Looking for a way to have a cheap night out, but still get your fill of drinks and/or food?
In Ginza, one of Tokyo’s central upmarket suburbs, there is a bar called “300 Bar“. There’s no cover charge, and every drink and food item is just 300 Yen (plus tax).
The way it works is that you buy a set of tickets at the door – each costing 300 Yen. Males need to buy a minimum of 3 tickets, and females a minimum of 2 tickets.
If you buy a full sheet of 10 tickets, you get an eleventh for free. So you can pretty much get 11 drinks for just 3,000 Yen (plus 8% tax).
While it’s no match for the price of beer from a Japanese convenience store, it’s still a pretty hard-to-beat deal with that working out to around $2.60 US dollars per drink!
The Ginza 300 Bar has three branches in Ginza and nearby Chiyoda, and we’ve been to two of them so far. It’s a standing bar, so there’s no seating, but they seem to attract a mix of locals and some foreigners to make a good crowd.
Food and drinks are both great with over 150 options to choose from.
The drink menu options are vast, including beers, spirits, fancy cocktails, and even non-alcoholic mocktails for those who don’t drink. You can also try Japanese alcoholic beverages such as umeboshi (plum wine) and sake.
We couldn’t resist a few food snacks as well. These all go down really well with a drink and the menu includes delicious options like pizzas, hamburgs, jerked chicken, nacho chips, fried potato chips and even salad and tapas dishes.
So if you’re looking for a cheap night out but don’t feel like a nomi–hodai (all-you-can-drink), the 300 bar may be a good option!