Kaeru Cafe

Today, a place that once again has something fairly unique to offer. I have no problem at all with there being lots of new and fairly similar bars around now. The more choice the better. But Kaeru Cafe is a bit different and because of this, I feel it’s worthy of a mention on here. This may not be the place for everyone, but we certainly liked it and will definitely be coming back.
To begin with, I should say that Kaeru Cafe is not solely a beer place, they also specialise in tea from all over Japan. The company that runs the place is a film production company and whilst they traveled round Japan making films, they encountered a lot of local breweries and (I guess) tea places. Hence, they have a large selection of bottles from small breweries all over Japan. In fact, beer wise, they only have bottles. Many of these breweries I had never heard of, but there were some more familiar names mixed in with the very local ones. The selection varies as the stock is always changing, but if you are a ticker, I’m pretty sure you’ll always find something new here. Larger breweries that were present included Daisen, Beer Herun, Minamishinshu, Swan Lake and Nasu Kogen. Given that some of these are not large at all, you can see how obscure some of the other ones are. When we visited there were over 30 different bottles from 14 different breweries. Prices varied from ¥700-¥1000. The prices seem ok to me, given how much you can pay for small breweries beers in shops in Tokyo. It’s difficult to compare them to other bars, as most places don’t stock Japanese Craft beer in bottles. It is definitely offering something that other places don’t. They have a beer list on their website and although I’m not sure how often this is updated, it’s a good guide for you to see what kind of things they offer
The place itself is split over a couple of levels. The ground floor section is pretty small, and you could mistake it for the entrance. Upstairs there is a bit more space. All in all, there’s probably seating for around 15. It’s difficult to say though as they had an event on when we visited. I’ll update when we go back. It’s definitely a nice spot to drink a few beers though. The staff were very friendly, as were the other customers sitting near us. I guess it is a place that has regulars. One slight problem for non Japanese speakers is that the menu is all in Japanese, so beware unless you want to point at the pictures on the map they have painted on the wall. Also, they don’t actually serve food here. This is a cafe purely for drinking beer and tea.
We really liked Kaeru Cafe. The atmosphere was good, they had beers that I had never seen or even was aware of. Don’t come here expecting to find multiple taps, food or all the usual names you would expect in a Ji-Biru bar. Do come here if you want something a little different, have an interest in films or just want to drink somewhere with a really nice atmosphere. Think that just about sums it up!

Japanese breweries’ bottles available when I visited:
Daisen
Minamishinshu
Beer Herun
Swan Lake
Nasu Kogen
(and many other less well know ones)

Opening Hours:
Monday-Saturday, 17:00-22:00
Closed Sunday

Location/map:
2-15-15 神宮前, Shibuya-ku, Toyko

Directions:
From Kitasando station, leave via exit 2. Turn left and when the road splits after about 50m take the left fork. Follow this road for around 300m until you meet a main road. Turn left here, and then right at the next set of traffic lights. Go straight down this road and Kaeru Cafe is on the right hand side, just after the 3rd street on the right. Bit confusing, so please check the map.

 

Telephone:
03-5771-5866
 
Links:
Website
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