Bar High Five sits on the fourth floor of an unremarkable Ginza building. The room itself is small — about 14 seats around a curved zinc bar — but Hidetsugu Ueno has been ranked the world's best bartender multiple times and the bar is routinely placed in the World's 50 Best Bars list. Every visiting bartender to Tokyo comes here.
Ueno hand-cuts diamond ice in front of you. The Hard Shake — a precise Japanese shaking technique he developed — is performed for every cocktail that requires it. The Old Fashioned uses spheres of ice carved by hand. The bar is committed to Japanese cocktail discipline at its highest expression.
There is no menu. Tell Ueno or one of his bartenders what you like and they will build you a cocktail. The price is high (¥2,200-3,500 per cocktail) but for the experience, it is fair. Pair with Star Bar Ginza for the complete Tokyo Ginza cocktail evening.
