The Ginza Counter That Stopped Taking Reservations in 2015
Hidetsugu Ueno's basement counter was No. 3 on the World's 50 Best Bars in 2013, and it takes no bookings. Call from the street and hope for a seat.
The room is small enough that the sound of ice being cut carries the whole length of the counter. Hidetsugu Ueno opened Bar High Five in 2008 after leaving Star Bar under Hisashi Kishi, and the format has been consistent since: a basement counter in the Efflore Ginza5 Building, a short list of house specials and Japanese old classics, and a bartender who watches what you drink before deciding what to make next. Kaori Kurakami has been head bartender since June 2010, which is the sort of tenure the top Ginza counters run on.
The bar stopped taking reservations in May 2015. The only phone call it accepts is the one you make from the street before you come down, to ask whether there is a seat. It was No. 3 on the World's 50 Best Bars in 2013, and it stopped taking bookings two years later — a bar at that height choosing to run on walk-ins is the argument the whole room is making.
A counter that stopped taking bookings in 2015 and has run on walk-ins ever since.
Editorial Deep
The White Lady is the drink to open with. Ueno's version is what people fly for, and asking for it plainly is the correct move — no elaboration, no story. Order it second and you have missed the point of sitting down.
A basement counter in Ginza with no street theatre and no signage doing any work for it. Non-smoking throughout, which matters more than it sounds — the fruit cocktails and the sherry-based classics are drinks that a smoking room used to bury. Lighting is low and the counter is the whole event; there is no lounge to retreat to and no photograph to take.
Bartenders on their nights off, Ginza regulars who have been coming for a decade, and a steady rotation of visitors who did the reading. Voices stay low — this is a room where the loudest sound is a Japanese hard shake, and a table that forgets that gets read quickly. Solo drinkers are the default and the counter is built for them. If you want a room that scales up to a group of six talking over each other, this is not it, and the door will make that clear before the drinks do.
The bar publishes no prices on its own site, and you are expected to be comfortable with that before you sit down. Japanese prices include tax by law, and the site states no service or cover charge. Cards are accepted (JCB, AMEX, Diners) along with d Barai; electronic money is not. For the tier — a Ginza counter that was No. 3 on the World's 50 Best Bars in 2013 — the tab is defensible, but a reader who needs a printed price before they order should drink somewhere else.
This is the best version of the Ginza cocktail counter, which is a narrow category with a very high ceiling, and it is the room to build an evening around rather than the one to end on. Come early and give the bartender three drinks to work with. Come back for the seasonal fruit list when it turns over. Do not come as a group, do not come at 11:45 hoping to slip in before last entry at midnight, and do not come on a Sunday or a national holiday, when it does not open.
Order this
Drink this.
White Lady; then let the bartender build the sequence
“Go for the White Lady and the ice work. Call from the street; do not try to book.”
One of the Ginza counters that defines what the format is for. Order the White Lady, then hand the sequence to the bartender. Come solo or as a pair on a weekday evening, sit at the counter, keep your voice down, and expect no printed prices. Skip if you need to book, need a group table, or need to see a number before you order.
The Verdict
