Kaiseki-Style Cocktails, and a Sushi Counter You Book Separately
A cocktail room in Oku-Shibuya modelled on an early 20th-century Japanese coffee house, with a menu laid out like kaiseki and a separate sushi omakase counter at the back.
The Yakiniku Bloody is the signature, and it sits on a menu structured like kaiseki, Japan's formal multi-course dining. The list is built to be taken in sequence.
Atsushi Suzuki is the founder. The bar is now independent of the SG Group but still under his stewardship. Behind the main room is a second operation: a sushi omakase counter run by executive chef Ayaka Terai, with its own price and its own booking.
The Bellwood is two evenings, not one: a cocktail bar up front, a small sushi counter behind it, booked separately.
Editorial Deep
The Yakiniku Bloody is built from smoked vodka, wagyu fat, yellow tomato and black garlic, and it is savoury and umami-packed. The drinks are modern despite the retro room, and the twists on classics are witty and prepared with flair.
The room is modelled on an early 20th-century Japanese coffee house, a swanky watering hole whose retro decor frames drinks that are thoroughly modern.
The crowd is a laid-back mix of regulars who work in the area and cocktail fanatics who come for Suzuki's creative drinks. The sushi counter is a smaller, seated audience for Chef Aya's courses, and four seats per session mean few people at a time.
The money here buys two different things. At the bar it buys cocktails and à la carte food, so you spend as much or as little as the evening calls for. At the back counter it buys a set sushi omakase with paired cocktails, so the pairing is part of the course and not an extra. Treat the omakase as the evening's single large spend and the bar as the flexible option. Credit cards and electronic money are accepted.
The bar opens daily from 6pm. At the main bar, begin with the Kome Tonic, move to the Bloody, and add dashi-flavoured olives or other à la carte food as the list unfolds. With the omakase booked, the counter becomes the whole evening: a run of inventive nigiri, each paired with a cocktail, in a four-seat room at the back.
Order this
Drink this.
Yakiniku Bloody: the umami-packed, savoury house cocktail
“Go for the Yakiniku Bloody and the kaiseki-style list; book the sushi omakase separately and early.”
<p>Go for the Yakiniku Bloody and the kaiseki-style list. Book the bar for cocktails and à la carte food. If the sushi omakase is the draw, reserve the four-seat back counter well ahead and call 03-6452-5077. Skip it if you expect to arrive without a booking and be seated at the counter.</p>
The Verdict
