BEES BAR by NARISAWA teams with Edo Kobayashi Hospitality for “Residencia Mexicana en Tokio” pop-up

Running from now until the end of October, Minami Aoyama’s BEES BAR by NARISAWA hosts the renowned Edo Lōpez and his team from Edo Kobayashi Hospitality to bring “the flavor and spirit of Mexico to Tokyo.”

Luckily, a friend of this website thought of me when The Foundry, a Hong Kong/Bangkok-based F&B marketing agency, asked for media contacts in Tokyo. At their invitation, I recently made my way over to Minami Aoyama to see what the pop-up was all about.

Edo Kobayashi Hospitality runs eleven Japanese-themed restaurants, three bars, and a Mexican cocina with locations in Mexico City, Los Cabos, and Sinaloa. They’re part of a growing community of Japanese restaurants, bars, shops, and more centered in Mexico City. Hand in hand with that growth, Mexico is just one of many countries where Japanese whisky imports have ballooned in recent years.

A quick disclaimer here: the authentic part of this culinary experience might have been lost on me. I have never visited Mexico City, let alone Mexico itself. Here in Tokyo, while the number of “Mexican” options available today is probably twenty times what it was when I got here in 2008, they have largely leaned toward Tex-Mex — think nachos, fajitas, burritos, chili con carne — rather than authentic Mexican. On the drinks side, debate about the true origins of the mighty Margarita has been going on for nearly the entire life of the cocktail itself.

As you may have gathered from the name, BEES BAR by NARISAWA is the companion bar to famed chef Yoshihiro Narisawa’s aptly named Narisawa. Narisawa earned one Michelin star in the 2009 edition of the guide, just one year after the Michelin Guide started awarding stars to Tokyo restaurants. The next year, it earned two stars, and it has earned them every year since. So while I may not be the perfect target audience, my culinary expectations were quite high.

This pop-up also marks Siete Leguas tequila’s Japan debut. The tequilera has been around since 1952 and is known for its focus on traditional methods like using brick ovens to cook the agave piñas, having mules pull the tahona wheel to crush the roasted piñas, and using only wild yeasts for fermentation. One of the original stills from 1952 is also apparently still in operation. Perhaps even more famously, the Siete Leguas tequilera also produced Patrón tequila from 1988 until 2002. Why 2002? Patrón was too successful and had to scale up production. That scale sometimes clashes with labor-intensive traditional spirits production methods.

Our first pick from the menu, Mix de Salsas con Totopos, takes us head-first into classic salsas that Mexican cuisine has to offer. For the totopos, it featured:

• Cilantro
• Lime
• Fresh guacamole
• Salsa tatemada (fire-roasted tomato, onion, chile serrano)
• Refried frijoles
• Salsa de chiltepin
• Green habanero & lime
• Salsa verde cruda (tomatillo, chile serrano, cilantro)
• Salsa mexicana (tomato, onion, chile serrano)

In a Tokyo where you’ll be lucky to find any handmade salsa outside your Mexican friend’s house, this was shockingly awesome.

On the drinks side, that first order came with a tasting of Siete Leguas Blanco. One thing I like about blanco tequila is that you can really get a feel for the love and care (or lack thereof) a tequilera puts into their agave. Siete Leguas Blanco brings out the richness of roasted agave alongside herbal and grassy notes of mint, citrus, and cinnamon spice.

Since that was just a tasting, it was quickly followed up with a Tommy’s Margarita and a White Peach Margarita. It’s worth noting here that this pop-up is a “fusion,” rather than one where ingredients are imported to Japan. As such, both the cocktail menu and food menu used fruit, herbs, vegetables, and fish/meat from Japan.

Next up: tacos. We started with a Taco de Carnitas made with tender and juicy kurobuta from Kagoshima and a Taco de Barbacoa with Kobe beef. The portions weren’t large, and the entirely a-la-carte menu extensive. So if your budget allows–I’d guess around JPY 15,000 p.p.–you can easily walk away feeling you’ve gotten the full experience the pop-up has to offer.

If your travels are bringing you to Tokyo by October and you’re into authentic Mexican food and drink, or think you could be, I’d say don’t hesitate to make a reservation. While Narisawa itself is likely going nowhere anytime soon, pop-ups like Residencia Mexicana en Tokio at the BEES BAR by NARISAWA are often once-in-a-lifetime culinary adventures.