It’s been a long time since we had anywhere in Ota-ku on here. The previous place I visited in the ward has long since closed. Perhaps it’s a ward of Tokyo that sometimes gets slightly overlooked, even though it might be the Tokyo ward in which many people first set foot in (it has Haneda airport within its boundaries). Stoop is perhaps slightly easier to get to than you might think it is. Particularly if you ever spend any time on the Toyoko line, which I do. Unoki station is a couple of stops south of Tamagawa on the Tamagawa line and the bar is very close to the it. Here’s what you need to know about it:
- Pretty small standing bar with maybe space for about 8 people. Lots of cat paraphernalia around, reflecting the logo of the bar. The cat in the framed photograph actually has no connection to the bar though. And I’m not sure what the replica cat’s tail that is plugged into the socket on the wall is for. Had a real local feel to it and there was continuous chatting going on between the customers and the master. There are some snacks available to have with your beer if you choose, but they are only small dishes so don’t turn up hungry.
- Five taps, but one of them was a macro, (but at least it was Edel Pils I suppose). The rest are Japanese craft. Beers served in two sizes, S (200ml) and M (380ml) and are priced from ¥680-¥700 for the S and ¥1200-¥1230 for the M. There is also a small selection of imported cans (maybe two or three) which seem to change as they sell out. I didn’t see the prices for them I’m afraid. You pay as you go here, so have your money (or your PayPay app) ready when you place your order.
- No cover charge, no smoking and a little bit of daytime opening. I didn’t notice WiFI.
This was a fun place to visit, the atmosphere was very welcoming and it was a new station for me to get off the train at. The prices look kind of normal but the sizes are a little smaller than the regular US pint & UK half that most places serve, so you should take that into account. But I’m not going to moan about small independent places having slightly higher prices. I think prices will really start going up everywhere soon and I imagine that it won’t be uncommon for places to keep their prices the same but change their serving size. Nothing sneaky going on here though as the size in ml is clearly stated on the menu. Admittedly the Tamagawa line isn’t a line that most people use on a regular basis, but the ease of the change from the Toyoko line at Tamagawa, the fact that it is only a few minutes from Tamagawa, and given that bar is very close to the station all mean that it’s not at all difficult to get to. They post their beer list on Facebook so I think we’ll be popping back when we see they have something we particularly want to drink on tap.
Japanese breweries seen on tap:
Blue Magic
Nara
Be Easy
Marca
Opening Hours:
Monday, Wednesday-Friday, 16:00-22:00
Saturday & Sunday, 14:00-22:00
Closed Tuesday
BUT THESE MAY BE CORONA HOURS SO CHECK BEFORE YOU GO
Location/Map:
鵜の木 2-12-1 ナガトハウス 102, Ota-ku, Tokyo
I got here on a Thursday night of my jaunt. I was shopping in Kamata, in the ASUTO shopping street between the Keikyu and JR | Tokyu Kamata stations. For dinner, I hit the ‘Ramen Lotus’ shack south of the Tokyu Kamata station which was surprisingly not crowded at 17:00 hours.
It is a nice little venue. If you are into trains (I am), you can spot the three train sets of the Tokyo Tamagawa Line rolling by just outside. I did not know what beer I ordered as my first selection until somebody else there ordered it and checked it in on Untappd. It was a 5½% pale ale. Each of the beers I had were good. But I can’t go back any farther on Untappd to see what else was ordered this night.
It has wi-fi. There are separate networks for 2.4 GHZ & 5 GHZ devices. My mobile device is a Windows® 8.1 2.4 GHZ laptop. (Compared with Baird’s Nakameguro Taproom which did not have 2.4 GHZ access enabled on Wednesday. Argh.)