It’s taken me a while but I’ve finally made it to the new Mikkeller bar, just over the other side of the Yamanote line from the Dogenzaka branch. Distance wise, it’s not at all far, but when you compare the two neighbourhoods it feels like it could be a lot further. Mikkeller Kiosk/Bar is on the bottom floor of a new hotel, shares its space with a fashionable coffee shop and is close to the big, new(ish) and quite swishy shopping development Miyashita Park. Unlike the first branch there don’t seem to be any love hotels nearby, although with a bit of a Google you could probably find an upmarket one. (Although on reflection an upmarket love hotel is perhaps actually just an upmarket hotel). People who haven’t visited the Tokyo Mikkeller bars might wonder why we need three of them. There are some important differences between them though with the first one being the bar, the Kanda one being the bar and burger place and this one being the bar, bottle shop and coffee place. Here’s what you need to know about this branch.
- The usual fancy decor you’d expect from a Mikkeller bar, but this time round, perhaps because it shares its space with a coffee shop it feels a little different. By the entrance it’s more like a lounge, with some window seats and a few others spread around. There’s also a few seats at the counter, and in the back there’s a more conventional seating area. The coffee and beer parts of the business face each other on either side of the space, but the seating is shared. At the end of the bar there are a couple of fridges of cans and bottles which help to give the bar its name and theme.
- On to the beer. There are the usual Mikkeller Tokyo 20 taps with a mix of Mikkeller beers, imported stuff and domestic craft. Their tap lists for all the bars are listed on Untappd and seem to be updated very regularly. As for prices, it’s what you’d expect if you’ve been to any of the other Tokyo bars. In general about ¥700-¥850 for the smaller size which I believe is 200ml and then what seems to be ‘small size price x 2 -¥50’ for the large size. As mentioned above a couple of times there are bottles and cans which are intended to be for drinking on site or takeaway (but right now on site only until the take away license is approved (not too long apparently).
- Lots of lovely daytime opening. Not as much as the coffee shop but open from lunchtime every day which is great! No cover charge (order and pay at the bar each time rather than running up a tab) and no smoking. I forgot to check for WiFI but I would be absolutely staggered if they didn’t have it.
So that’s about it. This place definitely had a different feel than the other Shibuya branch. I think that one is still my favourite but I’m sure people will like the atmosphere of this place. I don’t know what it gets like at night but when we were there in the late afternoon it was quite relaxed, with probably a fairly even split between people drinking beer and people drinking coffee. Guess it’s another bonus that there’s something for everyone if you have friends who you want to spend time who don’t drink alcohol! For some reason it felt a little bit like I was on holiday when I visited here. Guess I don’t go over to that part of Shibuya very often. And maybe I don’t go to places where there are young people having a nice fashionable time so much. But I think I would probably need to go to a bar in an old folks home if I really wanted to look at the people around me and not feel like they were young and I am old. But this is clearly my problem! When they have the bottle shop up and running I’m sure this will be a very popular stop for beer lovers in Tokyo!
Japanese breweries on tap when I visited:
Hino
West Coast
Yorocco
Baeren
Barbaric
Opening Hours:
Sunday-Thursday, 12:00-00:00
Friday & Saturday, 12:00-00:30
Location/map:
渋谷 1-17-1, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Telephone:
03-3400-9612
I had to check out this new outpost. Scandinavian aesthetic and craft beer equal relaxation. Too sleepy for me, but the 20 taps kept me awake. I went with the Mikkeller Blow Out and Burst. Might end the evening with a pastry stout.
P.S. Might bring my ladies here during the day.