Keisei Koiwa Craft Saketen (or KKCB) was our second stop on our east Tokyo pub crawl. For some reason this place has always held a strange allure for me. I say an allure, but I didn’t really know much about it and had never visited so I guess it was more of an inexplicable urge to visit based on the name of both the shop and the station. (I admit this is a bit weird, but you know, sometimes you just get a feeling). I have to say that the build up was definitely matched by the experience itself. This was a really fun stop and I definitely want to go back again, even if the location isn’t the most convenient for me. It’s a beer bar and beer shop, so will be good for you whether you are looking to drink on site or take away. Here’s what you need to know:
- Very small place, tucked away down an alley with a big variety of small bars and restaurants that looks like it could be a lot of fun on a summer night. One table for two inside and a table for two outside. Other than that there is a wall of fridges and the bar area where I guess maybe you could stand and drink. But… there’s a second floor! We had no idea till someone turned up and asked if it was open. It seems like there’s a table for four up there if Tabelog is to be believed. I could have checked myself, but I feel like it’s more fitting for that to remain a mystery to me and add more intrigue to the strange allure this place has for me.
- Six taps which were all Japanese craft except for one US import. They were served in three sizes, the classic Izakaya style ‘sho’, ‘chu’ and ‘dai’ which are basically small medium and large. We only had the medium so I can’t vouch for the sizes but I’m going to take a stab in the dark and guess from the prices that they were around 200ml, 350ml and 500ml. But this is basically totally pointless guesswork. Prices ranged from ¥500-¥750, ¥750-¥1000 and ¥1100-¥1350 for the three sizes. What we paid for the chu size seemed pretty reasonable I thought. In addition, lots of bottles and cans in the fridges which were a real mix of styles and breweries from a real mix of places. There were plenty of interesting things for me. There was a corkage fee if you want to drink on site (-300ml, ¥200, 301ml-500ml ¥300, 501ml-660ml ¥600 and 661ml- ¥1000). Again the prices seemed pretty good I thought. Lots of other booze on offer too but I concentrated on the beer.
- No smoking, no cover charge, and some daytime opening. Didn’t notice WiFI. Even though the place is pretty small they still manage to serve a range of food which included a really nice looking tart/pizza thing that I was eyeing up through the window as the people outside ate it. A quick note, my picture of the inside makes it look a bit bigger than it is as I used the zoom out function. Good for getting everything in without getting off my backside, but maybe not great for showing reality).
I can’t really explain why I liked this place so much but it was just a lot of fun. As I’ve said above (quite a few times…), it was very small, and if you’d travelled a long way to get here and it was full it would be a real bummer as there’s not much else in the area. But for some reason I find myself already being drawn to go back there. The bottle and can selection was really interesting with a nice range of stuff and I could quite happily have spent longer there. But we were on a mission and moved on to the next stop. Next time I’ll set aside a bit more time!
Japanese breweries seen on tap:
Fujizakura
Uchu
Nomcraft
Coedo
Shiokaze
Opening Hours:
Tuesday-Friday, 18:00-23:00
Saturday & Sunday, 14:00-23:00
Closed Monday
Location/Map:
北小岩 6-15-8, Edogawa-ku, Tokyo
For me, getting to the venue is part of the fun.
The Keisei Koiwa station is a mere two stations further down from Aoto, where a regular number of through-running trains from the Toei Asakusa line terminate. Transferring is easy (across the platform). Going back (up) will find an empty train waiting at Aoto, and trains originating there can run all the way to Misakiguchi.