Outside Bulldog, Ginza

Located on the second floor of the Ginza NZ 1 shopping arcade is Bulldog – a “World Beer” pub specialising in Japanese and imported craft beers.

Inside Bulldog

There are 5 craft beers on tap at any one time, a mix of Japanese and imported. When I was there they had Baeren Alt, Southern Tier Mokah, and a couple from Shiga Kogen. Supplementing the taps was a range of around 20+ bottles imported by Nagano Trading – Southern Tier, Ballast Point, Stone, etc - and a few select Japanese beers in bottles. A pretty good range between the draught beers and bottles.

Guest draught beer - Baeren Alt

Bulldog is not without its quirks though. On the Sunday I went there, I was shocked to be given last orders at 3pm. Unbelievably, they throw people out at 3:30pm on a Sunday only to reopen again at 5pm. What sense does it make to throw out punters only to reopen an empty pub 90 minutes later?

The lunch menu also left a lot to be desired. While the pub may look like a replica British pub, the menu was a very limited range of hamburger plates, steak plates, and a few odds and ends like salad and chicken pieces – more like a Pepper Lunch than a pub. With the weird choices and the menu written only in Japanese, it’s not ideal for foreigners. What I did have – caesar salad and beef in demi-glace sauce with rice – was OK, but I think next time I’ll make sure I eat before I go.

Update: I’ve since been back in the evening an the menu was more extensive and in English. The food was pretty good. I’ve yet to go back at lunchtime and check whether the lunch menu is in English now also.

Bottled beer - Speakeasy Double Daddy

The beer, though, is worth going for. All draught beers are available in half pint, glass, US pint, and UK pint sizes, with US pints ranging from under 1000 yen to 1400 yen. I liked the availability of different sizes and the clear pricing for each size.

Bottles start at around 1000 yen and there’s a bottle stamp card – collect enough stamps and you can get a discount and free glasses. The bar also has its own members card – collect points for discounts. While I’m on the subject of discounts, there’s a coupon available here but you have to know Japanese and jump through hoops to get it – search the page for “特別クーポン”  and click the link to fill in the questionnaire. Even without the stamp card and discounts, compared to some other bars, the bottle prices at Bulldog are pretty reasonable.

Bulldog’s website is here – though it just links through to the coupon site above. The phone number is 03-3564-0996. Google maps link is here. From the Ginza metro line, Ginza NZ 1 is near exit C9 (for reference, HMV is in Ginza INZ 2).  Bulldog is on the second floor. There is a non-smoking area in Bulldog though the bar is not non-smoking overall and sometimes the staff wont seat you in the non-smoking area if the table is too big for your group (they can be picky about seating overall, actually.)

My opinion? Quirky hours and menu but a good range of beers, especially imported bottles. I wish some of the generic British bars like Hobgoblin and Hub would take a leaf out of Bulldog’s book and start stocking craft beers.