Cocktail Works

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner for 2
Price: 10,000 yen
Dishes:  Two drinks, two dishes
Payment: Credit cards accepted
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Not being fans of bars in general I don't review them much here.  But on our last evening in Karuizawa my wife and I were in the mood for a nicer restaurant, and we had seen this amazing looking bar earlier in the day when we happened by and bought some whiskey and gin from the very nicely supplied store next to it.  When we couldn't get into our first restaurant of choice, we came back to try the food here.

The bar itself is gorgeous, and extremely well stocked with top shelf whiskeys and other liquor.  The food menu is short, but well put together, and they cook everything right there behind the bar somehow.  Everything is expensive, but they aren't pretending it will be anything else, and luckily it was the time for a nice evening out.

My wife had the chicken, I had the beef.  Hers was the better tasting dish overall, but mine wasn't have bad either.  The only pity was it was quite small.  Our drinks were excellent too, with my wife realizing she really quite likes a Martini, which makes sense given her taste for gin (we bought a hops infused gin earlier from the other side of the store).  I had a rare-find Laphroig whiskey, which came on a hand chipped ball of ice.  So good!

The overall price was eye-popping, but definitely a pleasant experience and a real treat.