Gen Yamamoto: Japan’s cocktail shokunin

With the likes of Shuzo Nagumo (Mixology Laboratory) and Hiroyasu Kayama (Bar Benfiddich) at the helm of some of the most inventive cocktail bars in Tokyo – cocktail shokunins who choose to embrace unusual techniques such as molecular gastronomy or go to lengths to source the best produce for cocktail-making (Kayama-san is said to grow his own herbs in a drying room at home) – foodies and alcohol aficionados alike are flocking to the Nihon capital for a cocktail experience of a lifetime.

Gen Yamamoto is one of such devoted shokunins. His cocktail menu is centred on the seasonality of local fruit produce handpicked and sourced directly from farmers, which he later marries with herbs and high quality liquors. There are no cocktail classics here. Instead, you will be served only a small seasonal selection of fruit-based cocktails designed to be consumed omakase style, reminiscent of sushi and washoku dining in Japan, in a progressive tasting series of four (¥4,500) to six cocktails (¥6,500).

The beauty of Yamamoto-san’s cocktail creations lies in their purity of taste. Organic, earthy and sweet flavours of Fukuoka strawberry, Niigata sweet potato, Shizuoka citrus and even Miyazaki kumquat come through and warm the palate, despite being paired with stronger tastes of Japanese shochu, sake and spirits. Other types of alcohol, including Yamazaki whisky, may be used during other seasons.

_M6C9549 2 — First course: 华吟 Local spirit (distilled sake) with citrus and daikon

It was a fascinating sight to behold as Yamamoto-san worked alone behind his 500-year-old mizunara oak counter cutting fresh fruit, grating and muddling herbs, and stirring each cocktail with precision before handing them directly to each customer course by course.

Yamamoto-san’s gentle and focused movements during cocktail-making, as well as his preference for a minimalistic cocktail philosophy evoked a graceful appeal, transforms the experience at his counter into an art form. In the midst of all that is loud and whimsical in Japan, Gen Yamamoto is a welcoming and elegant addition to the Tokyo bar scene, and a revisit is in tall order.