A note on the words: shimofuri means marbled, and is the name this bar gives its long-standing cold beef roll; shungiku is garland chrysanthemum, a faintly bitter leaf; ponzu is a citrus-and-soy dressing; Yamazaki and Chita are Suntory whiskies. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Suntory Lounge Eagle on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Drinkers, thank you for waiting. It is Hangover Meshi time.
“Suntory Lounge Eagle” has stood in Shinjuku since 1966. For all the times I come to Shinjuku, I had never once been in…! I wanted to go! And so I did.
It stands just short of Kabukicho. The sign is extremely old.
Old enough that you worry slightly whether the place is still all right.
Gather your courage, go down to the basement, and beyond a smart automatic door is the shop.
The way down smells strongly of cigarettes, but the shop itself does not at all. The room, designed to evoke a luxury liner, is kept fairly dark, and though it is old it gives off a very fine atmosphere.
Again I did not take a set course, so we ordered a range of things a la carte.
It is fundamentally a bar, but it is a pleasure that there is so much proper food. Being called a Suntory lounge, it naturally keeps Yamazaki, Chita and the rest. The sheer quantity of drink on the list is remarkable.
I shall have a beer first and think afterwards!
The first thing I asked for was the cured ham — jamon serrano.
There was a half portion, but I thought I would probably eat the lot, so I took the regular. It is one of the world’s three great hams alongside Parma, and the moment you bite, a sharp savour spreads out. The deep colour of those thin slices, under the lighting of this room, tells you it is good before you taste it.
The signature dish that has been loved here for more than half a century: shimofuri beef.
Fine chilled fillet rolled around shredded white spring onion. The scent of sesame oil drifts up, and dipped once into a garlicky ponzu soy and put in the mouth, the mellow savour of the meat and a clean finish arrive together. Delicious! Add the horseradish served with it and a sharp, refreshing note spreads through the mouth — meat that is served cold and yet properly juicy. I quite see why people want it again.
I like shungiku and I like squid, so there was no way of not ordering this!
Inside a light, crisp thin batter, the sweet springiness of the squid and the faint bitterness of the shungiku arrive at the same moment. Frying settles the green edge of the shungiku beautifully. And the chef’s house tartare sauce is very good indeed — the richness and smoothness are on another level, and it lays a proper richness over that light batter. Delicious!
Wanting to try many different things, I asked for a half portion of this one as well.
Here is the signature dish that has been loved for years. The moment it arrives, the rich scent of demi-glace drifts up and stirs the appetite! The deep brown of the sauce beside the yellow of the saffron rice looks lovely.
The heart of this beef stroganoff is a house demi-glace simmered over ten days. Beef bones and vegetables boiled relentlessly until only the savour remains — a sauce with a firm backbone. Fresh cream is then added generously, which removes the weight and rounds the outline. One mouthful and depth and sweetness spread first, with the gentleness of the cream coming along behind. That change of pace is irresistible!!!
The beef has real presence and has not dissolved entirely into the sauce, so its savour seeps out with each bite. Put it together with the saffron rice and the faint fragrance of the rice locks beautifully into the bitter edge of the sauce! A signature dish indeed.
It was so good that I need not have taken the half portion…
That is a lot of fire!
I did not expect it to arrive quite so ablaze!
Looking properly at the menu afterwards, it does say “please enjoy the flame presentation at your table”.
French escargots baked in the oven with demi-glace and basil sauce. Baked in a piping-hot cocotte and then set alight for the show. The sauce, born in the same kitchen as the ten-day demi-glace used for the stroganoff, bubbles fragrantly inside the escargot shells.
Eat one and it has a springy resistance — a shellfish, no question. It has taken up plenty of the savour of the sauce, and demi-glace and basil come flooding out with each bite. The sauce alone would be good enough; the escargot itself rather functions as the most efficient vessel for carrying that rich sauce to your mouth. Crackers come with it, so you can pile it on and eat neatly, which is another good thing.
They cut it up and bring it out afterwards.
It is a bar first and foremost, so it is a pleasure that they make things easy to eat alongside a drink.
The special sausages come as a pair, mild in style with a light touch of herbs. Pepper, paprika, cumin, cayenne, sage and garlic are all working in there, and the texture is soft and smooth. Good with whisky.
I fancied butter, and looking at the menu — there is a set of crab-miso butter and raisin butter!
And it is called the first-time set. Well, it is my first time, so that fits.
The raisin butter is properly rich, and it goes with whisky frighteningly well. The balance of sweetness and salt sits perfectly on a cracker, and this alone will see off a whole glass!!!
The crab-miso butter is the grown-up version. It is cool the moment it enters the mouth, and as the butter slowly melts the scent of crab spreads out.
Mmm! Delicious! Although — it is butter. One does think about the calories.
So: this time I visited a bar that has been going since 1966. Early on there were plenty of people eating, but gradually the balance shifted towards people who had come to drink. Sitting at the counter for a quick drink and then going home is a stylish way to live. It would be good to be able to use a place like that! Kabukicho, and the east side of the station generally, has grown steadily more crowded with visitors from abroad, so it is a fine thing to have somewhere this calm.
May you meet something good to eat today too.
Eagle (bar / Shinjuku-nishiguchi Station, Shinjuku Station, Shinjuku-sanchome Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.7
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
