THIS PLACE IS NOW CLOSED
This is part one on Nishiogikubo and a couple of places I visited last week. Thanks to Iain OBRF for showing me round. If you like records, you should check out his site here. Both have opened fairly recently so it seems that the trend for numerous new places continues. It’s nice to see them opening in a new area though. Particularly nice if you live in Nishiogikubo I guess. Part 2 is here.
The latest in the Beer Kobo chain, which is fast becoming a Chuo line beer monster as it spreads further, both ways from its initial home in Koenji. As usual, these places are fairly similar (guess that’s the point of a chain, isn’t it? Corporate identity or some such stuff). I will direct to my other posts on these pubs in Koenji, Asagaya, Ogikubo and Nakano to give you the lowdown on those and some general information on the places. A quick recap though for those of you who don’t want to click on that link. These are friendly, local places, with lots of wood, making beers on site and selling them for very reasonable prices. Naturally the beer quality varies from branch to branch, beer to beer and batch to batch, so you never quite know what you are going to get. In general however, they are nice enough beers and a worthy endeavour I think. Nishiogi’s main differences from the others is that it’s a bit bigger and seems a bit more family orientated. When we visited early on a Friday evening the place wasn’t heaving, but it was chugging along nicely, but apparently it gets rammed at the weekends, so best to book or turn up early.
They have five of their beers on (Pale, Blond, Wheat Strong, White and Coffee) and they are available in two sizes, 435ml and 235ml. Think these sizes are a little different from the other branches and probably conform more to the sizes you might get in other bars. (I seem to remember the other branches serving in larger Jokki sizes only, but I’m not sure if these new sizes at Nishiogi are just for this branch or will affect the whole chain. I think it would probably be a good idea if they did roll them out all over). The prices are consistent with the rest of the branches and go from ¥410-¥690 for the larger size and ¥290-¥480 for the smaller one.
If you haven’t been to one of these brewpubs, I’d say that you probably should give them a try. Certainly they are not for everyone, but I always have a good time in their places. I think Koenji is still my favourite, but it helps that it is a bit closer to my house and an area I find myself in a bit more often.
Japanese breweries on tap when I visited:
Nishiogi (of course!)
Opening Hours:
17.00 – 23.00 Monday-Friday
11.00 – 23.00 Saturday
11:00 – 21:00 Sunday & Holidays
Location/map
西荻北 3-25-1, Suginami, Tokyo 167-0042
Telephone:
03-3395-6550
Links:
Website
Ratebeer listing
I totally agree with your feelings about the otoshi charge—if I want to just pop in somewhere and have just one beer, if there's an otoshi, I'm loathe to do it, which is the reason why I've only been to Project once, despite living in Nishi Ogi. I understand why places do it, and certainly don't resent the places that do, but I wonder if there's a good way to ask a place like Project to waive the charge in a way that won't make me look like a total asshole. I can't imagine too many Japanese customers asking, and I wonder if they'd be better served just waiving it altogether since they say they will if asked…
Thanks for the info!
Firstly, I think I should say, big credit to Project for saying they are happy for people to just drink without the charge. But I quite agree, it's difficult to say that you don't want to have otoshi without sounding bad. Guess there is no easy way round it though.
I am not keen on paying a cover charge either.
But I am also not keen on pub crawls.
I prefer to pick one pub, and drink my way through its tap list. (Lower abv to higher abv.)
I endorse the idea of rebating the cover charge when you order your third beer from the venue.
Just a note to let everyone know that this Beer Kobo in Nishiogi has closed down and been replaced by a hipster coffee shop.