I’ve been meaning to visit Senne for a while but was slightly nervous due to it looking like a kind of classy food focused place. People who know me will know that I don’t fit into either of those categories. Senne is run by the people who were behind Dig The Line Doors (which was in Harajuku till it closed) and various other places including the Another 8 bars that you can read about here. Dig The Line Doors was a bar and bottle shop, but the concept is quite different here. Here’s what you need to know:
- Bare concrete with a large rectangular counter, some small tables and a long concrete bench seat near the window. The feeling is definitely one of a classy dining establishment with the kitchen on view and not much sign of beers.
- No taps. The concept here is mainly drinking glasses from big bottles. The selection seemed to be well curated with lots of the kind of things that I like, (saisons, sours). The beers were a mix of imported and domestic stuff, probably slightly weighted in favour of the imports. It’s a bit difficult to say though as they didn’t seem to have a menu. They have a big bucket, (there’s probably a more technical and nice sounding word for this kind of thing, but you get the idea), of large bottles on the counter and they ask you what kind of thing you’re interested in and make suggestions. When we were there they had seven bottles open to drink by the glass and also some cans they brought out from the fridge. The first beer we drank led to other things being suggested so clearly there are plenty of options available. When it comes to prices… I have no idea. We were a bit worried as we expected that one beer we chose would be quite expensive. However in the end, we had five glasses of very interesting and nice beer for just over ¥5000 which seemed quite reasonable. Not sure about the size of the pours, but then again this is not the kind of place you should go if you have a raging thirst for lots of pints. It more of a sip and savour place.
- In addition to the beer, they had a selection of wine presented in the same way. I would also say in addition they had food, but that is probably putting the emphasis the wrong way round as the food seems to definitely be a big part of the experience. As a vegetarian, any kind of restaurant situation in Japan is probably not going to work out for me, so we just stuck to the booze and that was ok with them. They did have some reservations when we went there though, so bear that in mind if you want to just go there on a whim and drink. Oh, and they have daytime opening every day, WiFi and no cover charge.
When we arrived at Senne, I was a bit worried I might be about to get myself in some financial trouble. And to be honest this feeling continued till we got the bill. I find the fact that I don’t know how much things cost a little unsettling, but maybe this is just me, or someone who is in the same financial position as me. (Hey everyone, beer is getting a lot more expensive and my wages haven’t gone up. I won’t be able to go to all the new places if I don’t have any money. There’s a donation button on the right or you can go to this link 😉). But I should add that we didn’t ask how much things were, so presumably if you ask, you’ll find out. In spite of my financial uncertainty, I did really enjoy myself here. It’s the kind of place I can see myself going for a treat from time to time. I had a quick look at their Instagram and it seems like they have a lot of bottles in the cellar and they suggest buying by the bottle and sharing between the members of your group. I don’t know if you can go and look at the cellar or if it’s more the case that they’ll tell you what’s down there and get it for you. There didn’t seem to be a bottle list anywhere. Once again, I probably should have asked, shouldn’t I? They open at 3 every day so I think I would probably visit in the afternoon in future as then I wouldn’t feel guilty about occupying a seat that could be taken by someone eating. I’ll definitely go back though, and maybe next time I’ll be able to clarify a few of these unknown points a bit. If I do, I’ll update this post.
Japanese breweries in bottles or cans:
Passific
Yorocco
West Coast
Field Ales
Opening Hours:
Daily, 15:00-23:30
Location/map:
幡ヶ谷 2-47-1, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Telephone:
03-6300-7444