For an area which houses the besiest train station in the world and has the highest number of registered foreign nationals of any area in Tokyo, Shinjuku is surprisingly sparse of bars that serve craft beers. Sure there are gaijin bars like Hub and Dubliners, but craft beer – that’s another matter.

Inside Frigo

Frigo is the sister bar of Belgo and Failte in Shibuya. Like Belgo, it hidden in the basement and if you didn’t know it was there you could walk straight past. To get there, go right out the South Exit of Shinjuku JR station and head right. At the crossing, go diagonally across, and keep walking along the main road – Frigo is on the left, just next to the Family Mart. Google street view link here; the Frigo website also has a reasonable map.

Frigo’s phone number is: 03-5371-0666. The bar is closed the 2nd Sunday of the month.

The beer fridges

Unlike Belgo which has a mix of Belgian and world beers, Frigo is mostly Belgian with some German thrown in – don’t expect Anchor or British craft beers like Badger. Regular draught beers are 1000 yen or under and consist of Vedett Extra White (250ml), Chimay White (250ml), Guinness (pint), Jever Pilsner (500ml), Abbot Ale (pint), and Franziskaner Weisse (small glass) – with up to two guest beers on tap.

Alvinne Gasper, Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel (draught; guest), and Reinaert Tripel

Bottles include the standard Belgians such as Saison Dupont, Duvel, Leffe, and Maredsous but also include some hard to find breweries such as Alvinne, Reonaert, and Rader. Germans include Weltenburger Kloster, Erdinger, Weihenstephan, and Schneider Weisse – mostly Weissbier and Dunkel rather than pilsner – though when I was there they did have Weltenburger Kloster Pils as a guest beer.

Inside can get a little smoky, but there’s more space in Frigo that at Belgo.

My opinion? Let’s face it – there’s not a lot of option in Shinjuku and Frigo fills a gap, as long as you like Belgians and Germans. Don’t expect Japanese craft beers or hoppy IPAs here though.