved out of the shoebox so it’s a bit of a hike from our present place. And my friends don’t really hang out in my hood anyway, so I only patronize it when the kangaroo is around.

Why is it called G’s Bar? Well, it was coined Guys’ Bar but they got teased for being a gay bar, so they changed it to a more innocuous moniker, G’s Bar.

2-15-13 Akasaka, B1, Minato-ku, Tokyo (map)
Tel: 03-6303-2363
Opening hours: 1700 – 0400

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