Today, part three of the great Chuo line catch-up-with-places-I-haven’t-visited-that-have-been-open-for-ages pub crawl. I don’t know why, but this place has always kind of intrigued me. I think it might have something to do with the pun in the name, which accurately portrays the fact that the place is both in Kunitachi and in the basement. In adding one of the previous places on this crawl, I noticed that I had been slightly dismissive of Craft Kunita-chika on the digest post entry. Now this is up, that comment has been consigned to the bin, so no need for me to worry about feeling like I’d been a bit mean. It wasn’t really very mean at all, but I do like to try to be positive if I can. Anyway, here’s what you need to know:
- Located in the basement of the Seiyu supermarket, surprisingly close to the Sekiya beer shop which now has a kind of hybrid growler filling / standing bar place. The recently updated post about that place can be read here. You can get in to Kunita-Chika either by taking the lift down to the basement or by going down the stairs in Sekiya and through the shop. Bit bigger than I thought it would be, with a couple of counters for maybe 10-15 in total and quite a few tables too. I really enjoyed the vibes of the ‘Good Beer, Good Time, Good Meet’ which was painted on the wall and I’m not saying that to be sarky about the use of English. It did feel like a place which was somewhere people go to have a nice time.
- Seven taps of Japanese craft with an emphasis on local stuff, although a couple of Niigata brewed beers crept in. The wall decorations also feature a Tokyo brewery map and I think that’s the general concept here with around half of the taps being beers brewed in west Tokyo. Beers served in two sizes S (250ml) and M (450ml). Prices ranged from ¥680-¥908 for the S and ¥998-¥1489 for the M. They also had a beer flight of whatever three beers you fancy for ¥1780. Not sure what the sizes are though.
- Lots of food available. Google describes this place as an Izakaya and I can kind of see why as it’s definitely an eating and drinking place. Although saying that, I’m sure it’s fine to just go and drink if you want. I had a really nice dish of cold vinegar tomatoes. Guess that doesn’t sound as nice when you write it in English, but I’ve been thinking about recreating it since I ate the last forkful. Very nice! Couldn’t find WiFi. They only have daytime opening on Sunday, (which probably makes Saturday feel a little sad). There was no cover charge!
I have to say the tomatoes made it for me here. The beer selection might not be the best for everyone. I like the fact that they focus somewhat on local breweries, but at the same time, some of those breweries are ones that I tend to avoid on taplists in other bars… At the top end, the prices aren’t the cheapest either. But I should stress that the staff were really nice and I had a nice time here. Sometimes the cheapest places with the most taps aren’t the most fun. Sometimes they are, but there’s definitely a place for bars like this which have a nice local feel. Not sure when I might go back. But if/when they reopen the Rare records shop in Kunitachi, or when I’m passing, I’ll probably pop in for a quick beer and some more tomatoes.
Japanese breweries on tap when I visited:
Coedo
Heisei
Ishikawa
Distant Shores
Kunitachi
Opening Hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday 17:30-23:00
Sunday, 15:00-22:00
Closed Wednesday
Location/map:
中 1-9-30, Kunitachi-shi, Tokyo
Telephone:
04-2843-0607