Hong Kong will play host to the page-one event of the cocktail world on 16 July 2024; the 9th edition of Asia’s 50 Best Bars. Hot on the trail of uncovering what could be Asia’s next leading stars in mixology, we talk to Holly Graham, founder of Tokyo Confidential who coincidentally had called the City of Skyscrapers home for 9 years.
Following her near decade-long career in Hong Kong, Holly’s new role at Tokyo Confidential has seen her challenging consumption habits around cocktails in a foreign city. Up until Tokyo Confidential’s existence, a ‘rowdy’ bar in the heart of Tokyo city was unheard-of. Stepping up to the plate, this East-end Londoner is pouring her boisterous and voluble self into a colourful cocktail bar in the Azabu-jūban neighbourhood. Here, the drinks are wacky, the jokes a little off-colour, and laugher flows as freely as the champagne.
We sit down with Holly who pulls up and narrates her journey from editorial to bar ownership and what to expect of the new menu: Second Base.
Popspoken: How has Tokyo been treating you so far?
Holly Graham: Of course it’s been a challenge but I live for challenges. The bar scene has been welcoming and supportive and I look forward to growing with everyone. I’ve been here less than a year and there’s an infinite amount to learn and explore.
Popspoken: What was the thought process behind opening Tokyo Confidential and how does it differ from the other cocktail bars in the city?
Holly Graham: I wanted to bring the vibe of one of my favourite bar scenes in the world – Hong Kong – to Tokyo. Japanese bars can be a little more reserved, and while I love Japan, I am by nature, not reserved at all. So I wanted to bring that convivial rowdiness I loved in HK and fill a niche in the market here.
Pardon my ignorance, but I believe that Tokyo is known for having a more reserved and conservative drinking culture where consumers generally keep to themselves and speak in hushed tones (I visited some 5 years ago, so I’m not really in check). Would you say there is a certain raucousness to Tokyo Confidential’s vibe and was it particularly challenging for consumers to accept?
As above but also no – pretty much everyone except for my ever-trusting team told me TC’s concept wouldn’t work and people wouldn’t get it. But the reception has been amazing from the get-go. It shows me there was a need for this in the city, and I’m happy to be giving the people what they want.
Popspoken: Tell us how did life pave its way for you from writing in Hong Kong to bartending in Tokyo.
Holly Graham: During my time as food and drink editor of Time Out Hong Kong, I found myself enjoying the drink side of things – the community, the talent, the technique.
I’d also worked in hospitality on and off since I was 14 and when I became the managing editor of DRiNK Magazine Asia (DRiNK), I figured if I was going to write about booze and bartending, I should do it so I could write with knowledge and authority. I was simultaneously bartending at The Old Man Hong Kong and writing for DRiNK, and eventually left the bar to concentrate on writing and publishing my first book Cocktails of Asia. After the pandemic, I finally began to wonder what my next step would be and as HK and Japan finally reopened to the world in October 2022, my now business partner in Tokyo Confidential contacted me, and the rest is history in the making.
Popspoken: Favourite city to vacation in? To live in? To have a meal in? To drink your way through?
Holly Graham: To vacation in: Oaxaca, Mexico. Simply one of the best places on Earth and where I signed my contract for Tokyo Confidential; to live in: Hong Kong. It will always have my heart; to have a meal in: Penang. Best eating on Earth and the place I plan to retire and to drink: Buenos Aires. It’s just so cool and fun.
Popspoken: How did you get the team involved in the manifestation of Tokyo Confidential?
Holly Graham: They’re just the best bunch of people who want to do something different and believe in me and the vision. I let them have their say too, which helps when they’re invested.
Popspoken: Tell us more about your new menu, Second Base.
Holly Graham: An ode to the team’s love of baseball and its community spirit, Second Base is presented as a wallet used to collect baseball cards, with individual cards for each cocktail and collectable “team player” cards featuring key members of Team TC. Baseball is popular in Japan, and inspired by a past visit of mine to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, where I read the heartwarming story of how Hiroshima’s residents pulled together after the bombings to rebuild the baseball stadium as a way to come together and rebuild the community hub. Seeing the Hiroshima Carps baseball jerseys on display around the city, I bought one and started collecting jerseys on my travels. Having lived abroad most of my adult life, the idea of community is super important to me and I love how that is channeled through baseball.
Each of the drinks is a cheeky nod to baseball terminology or traditions, bringing them to life in liquid form, utilising lesser known Japanese ingredients and spirits. We’ve got some absolute bangers and some delicious but silly shit like the savoury Glizztini which reimagines the quintessential game-day hot dog in drink form without any sausage in sight. Garnished with red and yellow cacao butter to mimic ketchup and mustard, the martini-style drink is dispensed from a ketchup bottle for a little bit of fun theatre. We also serve one of our drinks from a custom 3D printed baseball and presented in a baseball glove, which people absolutely delight in seeing!
Popspoken: What is the one drink on the menu that you’re most particularly proud of.
Holly Graham: The Glizztini. It’s silly, but a genuinely delicious and well crafted drink created using gin, mugi shochu, tomato pickle, mezcal, onion brine and MSG. I tasked my head bartender Waka Murata with making a hotdog flavoured martini, and she just absolutely nailed it. It’s a must for savoury drink and martini lovers.
Popspoken: What’s on the snack menu and what’s your favourite drink and food combo to have right now?
Holly Graham: We’ve obviously got hotdogs because takoyaki cheesy poofs which go perfectly with highball-style Katsuo Isono, with gin, myoga, bonito, ume, lychee, agricole rum and ponzu.
Popspoken: Is there anything specific on the horizon? Will the future menus always be inspired by baseball?
Holly Graham: No not at all! This is just the concept of our current menu. We’re ever adapting and changing as per the Japanese concept of kaizen.
Popspoken: How important is it for you to use local spirits in your menu?
Holly Graham: Very. It’s a big part of what we do. We’re not a Japanese bar but we are a bar in Japan so we utilise ingredients available to us.
Popspoken: On a scale of 1 – 10, how good is your baseball?
Holly Graham: Absolute shite I’d imagine.
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