Wineshop & Diner Fujimaru

Wineshop and Diner Fujimaru sits in Higashi-Nihonbashi, a short walk from Asakusabashi Station, and runs as a wine shop and bistro in one room. The cellar that lines the wall is also the shop, so you can buy a bottle to take home or open it at your table for a corkage. It is part of the Fujimaru urban-winery project, which started in Osaka in 2013 and now includes a Tokyo winery in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa.

This is a wine bar with a working philosophy, summed up by the group's slogan, Wine, more freely. If you want a stiff hotel cocktail, this is the wrong room. If you want to browse 1,000 labels and have a chef cook to match, it is one of the most flexible wine stops in central Tokyo.

The layout offers a few ways to drink. There are relaxed counter seats, a standing bar area where you take a glass and watch the downtown street, and table seating for a longer dinner. The shelves of bottles double as the cellar and the retail wall, which keeps the whole place feeling like a working wine shop rather than a styled bar.

There are roughly 10 wines by the glass at any time, Japanese and international, plus the full cellar of around 1,000 bottles to choose from. The kitchen cooks what the group calls borderless food, dishes built to harmonise with wine rather than follow one cuisine. Ask the staff to point you at a Fujimaru house wine to taste what the winery makes itself.

The smart move is to start with a glass at the standing bar, then pull a bottle off the shelf for the table once you know what you are in the mood for.

A mix of local wine drinkers, after-work tables and shoppers picking up a bottle on the way home. It runs calmer and more food-led than a late-night bar, which suits an early dinner or a long lunch.

Building a Tokyo wine night? Read our best bars in Tokyo guide and our best hidden gem bars in Tokyo list. Searching nearby? Start at the bars near me hub or the Tokyo wine bars page.