Little Sake Square

Just a stone's throw away from JR Kinshicho Station, Little Sake Square may turn out to be your new favorite dinner hangout in Tokyo. A wall stacked with glass-door refrigerators brimming with colorful sake bottles is the main attraction in this sake bar with seating for 50. Little Sake Square prides itself on a continually updated selection of excellent sakes from all over the country, and more importantly, on offering those sakes to customers in a friendly, worry-free environment.

Starting at 3,240 JPY for all-you-can-drink deal on 80 different sakes and going up to 5,500 JPY if you want to add all-you-can eat food on a weekly changing menu featuring sushi, meat and occasionally other special seasonal dishes, Little Sake Square is probably one of the best deals in town for sake lovers. Just check their event calendar (in Japanese) to see the menu schedule. Advance reservations are recommended but you can often find a seat on weekday evenings and on weekends if you're lucky.

Pass through the turnstiles of the North Exit of JR Kinshicho Station and head straight for one minute and cross the main avenue.

Little Sake Square is on the third floor of the East Building.

A simple and worry-free system

When you step through the door, the friendly staff will welcome you in. They're quite used to foreign customers and are patient too. Sakes are all self-serve. You're also free to bring in any outside food or drink you want, and if you arrive early (from 5:30pm on weekdays), you can enjoy the all-you-can-drink (and eat, if you're on the sake + food plan) for hours on end so there's no pressure to drink or eat quickly. Just remember that food stops at 9 pm and drinks at 10 pm.

Meat Lovers' Delight: Slow-Cooked Meats and Meat Sushi

Although they started out with all-you-can-eat sushi, Little Sake Square has gradually broadened their all-you-can-eat food menu to incorporate seasonal dishes and, most recently, slow-cooked meat. This was the menu when we visited. On weekdays, paired with all-you-can-drink sake, it's 5,000 JPY, and on weekends, 5,500 JPY.

Succulent roast beef

Slow-cooked pork and peppered chicken (not pictured: meatballs), and side dishes like sliced burdock root and carrot salad.

They also serve the currently trending niku sushi (meat sushi) with a choice of grilled beef tongue, grilled beef with sea urchin topping, uncured ham, and horse meat

So many sakes to choose from

After sampling the tasty slow-cooked meats, we were ready for some sake, so we looked through the numbered sake list (the friendly staff can help you out if you can't read Japanese).

The list is divided into types: seasonally limited sakes, light and sweet sakes, yamahai and unusual sakes, rich and umami-laden sakes, dry sakes and umeshu and other fruit-based wines. If you're not sure, you can't go wrong choosing a starred sake, meaning the shop owner's recommendation. (Note: the sakes change regularly, but the organization of the list is the same)

Self-serve sake

Drinking sake at Little Sake Square is a simple as could be. You just take any sake bottle you want from the fridge, set it on the counter with your sake cup, remove the corked cap, pour your sake, return the bottle to the fridge shelf where you found it and bring your filled sake cup back to your table. Drink, enjoy, and repeat!

We started out with one of the recommended sakes on the list, Naminori Kurumazaka, a yamahai sake from Wakayama Prefecture. Unpasteurized and undiluted, it packs a punch at nearly 20% but is loaded with umami, vivacious but smooth and easy to drink.

We then switched to dry sakes, with Karakuchi Kiddo Tokubetsu Junmai from Heiwa Brewery in Wakayama Prefecture (left) and Kurikomayama Tokubetsu Junmai Summer Edition from Chida Brewery in Miyagi Prefecture (right)

Kanenaka Kimoto Junmai from Nakajimaya Brewery in Yamaguchi Prefecture (left) and Amabuki Ultradry Hiya Garden from Amabuki Brewery in Saga Prefecture (right).

The impressively named Chodokyu Kihaku no Karakuchi (Super-dreadnought class vigorous karakuchi) Kariho from Akita Seishu Brewery in Akita Prefecture (left) and Kiyoizumi "Kame no O" (Turtle King) Junmai Ginjo by Kusumi Brewery in Niigata Prefecture (right).

Notable Sakes

These two bottles stood out, not only for their contents but also for their unusual labels.

We loved the retro-looking robot on this sake's label, Osakazuki "Oke Rokujunanago" (Barrel No. 67) Junmai Genshu from Makino Brewery in Gunma Prefecture, apparently a limited edition label for the first half of 2018. Smooth and fruity with a clean after-taste, it was a good choice for the bottle's contents as well as its label!

The rainbow-colored bug decorating this sake bottle is a kabutomushi, a Japanese rhinoceros beetle, hence the name of this sake, Kabutomushi from Senkin Brewery in Tochigi Prefecture. Sweet and fruity with notes of grapefruit or orange, you could easily mistake this sake for white wine at first, but a distinctive sake flavor comes through in the end. A surprising and refreshing sake.

Premium Sakes

You receive one ticket good for a cup of premium sake, and then you can order more at a cost of 200 JPY per cup or 300 JPY for super premium sake.

Naturally, they keep the premium bottles in a separate refrigerator.

There's a list for premium sakes as well.

We overheard the shop owner recommending something called Number Six while pointing to the premium sake fridge, so we thought we could try the same.

This was No. 6, R-Type from Aramasa Brewery in Akita Prefecture. Hands down our favorite sake of the evening. Not cloyingly fruity or sweet the way some sakes can be, it started out dry but then gained complexity, very slightly carbonated, with muscat notes that bloom. It was almost like a Riesling wine. Wonderful dry finish. Apparently, Aramasa's No. 6 is riding a wave of popularity and the R-Type is difficult to find, but if you can, you should give it a try.

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Little Sake Square Information

• Name: Little Sake Square
• Address: 3F East Bldg., 3-3-9 Kinshicho, Sumida-ku, Tokyo 東京都墨田区錦糸3-3-9イーストビル3F
• Hours: 17:30-23:00 every day plus 11:30-16:30 on weekends and holidays
• Access: 1 minute from Kinshicho Station (JR Sobu Line), 3 minutes from Kinshicho Station (Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line)
• Website: Little Sake Square
• Information on weekly menu (event) changes and other special events
• Facebook Page