Ninja Cocktails by Naren Young

Ninja Cocktails

I’m not sure what’s happening over there in ole Blighty, but it seems that the Japanese style of bartending is getting a hell of a lot of air time here in the US and beyond, led, strangely enough by Slovak Stanislav Vardna. And I’m not exactly sure why. More on that later. A few weeks back, Greg Boehm of Mud Puddle Books and CocktailKingdom.com (which you should all check out) flew over Kazuo Uyeda, ‘master bartender’, and one of the most famous in Japan. He closed his acclaimed Tokyo bar, Tender Bar, for the week to address American professionals on his widely publicized and unique style and philosophies that have been accrued over four decades behind the stick.

At almost $700 for a ticket to this 2 day seminar (which could have easily been done in one day), it was a lot of cash to part with. Stan Vardna has become the western poster boy for Japanese bartending after spending some time in Japan under Uyeda, calling him his ‘spiritual advisor’. He gave an introduction on the spirituality associated with Japanese bartending and how we need to pay attention to our guests from the moment they open the door to the moment they leave. Really? This is what $700 is going to get those poor souls who did pay.

Uyeda took the stage in all his revelry, looking immaculate in his signature canary yellow blazer and tiny spectacles. We all had UN-style ear pieces where the translation was immediate. He went through his many mantras, most of which were cryptic, others obvious, while some I whole heartedly disagreed with, especially the one where he said that “it’s about the process and not the product or the result”. Huh? I thought it was ALL about the result and the importance of product in getting that result. Well it is for me. I couldn’t give a toss how you make my Martini. Does it taste any good?

Many of his philosophies and techniques cannot be employed by any bartender that attended. The material is so venue specific to his particular bar. I was one of only a couple of people in the room who had actually been to his bar, and the only one that had been on several different trips. To be honest, it’s rather boring, not very hospitable, ridiculously expensive, backward in its drinks and his signature cocktail is blue with a sugar rim. I asked for an Aviation (not a difficult or even obscure drink by today’s standards) and got a blank stare.

Over the two days we learnt how to open a bottle. We were taught how to use colours such as Midori to great effect. We were re-united with the Grasshopper cocktail. We were given a lesson in stirring. And he showed us how to carve an ice ball. But everyone was here to see his famous ‘hard shake’. I won’t wax lyrical about the intricacies behind this confusing technique here. Both Google and YouTube might explain this better than I ever could. Does it make a better tasting drink? The jury is still out on that but I sit firmly in the ‘no’ camp.

Don’t get me wrong here. This is nothing personal against Uyeda. Watching him work is a thing of beauty and if each us could be more meticulous, attentive and clean in our work like him, then all the better. But I just don’t understand the fuss. Japan has some incredible bars but we are enamoured by them because they are so different. Tiny, impossible to find places with all sorts of spirits we’ve never seen, jamon carved to order, a bartender with a funny shake and some hand carved ice. They are not better by any stretch.

Classic cocktails (well some of them), made with absolute precision and served up in pristine and delicate glassware is the order of the day in Japan. Martinis, Manhattans, Sidecars, Daiquiris and several others in this ubiquitous genre are what you’ll find mostly. That and awful neon coloured disco drinks that don’t deserve any more ink on this page than that. Stick with the former, or some amazing whiskies, and you’ll have some of the most memorable experiences of your life. I did.

1 comment

Lucas R. 27-05-2010

Hi Naren,
in a way i do Agree with you. Too much fuss. I found that all this japanese techniques are difficult to apply to most of the bar and services, but what i found more annoying are 2 things:
1.- lack of perosnal style and again lot of bartenders and wanna be´s again pursuing the trends instead of developing their own techniques based on basic rules of higyene and speed to deliver a contemporary and prompt / proper service (TIPS).
and
2.- all this tecniques have nothing new, indeed the amazing part is that they havd survivied in japan because it has been a country and a culture mainly closed to the rest of the “western world”, and now is availabel tks to internet, globalization and travels, alogn digital photography and cheap digitla video access. it is good howver that they still taking pride on the apprecentiship time for serving drnks, instead of plenty of bartenders with 1 yr experience becoming stars for being referred in media. That is also European school, and applies in Argentina as well, where I´m from.
Personally it annoys me all this fuss, when to “consider and be aware fo the customers ASA as he opens the doors” is basic and vertebral (?) in good service. I found u$700 too expensive.

I spent some months in Tokyo in 2006, before all this trend, and found interesting their style, of ocurse you always learn when you travel, even from the “begginers” there´s lot to be learned, yet i found that some of those techniques where already in existance. The hard shake…I didn´t find it as a hughe differnece back in 2006, and still I don´t find it as worth now more thana good shake that attaches to the basic rules.

Kampai!

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