This week, Drinks At Work is in Tokyo.
Holly Graham’s Tokyo Confidential celebrates three years in 2026, recently launching their fourth cocktail menu, inspired by Japanese convenience store culture.
The menu is called Konbini Confidential, and takes its cues from the snacks you’ll find in the country’s convenience stores — onigiri, say, or Family Mart fried chicken — and turns them into drinks.
We’ve talked to Holly Graham before, and I always enjoy our talks. Graham didn’t have the usual entry into hospitality, instead coming at it the other way round, from media: she was food and drink editor at Time Out Hong Kong and then editor of Drink magazine Asia, before opening Tokyo Confidential in Azabu-Juban in October 2023. Since then they’ve added Niseko Confidential in the Hokkaido ski fields during winter.
I spoke to Graham about how the new menu came to be, how onigiri becomes a Martini — really — and where Tokyo sits in the bar world firmament (and where her favourite spots are).
One important and timely note: we recorded this a couple weeks back but just yesterday we learned that Graham is moving back to Hong Kong and leaving the day to day of Tokyo Confidential (for which she’ll still be an ambassador at large and an owner), but is looking forward to a change of scenery after what has been a very busy three years.
Take a listen below, or search Drinks At Work through your podcast player of choice, and get a look at some key highlights below.
Concept menus, not a concept bar
When Tokyo Confidential opened, their first cocktail list steered away from any concrete concept, instead focusing on “just tasty shit that we liked,” according to Graham.
But their next menu took on Japan’s love for baseball as its inspiration, which in turn sparked some memorable drinks, and great merch.
“People started to think we were a baseball bar,” says Graham. “Even though there’s nothing related to baseball in our bar except the menu.”
But it’s not a concept bar — and a baseball theme surely would grow tiresome after a while. Instead she conceives of the bar as having a concept menu, which changes once a year, and for which she develops the inspiration while head bartender Wakana Murata fleshes out the drinks.
Graham’s latest menu inspiration? Japanese konbini culture.
BOOTHBY: So the konbini concept, can you explain a bit about the konbini culture in Japan?
HOLLY GRAHAM: Konbini is like the colloquial word for convenience stores in Japan. Here, they are literally a cornerstone of everyday life. You pay your bills there, you feed yourself there — in Australia, UK, the States, convenience stores aren’t exactly known for good feeds, but here they’re great. The food, the sandwiches, onigiri, the snacks — you can get everything. And as social media grows, the hype around these viral snacks is a whole thing as well.
We become known for basing our flavours really strongly on a unique flavour. So with the baseball menu we had the Glizztini, which was a hot dog flavoured Martini which contrary to popular belief was delicious. It was a very, savoury, dirty style.
I don’t think every single drink should be this crazy whimsical serve, but I love seeing people’s faces. And on this menu, we’ve got the Onigiri Martini. For those not familiar, onigiri are rice balls and the most popular, and my favourite flavour, is the tuna mayo one. So we have a Martini that’s based on the flavour of that, that we serve with a little piece of nori with tuna mayo.
BOOTHBY: Wow.
HOLLY GRAHAM: I tend to just have these stupid ideas like an Onigiritini, and then Waka Murata, my bar manager, she’ll just go off and R&D it — and she just nails it every time.
BOOTHBY: Let’s stay on the Onigiri Martini — how do you make that combination taste good in a drink? Because often these food-inspired drinks sometimes you may like that as a dish, but in a drink form?
HOLLY GRAHAM: Yeah, I will be honest about that — with the Onigiritini and the Glizztini, they’re delicious and unique and they make your brain tick. But most of them are one and done. You do get a lot of people that will have a few, but definitely it’s more people wanting to try that.
So for the Onigiritini, we use sake, seaweed-infused shochu, mirin, fish sauce and clear soy sauce and a little bit of salt. It sounds fishy, but it’s not. It’s delicious. It’s honestly mind blowing.
|
Qwang
B1F, 3-1-18 Nishi-Azabu, Minato-ku · qwang.sakura.ne.jp · @qwangbar
“There’s a bar called [Qwang] just up the road from us, because it’s really Japanese, but it’s not,” says Graham. “Sometimes Japanese bars, you’re expected to be quite quiet, and I think for out of towners that can be a struggle sometimes, especially if you’re trying to catch up and chat. And [Qwang], they’re just very welcoming and it is still quiet. There’s still Japanese bartending, but his cocktails are a little bit more out there.” “His wife used to cook in Thai restaurants, so she cooks incredible Thai food. And something that I miss in Japan, because I used to live in Thailand many years ago — the spice isn’t quite that level. So she cooks it legit spicy. I love that in the winter, they put this heated panel at the front of the bar, so you can pony up to the bar, it’s all warm on your knees, and you’re smashing [drinks] — he makes such an excellent Rye Manhattan — with a Thai curry. It’s just a vibe.”
|
|
El Fujiyama
2F, 1-6-4 Azabu-Juban, Minato-ku · elfujiyama.com · @elfujiyama_tokyo
“And then we’ve got [El] Fujiyama next door, which is agave. Again, it is quiet, but you can be a little bit louder there, because the owners are just absolute babes and support us all the time. You can drink some excellent agave there. And again, their cocktails are just really out there for Japanese bartending. Big fan of those guys.”
|
|
RJ Lounge
“My best friend, he just moved to Hong Kong, but you would often find us in RJ Lounge, which is a tiny little karaoke lounge, just crushing highballs, singing,” says Graham. “Sometimes it would just be us two, which is terrifying.”
|
|
Yellow Mama
B1, 2-20-26 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku · @yellowmama.dogenzaka
“My team loves to go to Yellow Mama, and often you’ll find a convergence of Team TC, [The] Bellwood and The SG Club. So that’s also a karaoke bar, because as we all know, karaoke is so popular here.”
|
|
The BRICKs Diner
6F, 2-8-8 Azabu-Juban, Minato-ku · @the_bricks_diner
“There’s a great little Japanese-owned American-style dive bar behind TC called Bricks. They do really good chilli fries. You can play Switch and darts. And it’s open untill five or six a.m. That’s always a good one. Crush highballs.”
|
|
MAC Bar
3F Bora Bora Bldg, 3-4 Tatemachi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima
“This isn’t Tokyo, but one of my favourite bars of all time is a bar called Mac, in Hiroshima. I went there in 2017, before I lived here. It’s a listening bar, but it’s CDs as opposed to records. And there’s these huge custom built concertina cupboard things that the owner has built. You can chain smoke, crush Highballs and pick music.” “They take requests and again, a fucking vibe. It’s so good. If you go to Hiroshima, Mac Bar — love that gaff.”
|
|
Virtù
Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Otemachi, 39F, 1-2-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku · fourseasons.com/otemachi · @virtutokyo
“It’s a little bit cheating, but I sing their praises all the time — [Virtù], because you can get the pizza from their Italian restaurant. Pizza in general is fucking bangin’ in Japan. They just absolutely nailed it here. Outside of Japanese food, it’s the next best thing. So you can get the pizza from their Italian restaurant and eat it at Virtù. But they also have good little sliders and stuff.”
|
