Tokyo Confidential debuts cat-themed menu
Neko No Densetsu is the new menu from Holly Graham’s Tokyo Confidential bar in Japan’s capital, inspired by its creative director’s love of cats.
Featuring comic book illustrations, the menu draws inspiration from the legend of Tokyo’s Gotokuji Temple, said to be the birthplace of the ‘maneki-neko’, or lucky cat.
The menu follows the bar’s second drinks list, which had a baseball theme.
Graham, who opened Tokyo Confidential in 2023, first visited Asia on a university exchange in Hangzhou, China, where she became familiar with maneki-neko, bringing them home as souvenirs. She soon amassed nearly 30 figures, which are now displayed on Tokyo Confidential’s back bar.
She said: “Having lived in Thailand, South Korea and Hong Kong, I was used to seeing maneki-neko, but didn’t know that their origin began in Japan until moving here and discovering the lore.”
According to a 17th-century folklore story, a samurai lord was saved from being hit by lightning by a cat that beckoned him into a temple. He helped to rebuild the temple as a sign of his appreciation, which today features multiple lucky cat statues.
The cocktail menu is illustrated by local artist Touré Grantham of Sunking Designs and features a reimagined version of the story. In Tokyo Confidential’s version, two female samurais – based on Graham and head bartender Waka Murata – rebuild the temple, but also add a bar, creating a shrine for the ‘cocktail nekos of the world to make pilgrimages and offer their elixirs to honour the maneki-neko’.
Serves include C.R.E.A.M (‘Cats Rule Everything Around Me’), which is said to be created by a former member of the ‘Mew Tang Clan’ and features Bourbon, mugi shochu, raspberry, coffee and cream.
The Arigato El Gatto – depicted in the menu as a Mexican Luchador cat – is a Mexican-Korean fusion, featuring mezcal, soju, watermelon and chili, with a worm salt, Tajín and shichimi rim.
A nostalgic throwback, the Sore Wa Subarashi features Frosties Cognac, cacao nib, coconut and milk wash, and is served in a retro cereal bowl.
Another serve, Hyrule, is inspired by both The Legend of Zelda and Graham’s own cat, named after the video game character. It blends the bar’s Funkytown Sake, which was created as part of a collaboration with Yamagata brewery Katō Kahachirō Shuzō, with pale ale, strawberry, beetroot and hibiscus mistelle and vanilla.
The food offering has also been revamped and includes the CatDog, a hotdog topped with cream cheese, bacon bits and spring onion. Other nibbles include popcorn, smoked nuts and cheese.
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