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CHEERS
Find the Fun
Pop-up cocktail experience transforms hidden bar
It’s a pop-up worth popping into. That is, if you can fi nd it! Located in Famous Foods Street Eats, look for the Fuhu Cha Chaan Teng stall. You’ll notice a few tables for eating and shelved walls with merchandise. Behind one of those walls is the popular speakeasy Here Kitty Kitty Vice Den, and once 4:30 p.m. rolls around, you might be one of the lucky ones to gain access. Now the speakeasy gets even better as it’s hosting the pop-up cocktail experience Tokyo Vice Den through October. The pop-up will highlight award-winning Japanese spirits brand House of Suntory, with a selection of new specialty cocktails and a change in décor that celebrates Japanese culture.
Founded in 1899, House of Suntory is Japan’s fi rst and oldest malt distillery, and over the years they’ve crafted a pure Japanese single-malt whiskey; more recently, they’ve expanded their brand to include gin and vodka.
Specially crafted cocktails for the pop-up use Suntory’s di erent spirits beginning with the whiskey. Hambei and The Plum Tree is a mix of Suntory Toki Whisky, seasonal plum juice, soda water, a pinch of sumac and MSG and lemon peel and a garnish of pink blossom fl ower. The Momotaro uses Suntory Haku vodka with Maraschino liqueur, peach soju, lemon and white peach syrup, and is topped with Calpico (a noncarbonated soft drink with a fl avor like vanilla yogurt), and mixed with gold glitter. Any gin lovers? Order the Naked Plum with Suntory’s Roku gin, honey and ume topped with soda, or try the Foreign Apple with Suntory’s apple-infused Roku gin, Lillet Blanc, a French white-wine aperitif and Suze French aperitif.
The speakeasy is quite intimate, with only a handful of bar-top seating and several sofas and tables for larger groups. The brick walls, weathered wood ceiling, hanging paper lanterns, Japanese-inspired knickknacks and soft red hue that envelops the room will make guests feel as if they’ve been whisked away to the hipster, secret spots of Tokyo nightlife. –Kiko Miyasato
