Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on July 2010

Courtesy of Kaguwa

There’s an off-season holiday resort feel when we visit Roppongi Beer Garden under inclement skies on a Monday evening. High-energy pop plays in the background as the female staff, wearing bikini tops and denim hot pants, mill around with the mildly bored expressions of OLs waiting for something to photocopy. “It gets really busy on Fridays,” one of them assures us, and we’re happy to take her word for it.

It’s odd that beer gardens should be such a rarity in Roppongi: the area’s preference for lowest-common-denominator merrymaking would seem to make them a natural fit. This one—brought to us by the company behind “new half” cabaret restaurant Roppongi Kaguwa—occupies a perch at the rear of the Roi Building, from which it enjoys views of Tokyo Tower and Roppongi Hills. There are no parasols to block the skyline, which can prove problematic if the weather isn’t on your side (the management recommend calling in advance on rainy days to make sure they’re actually open).

Drinks and food are all ordered individually, rather than being lumped together into one of those nomihodai packages that are appealing mostly to people who measure the success of a night by how little they can remember of it the morning after. Suntory Malt’s, Carlsberg and Premium Malt’s are available on tap, starting at ¥700; we end up getting a pint-sized dai-jokki mug of the latter for ¥1,100. Shochu and sours cost ¥600, cocktails ¥700, and the soft drink line-up even includes Rockstar (¥600).

The food menu is pretty perfunctory, but then it’s not like anybody goes to beer gardens for the food anyway. If you need something to tide you over, the yakisoba (¥1,000) or karaage (¥800) should do the trick. If, on the other hand, you just need beer and a Roppongi rooftop on which to drink it, then your prayers have been answered.