On May 21st, Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi opened a beer garden called "Nihonbashi" on the rooftop of its main building. It will run until September 19th. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the beer garden's opening. It seats 700 people, making it one of the largest beer gardens in Tokyo's department stores.
The beer garden offers over 30 different dishes and 20 different drinks. The all-you-can-eat buffet costs 3,901 yen (including all-you-can-drink) for adult men and 3,401 yen (including all-you-can-drink) for adult women. High school students pay 3,401 yen, and junior high school students and younger pay 1,601 yen. Infants eat free.
A Mitsukoshi Beer Garden representative stated, "This year, we'll be strengthening our Japanese food menu and aiming for 105% sales growth compared to last year." According to the representative, many of the beer garden's patrons are office workers in Nihonbashi, and many are looking for healthy, easy-on-the-digestion food and home-style flavors.
To meet this demand, the beer garden has developed a menu centered on Japanese cuisine this year. The first-time Japanese menu items include hijiki seaweed and vegetable stew, pickled daikon radish, takana rice, hijiki rice with five-grain rice, charcoal-grilled chicken meatballs, steamed chicken with wasabi sauce, warabi mochi, matcha pudding, and fresh dorayaki. Also, for the first time this year, the store will offer a "bring-your-own-cake" service. After purchasing a cake at the store's food section, customers can drop it off at the beer garden reception and a member of staff will bring it to their table at the designated time. In addition, a "Celebrate anniversaries at the beer garden" initiative will be held, proposing the use of the beer garden as a venue for birthday parties and other special occasions. The commercial facility "COREDO Muromachi 2-3," which opened across from the store in March of this year, is said to be broadening the customer base. A representative stated, "We hope that even first-time visitors to Nihonbashi will feel comfortable using our beer garden." Hours are from 5:30 PM to 9:30 PM.
