British food and beer in the Warrior Celt

This is by far my favourite pub in Tokyo, with a real atmosphere and some great food such as Raj Chicken. You never know exactly what you are going to get, e.g. the recipes change all the time and the beer is sometimes off, but that is all part of its character for me…

Draft beer

Spitfire

Bishops Finger

1698

Felinfoel Stout

Double Dragon

Celtic Pride

Bottles

Shepherd Neame Late Red

Master Brew

Food

Sausage & Mash

Haggis

Shepherd’s Pie

Plus lots more – just got all that off the website as I haven’t been for about 6 months.

Website in English here.

Draught British beer and cider in Tokyo and Kanagawa

I think I’ll never manage the full list I was planning, so here is what I have managed to find out so far and I’ll update and expand it when I get time. I’ll also do a piece on Japanese British-style beer soonish

Black Lion (Meguro) – website checked 3 Feb 2012

Pedigree

Boddingtons

Bass

Kilkenny

Blackthorn cider

Warrior Celt (Ueno) – website checked 3 Feb 2012

(maybe best to stick to the bottled beers, as the quality of draught beers is very variable)

Spitfire

Bishop’s Finger

1698

Double Dragon

Guinness

Felinfoel Stout

Celtic Pride

Aldgate (Shibuya)

Fuller’s London Pride

Guinness

Abbot Ale

Old Speckled Hen

Hobgoblin (Roppongi/ Akasaka/ Shibuya) – checked website 3 Feb 2012

Hobgoblin English Ale

Old Speckled Hen

Aspall Cider

Guest ales

Guinness

What the Dickens (Ebisu)

Guinness

Murphys

Boddingtons

Bass pale ale

Dry Blackthorn cider

82 Ale House chain (many places, e.g. Shinagawa and Hamamatsucho)

Bass (brewed in Japan) 900 yen a pint

Aspall dry Suffolk ale 500ml for 1200 yen

Footnik (Osaki)

London Pride

The Black Sheep (Ikebukero):

Pedigree

The Town Cryer (Hibiya and Kamiyacho):

Fullers ESB

Frigo (Shinjuku)

Abbot Ale

Biervana (Akasaka)

London Pride

Murphy’s

Fuller’s Honeydew

Abbot’s Choice (Roppongi)

Abbot Ale

The Grafton (Gotanda)

Guinness

Killkenny

Rising Sun (Yotsuya)

Bass

Guinness

Town Cryer (Hibiya)

Guinness

Kilkenny

Kanagawa

3 Lions (Kannai)

Spitfire

Pedigree

Murphy’s Irish Stout

Aspall’s Cider

Trafalgar (Fujisawa)

Guinness

Kilkenny

London Pride

Century Break (Fujisawa)

Old Speckled Hen

Tavern (Yokohama) – checked website 3 Feb 2012

London Pride

Kilkenny

Murphy’s

Guinness

British beer and food in the Aldgate, Shibuya

I haven’t been here for ages as when I went after it moved it was possibly the smokiest pub I have been to in my life. It is now non-smoking and seems to have the best selection of British draught beers in Tokyo:

Fuller’s London Pride

Guinness

Abbot Ale

Old Speckled Hen

Food selection looks pretty British pub-like too:

Welsh Rarebit

Jacket Potato with Baked Beans

Jacket Potato with Tuna Mayonnaise

Faggots

Falafel

Beef in Ale

Cottage Pie

Cornish Pastie

English Breakfast in Yorkshire Pudding

Chili Con Carne

Fish & Chips

V Daal Masala with Pita Bread

Bangers & Mash

V Cous Cous & Vegetable Sauce

Toad in The Hole

Will do similiar reviews for other British pubs soon and then a big summary.

British beer in Aeon supermarkets

My local Aeon near Shinagawa Seaside station has a special “liquor store” section with a pretty good selection on beers at not bad prices. They have a very good selection of American real ales and a pretty good selection of Belgian ones, plus these from the UK:

Traquair House Ale and Jabobite Ale (800 yen for 330 ml, but worth it!)

London Pride

Bishops Finger

Newcastle Brown

Boddingtons

Summary post of British beer in Tokyo coming up soonish. In the meantime, click on the category of that name for more posts on the subject.

Tesco food in Tsurukameland supermarkets

Until they manage to flog them to someone, as well as their own brand stores that I wrote about here Tesco also own a chain of discount supermarkets called Tsurukamerando. As they are full sized supermarkets, they actually often have more Tesco stuff in them than Tesco stores do.

Store guides on the same page as Tesco ones here:

Tesco store guide Tokyo

Strangely, some link to Japanese-language maps and others link to English-language ones…

Click on the link that says “here” above for a list of the Tesco foods in these stores.

British food and drink in 82 Ale House pubs

82 Ale House is a chain owned by the same people as Hub, but has a much more laid back atmosphere and, nicest of all, is quite often at street level and sometimes even has chairs outside. Their own ale is half decent (which makes up for Bass and Guinness being the other main beers) and the food is quite nice, if tiny. There are branches in Kanda, Shinagawa, Akasaka, Mita (near Tamachi), Hamamatsucho, Shinjuku Sanchome, Akihabara, Shinjuku Nishi Guchi, Higashi Ginza, Kinshicho, Shibuya, and Gotanda. The staff in the Hamatsucho branch I went to were happy to speak English.

British drinks at 82 Ale House

82 Ale – 900 yen a pint

One guest ale a month, usually okay but nothing special – 1000 a pint

Bass (brewed in Japan) 900 yen a pint

Aspall dry Suffolk ale 500ml for 1200 yen

35 kinds of Scotch

British food at 82 Ale House

tiny haggis and mash 350 yen

fish and chips with Sarsons malt vinegar from 350 yen

shepherds pie 500 yen

liver pate with toast 350 yen

cheese selection including stilton

Getting there

Japanese language store guide with links to maps

Akasaka Mitsuke branch’s page with menu and English language map

English language reviews of the Shinagawa branch

English language review of the Akihabara branch with Japanese language map

Shinjuku sanchome branch page with English language menu and map

Gotanda branch page with link to English language map

Shibuya branch page with link to English map

Kinshicho branch page with link to English map

Higashi Ginza branch page with link to English map

British food and beer in Nissin supermarket, Azabu Juban

Now that National Azabu in Hiroo is being knocked down there seems to be little competition for the title of best international supermarket in Tokyo – it is quite clearly Nissin in Azabu-Juban, for its huge range and okay prices. It’s also the best place for British food and beer (although Yamaya runs it close for beer and is cheaper).

Food and drink of interest to Brits on my recent visit below, with each section given in order of how difficult they are to find elsewhere and with stars next to those that I’ve only seen in this shop:

Indian, West Indian and Middle Eastern

Ghee*

uncooked pappadams*

Jamaican jerk seasoning*

lime pickle

frozen falafel

frozen pita bread

frozen samosas

frozen hummus

lots of Sharwood curry powder and curry paste

Pataks curry sauce

frozen nan

Other savoury stuff

HP sauce*

huge tin of Colmans English mustard powder*

Cheetos*

halal meat*

frozen Vilis meat pies* 480 yen

assortment of Vilis meat pies including sausage rolls*

frozen macaroni cheese*

Very large pack of frozen Canadian bacon (not cooked like Japanese bacon) good until 2013 for 900 yen*

instant mash

Marmite 727 yen

Vegemite 420 yen

frozen lamb rack

Sarsons malt vinegar

Lawrys turkey gravy 238 yen

Norberts frozen turkey for around 2000 yen

S&W tinned cranberry sauce 380 yen

Sweet stuff

Walkers 9 mincemeat tarts 945 tarts*

Glenfiddich 6 luxury mince pies 1365 yen*

frozen rhubarb*

Chivers marmalade and jam*

Tate and Lyle sugar*

Nestle custard powder*

tiny Walkers Xmas pudding 578 yen

frozen raspberries

Jell-O

jar of Robertsons mincemeat

Lyles golden syrup

Drinks (tea, beer and cider)

Wells IPA 440*

Youngs beer*

Bewleys Irish tea

Fuller ESB

Boddingtons 420 yen

cider

Bombardier 540

London Pride

Bishop’s Finger

PG Tips

Getting there

It’s just a couple of minutes from Azabu Juban station (although a fair walk underground to the right exit from the ticket barriers) almost under a huge expressway:

Nissin World Delicatessan access information in English

British food in Queens Isetan

This shop seems to vary a lot by location. This one was the one basically in Shinagawa Station near the East Exit.

Lyles golden syrup 493 yen

Hobgoblin dark English ale 380 yen

Harrods tea, coffee, jam, apple sauce, chutney, relish, pickle and brown sauce

Continental roast meat gravy

Mrs Bridges horseradish, tatare sauce, tea and coffee

tinned cranberry sauce

Sarsons malt vinegar 399 yen

Pataks curry paste

Ridgways tea

Clipper tea

plus the usual Walkers shortbread, Carrs crackers etc.

Store guide in Japanese only

British food from the Foreign Buyers’ Club

Most of this stuff is available in import shops for slightly less if you shop around, but the fact that you can do all this on their website is obviously a selling point, and I’ve put things I haven’t seen elsewhere near the top of the list below.

Vili’s Gourmet Meat Pie – Beef/ Chicken/ Beef and Mushroom – ¥400

Redvines Licorice Twists – Original Red: ¥350

Lawry’s Turkey Gravy Mix: ¥290

Betty Crocker Pie Crust Mix (Makes two crusts): ¥490

Tree Top Apple Sauce – Natural, No Sugar Added: ¥440

Punjabi Samosa – 12/pkg: ¥660

Alishan Dried Brown Lentils, Organic: ¥540

Brussels Sprouts: ¥760

Cottage Cheese: ¥615

Feta Cheese (Sheep’s milk): ¥795

Fantastic Food Falafel Mix: ¥490

Baked Whole Apple Pie: ¥2,020

Betty Crocker Potato Buds (Real Mashed Potatoes): ¥570

Adama Pita Bread – Whole Wheat (5/pkg, 6 inch): ¥570

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese – Cheesiest: ¥300

Heinz Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce: ¥430

S&W Cranberry Sauce – Jellied (397g): ¥420

Kraft Vegemite: ¥480

Libby’s Sweet Peas, canned: ¥290

Alpen Muesli – Original: ¥480

Robertson’s Traditional Mincemeat: ¥685

I only went through the first 30 of 200 pages, so there must be plenty more.

British food in Kinokuniya

That’s the international supermarket rather than the bookshop!

You can get most of this elsewhere and the prices are nothing special, but I was just in the smaller Omo branch in Akasaka and there will might be more in the big branches like Omotesando.

Food of possible particular interest to Brits

Kraft Macaroni cheese

Smoothies

Aooni IPA (a great Japanese India pale ale, though more American style than British)

Duchy Originals biscuits

Tim Tams (similar to Penguins)

Walkers shortbread

Cadburys

Clipper tea

Carrs crackers

Getting there

English language map for the Omotesando branch

Store guide in Japanese