Lost in Libation

Tokyo's bar culture is thriving and coming up with imaginative alcohol-free cocktails. On a crawl of the city's watering holes, Adam Erace samples the best of both worlds.

- Adam Erace

THE TAXI DROPPED ME a short walk from AC House (tasting menu $83), a new Tokyo restaurant tucked in the origami folds of a residential neighborhood near the Aoyama Cemetery. The location was appropriate, since I felt like another drink would probably kill me.

A space capsule of smooth white curves, AC House's first floor is dominated by a swooping 10-seat counter and an open kitchen where chef Atsuki Kuroda chars turnips on the robata grill and studs squid blini with gingko nuts. The open second story of this former residence has been preserved down to the last knotty timber plank. Anchored in Japanese ingredients and influenced by Italy and Scandinavia, the cooking is similarly layered, and I wanted to be excited about it. But the idea of 10 courses, each one paired with wine, dampened my enthusiasm like a bucket of cold water. Actually, I would have preferred a bucket of cold water.

"Could I switch to the nonalcoholic pairing?" I asked my server, Haruna Sugiyama. She explained that the nonalcoholic option needed to be ordered in advance. Her smile was sympathetic, but I knew she was thinking, What, you expect us to conjure a roster of compelling zero-proof drinks on the fly? 

Except that's exactly what happened, beginning with a glass of effervescent liquid far too fuchsia to be wine. "Amazake," she told me, a cloudy, subtly sweet beverage made with koji-cultured rice. The purple was from shiso syrup, she continued, and that was diced pickled orange peel gathering at the bottom of the goblet like cubic boba. Pinprick bubbles raced to the surface. A single large ice cube clonked against the delicate glass, and suddenly, I was thirsty.