Kita-Senju is not well-known for being a craft beer drinking town though with a university just across from the station and it being a main hub in the north-east area of Tokyo, there are lots of izakayas and smaller shops. On top of this, Kita-Senju does have one of the best craft beer bottle shops in the form of World Beer Market. There are bars out there, and we’re getting there, but for the moment Hachu no Su, which translates to Bee’s Nest, serves us well after a hard day’s shopping at World Beer Market.
Hachi no Su is located about a ten minute walk from Kita-Senju station and is situated off a back alley that sees some thoroughfare pass by. It’s a nice little shop, decked out with wood everywhere and even has a small drinking area located outside, perhaps enough for two groups of four people. Not much but it was a pleasure to bask in the late evening sun while chatting, eating, and of course, drinking. We had high expectations for this place as a friend recommended it for the burgers and craft beers on tap.
Hachi no Su’s own brand beer – does not contain honey.
The beers at Hachi no Su on tap were disappointing as there was plenty of import choice though the only domestic draft beer was their Hachi no Su ale. There was plenty of bottles of Japanese craft beer, with Hitachino Nest, Minoh, Sankt Gallen, and also some other beers but I suspect they were sourced from World Beer Market. There was a happy hour which had ¥200 of the bottles but still hard to justify buying bottles to drink in a bar when those same bottles can be bought around the corner – the old chestnut of paying for the atmosphere kicks in again.
Where Hachi no Su excels in is the food and it can’t come recommended enough. The fish and chips were plentiful and the hamburger was brilliantly juicy and went down well with the Hachi no Su ale. The hamburger needs to be ordered well in advance so if you do fancy one, try ordering it as soon as you get there – I had to wait about 20 minutes but it was worth the wait.
Hachi no Su One Paragraph Review
Hachi no Su isn’t really recommended for the craft beer scene as what it does can be done cheaper and better elsewhere but the hamburgers are pretty hard to beat along with one of their Hachi no Su ales. It was nice to see a wide range of Japanese bottle craft beers yet hard to recommend going there for that either.
Hachi no Su Details
Open: Mon – Sat 17:00 to 02:00 (Food L.O 21:00 Drinks 01:30) Sun 11:00 to 23:00 (Food L.O 21:00 Drinks 22:30)
Phone: 03-3888-2690
Homepage: http://www.hachinosu.com/
How to Get to Hachi no Su
Kita-Senju station is the main hub for five different train lines: JR Joban Line, Tobu Skytree Line, Tokyo Metro Chiyoda and Hibiya lines, and Tsukuba express so there are plenty of choices to get in there. Hachi no Su is on the west side of the station and the directions below are from that.
4 comments
Pretty fair review. I have been here just a few times as it is my my neighborhood. Food is nice, but their beer choices do seem nonsensical as there is even a BYOB joint just a few steps away from Tokyo Liquor Land. Yes, that’s right….a BYOB joint.
Wait…a BYOB that is near Tokyo Liquor Land?! Do they have craft beer on sale too? How is the food there?
Yes Rob…it’s a dark little Izekaya. Food is fine…but the real fun is popping in and out to the craft beer shop just a few feet away and ordering small nibbles.
It sounds intriguing. I did pretty well shopping in Kita-Senju back in March. But the restaurant I wound up at (which I wanted to) was Matador, the ramen shack with purportedly the best roast beef ramen in the entire region. It was very good. I would be tempted to try another bowl there instead of a hamburger from here.