A note on the words: a Pegu Club is a classic gin-based cocktail that here combines gin, an orange liqueur, and lime for a crisp, citrus-forward drink with the aroma of peeled orange skin and a lightly bitter finish. SPICY TAN RANA is a red spicy cocktail from this bar’s menu that layers a cinnamon-like sweetness and the sweet-sourness of ume (Japanese plum) with a gentle chili warmth and a tangy touch of Tabasco, while Kahlua milk is a mix of coffee liqueur and milk that the bartender made off-menu on request.
Table of Contents hide
Bar Leaf on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
To all you drinkers out there, thank you for waiting! It is time for Hangover Meshi!
Wandering around looking for a second stop. One block behind Kagurazaka-dori, the main street, on Oguri-dori, there is a bar with a glass door. Thinking, well, let’s just try it?, the place we stepped into was “Bar Leaf.” It opened in 2020 and runs from 2 p.m. to 1 a.m.!
It was still a bit early, so we had the place to ourselves, as if we had booked it out.
You can access the menu via a QR code, and you place your order with the bartender.
Now then, to start, a spicy cocktail from the menu!
Mmm, what a lovely red color!
Take a sip, and it is delicious!! The aroma is first a cinnamon-like sweetness, and behind that, ume (Japanese plum) rises softly. On the palate, too, the impression is of the sweet-sourness of plum mixed with just a touch of berry astringency. Then in the second half, the impression shifts a little. The back of the throat warms up gradually, and you realize, oh, this is spicy. It is chili heat, not the kind that stings sharply, but a gentle warmth like sitting by a campfire. Right on top of that sits a little of the sharp, tangy sourness of Tabasco.
I love spicy things, so betting on the name paid off!
It is not on the menu, but when we asked, they made it for us!
Gin, an orange liqueur, and lime. Looking just at the lineup, it seems simple, yet when you drink it, it is oddly complex.
The aroma is just like when you peel an orange skin. Brace yourself thinking it will probably be sweet, and what stands out in the mouth is instead the sourness of lime, crisp and clean. This is delicious. The orange works more on the aroma than the taste, lingering softly as it passes through the nose.
You catch a slight bitterness on the finish, and that tightens the sweetness.
Apparently it is an old cocktail drunk in Myanmar 100 years ago. You can see why it was loved in a hot country — it is so refreshing. I am not fond of sweet drinks, so crisp cocktails like this are delicious.
I’ll remember it so I can order it elsewhere!
Well, we went home saying the cocktails were good, and when I looked it up later I was surprised, ha — the owner apparently placed 9th in the world at a world cocktail competition! You could have said so! No wonder it was delicious. A door pulled open on a whim on a Kagurazaka back street — a lovely encounter.
May you meet something delicious today too!
Bar Leaf (Bar / Iidabashi Station, Ushigome-kagurazaka Station, Kagurazaka Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
