Cocktail Bar Near Me in Nishi-Shinjuku: Bar BenFiddich's Menu-Free Herb Counter

Bar BenFiddich has no cocktail menu. Since 2013, owner-bartender Hiroyasu Kayama has run a 15-seat room on the 9th floor of the Yamatoya Building at 1-13-7 Nishi-Shinjuku, asking each guest what they like and building a drink around herbs he grows himself. Seats are sold on TableCheck in three nightly slots at 7pm, 9pm and 11pm. On October 7, 2026 it placed No 44 on The World's 50 Best Bars, Tokyo's highest entry and the cocktail bar near me worth chasing from Shinjuku's west exit.

Tabelog puts the bar a five-minute walk from the West Exit of JR Shinjuku Station, and TableCheck measures it at under 200 metres from the nearest Shinjuku entrance. There is no street sign to guide you, only the address. One visitor writing for Feastio described squeezing out of a tiny elevator on the 9th floor, a landing that gives access to the bar and a fire escape and little else.

Inside, the room feels closer to a farmhouse than a skyscraper district. Goethe described balloon-vine and wormwood branches hanging from the ceiling, lamps over the counter trimmed with wormwood from the farm, and a strip of tree bark on the wall that smells faintly of coconut. The Infatuation, reviewing in October 2026, adds stacked jars of fermenting botanical liqueurs and taxidermy animals peering from the walls, and Feastio noticed a mounted deer head above the walnut bar.

Tabelog lists the opening day as July 1, 2013. The name is a private joke in Scottish Gaelic: Goethe explains that ben means mountain and fiddich means deer, which together spell the two characters of Kayama's own surname. A 2026 diary on note.com records that he once worked at the Imperial Hotel, and one of his hot cocktails still borrows that hotel's flaming Cherry Jubilee.

Kayama calls himself a farmer bartender. Goethe reported that he grows more than 40 plants in Saitama Prefecture, among them wormwood, juniper, anise and fennel, under the motto farm to glass. Hyatt Regency Tokyo's June 2026 release ties those botanicals to his hometown of Chichibu. The World's 50 Best Bars ranked the room No 18 in 2025, and Time Out reported its slide to No 44 in October 2026.

The TableCheck page states it plainly: there is no menu, so you tell the bartender your preferences and he makes a cocktail for you. The Infatuation gives a typical exchange: if you like Old Fashioneds, Kayama might suggest one built on wild lavender. The World's 50 Best guide says most drinks start from one of four bases, namely amaro, whisky, gin or absinthe, then pick up spices from the jars.

Watching the build is half the evening. Instead of a bar spoon, Kayama often stirs with a fresh juniper branch, flicking it with his fingertips, and herbs are crushed in a stone mortar or toasted with a burner to wake up the aroma. When he pours absinthe he reaches up for a hanging jug of honey water to soften the bitterness. Goethe named a gin drink called The Forest, built to taste of the farm's seasons, as a signature.

Much of the back bar is made in-house. En Primeur Club's February 2026 review lists house versions of amaro, Campari and absinthe, the absinthe distilled from wormwood, anise, juniper berries, chamomile, fennel seeds, mint and yuzu. A 2026 note.com diarist ordered the hot Cherry Jubilee, made with brandy, butter, raspberry and cherry liqueurs and finished over a flame in front of her, and returned for a cocktail of watermelon and cheese.

Because nothing is printed, prices come from guests and press. Goethe listed cocktails from ¥1,600 in 2023, and a Trip.com reviewer in March 2025 put most glasses at about ¥2,000. A Feastio writer paid around ¥11,400 for five cocktails on a 2024 visit. Tabelog lists a 10% charge plus a 10% service fee on top. At Kayama's August 2026 guest night at Hyatt Regency Tokyo, a signature cocktail cost ¥3,000 and a four-drink package ¥11,000.

Kayama keeps an irregular calendar and closes the bar whenever he is away, so the next month's opening days appear on the bar's Instagram on the 20th, when TableCheck bookings open. The Infatuation says slots release at midnight and can vanish within minutes. En Primeur Club notes each sitting lasts about 110 minutes, so the 7pm, 9pm and 11pm starts work like three separate evenings rather than one long night.

The rules on TableCheck are strict. A booking is cancelled once you are 15 minutes late, parties of five or more are refused, and groups may not split themselves across several bookings. Specific seats are not guaranteed, and nobody answers the phone during service. Cancelling or changing within 24 hours costs ¥5,000 per person. Skip the walk-in gamble on a busy night, because TableCheck says reserved guests always take priority.

A note.com diarist who finally got in during 2026 found the counter dominated by overseas visitors, with English heard all around her. Couples mark occasions here too: on her second visit Kayama served her husband a birthday cocktail at midnight. Hotel guests are the third regular type. The Feastio writer, staying at the nearby Hilton Tokyo, was turned away at 5pm but the host booked him in for the following night.

Do not count on the BenFiddich annex as a backup, since the same diarist recorded that it closed on March 22, 2026. If the calendar is full, Shot Bar Zoetrope at 7-10-14 Nishi-Shinjuku sits six minutes on foot from the JR West Exit. Open since 2006, it runs from 5pm to 11pm Monday to Saturday according to Tabelog, takes reservations on 03-3363-0162, and specialises in Japanese whisky with old films playing on the wall.

Before a 7pm slot, Omoide Yokocho sits two minutes from Shinjuku Station on the west side, a narrow alley of smoky yakitori counters where Go Tokyo notes each place seats only five or six people and most expect cash. A couple of skewers and a beer there is a better base for strong herbal cocktails than arriving hungry, and Go Tokyo says to look for a dim green sign and red lanterns.

After an early sitting, Zoetrope makes a natural second stop, and Time Out notes owner Atsushi Horigami recruited the late film art director Takeo Kimura to design the room. If you prefer a hotel lounge, Nineteen Eighty Lounge and Bar at Hyatt Regency Tokyo hosted Kayama for one night on August 9, 2026, launching its Guest Bartender Series. The Hilton Tokyo, which Feastio describes as sitting in the same neighbourhood, suits guests who want a short walk home.

The address is Yamatoya Building 9F, 1-13-7 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0023, and the listed phone is +81 3-6258-0309, though calls go unanswered during service. TableCheck offers sittings from 7pm, 9pm and 11pm on scheduled days only. Tabelog says VISA, Mastercard, JCB, AMEX and Diners cards are accepted, while electronic money and QR payments are not. The room is non-smoking and has no parking.

Tabelog lists no dress code and seven seats at the counter, which are the ones to request because the show happens there, even if a seat cannot be promised. Access is by a small lift to the 9th floor. Book on the 20th, arrive a few minutes early for your slot, and describe a flavour or a mood instead of naming a classic, since that is where Kayama's herbs make the biggest difference.