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by
Georgia Jacobs Maduro  |
As
seasoned reporters of the bar beat, it only took us only a week after the celebration
aftermath of Roppongi Hills' opening parties had been swept away to check
out the much talked-about Maduro on the fourth floor of the Grand Hyatt Tokyo.
Though conflicting reports had filtered in, ranging from dead Sunday nights and
weak drinks to tippling with the stars, our first venture, on a Tuesday, seemed
to confirm the latter. After arriving dazed and confused, through the maze of
Japan's largest entertainment complex and the hallways of Tokyo's
hottest new hotel, over bridges and past man-made ponds and pathways to a non-descript
slab of boards, we were, to say the least, ready for a stiff cocktail.
The
wooden door magically moved aside as we stepped up, and a smiling host welcomed
us into an airy, low-lit 86-seat room, booming with live blues and packed to capacity
with suited business travelers and local black-clad urbanites. Directed to the
last remaining spots at the bar, we were more concerned with whetting our whistles
than surveying our surroundings, and in our hurry to belly up, we nearly bumped
into a startled Hugh Grant, in town to promote Two Weeks Notice, coming out of
the bathroom.
Subsequent visits have been celeb-free but nonetheless enjoyable.
The two-month-old place had already garnered a reputation for subdued and sophisticated
partying, much as the name suggests-maduro means mature in Spanish. The
cozy leather seats surrounding small cocktail tables, punctuated by the occasional
high-back chair, plush velvet sofas, soft chandelier-lighting, tasteful glass
pillars and stellar wine list are the perfect elixir to a hard week at the office.
On a recent visit, we made our way through the creative cocktail list, beginning
with a couple of cosmopolitans (¥1,300), moving on to gin-and-tonics (¥900)
and finishing up with Hemingway's poison of choice, minty cane-alcohol
mojitos, which came in two varieties-traditional and the house version
jazzed up with berry juice (both ¥1,300 each). All the while we munched
on peppered cashews and debated the rise and fall of domestic and overseas stock
markets.
While the stars never came out that night, the ambience felt
ripe for a cameo, and had our stomachs not begged for a famous chef's wiener
schnitzel, we might just have bumped into another Hollywood heavyweight or celebrated
captain of industry passing through town. But there's always next time-and
there will be a next time. Open daily 6pm-2am.
4F Grand Hyatt Tokyo, 6-10-3 Roppongi. Tel: 03-4333-8888. Nearest stn: Roppongi.
Photo credit:
Courtesy of the Grand Hyatt Tokyo
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