Tapas Bar Near Me by Shinjuku Gyoen: BAR PELOTA's Sherry and Paella

BAR PELOTA is a Spanish bar on the ground floor of 2-5-15 Shinjuku, three minutes from Shinjuku-gyoemmae Station and two from Shinjuku-sanchome, with windows that look onto the trees of Shinjuku Gyoen. It is open from 11.30am to 11pm and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. If you are hunting for a tapas bar near me in Shinjuku that pours real sherry, this is the one to know: about 20 sherries and 20 wines are poured by the glass, and a flight of three sherries costs ¥1,300.

Pelota means ball in Spanish, and the bar says it chose the name to match the Japanese word mari, the traditional embroidered ball, so the room was designed to feel soft and rounded rather than loud. It belongs to the Marugo group of restaurants run by Waltz Co., which operates bars and restaurants around Shinjuku, Marunouchi and Shimbashi.

The setting is the selling point. The single-floor room opens toward Shinjuku Gyoen, and there is terrace-style engawa seating where you can feel the breeze from the garden. The bar itself encourages daytime drinking with a view of the trees, which few bars this close to Shinjuku Station can offer.

The drinks list is deeper than the room suggests. The bar stocks more than 200 Spanish wines and over 300 wines in total, with seasonal bottles rotating in, and about 20 wines by the glass from natural styles to value picks. The 20-plus sherries run from bone-dry to very sweet, and the staff will steer you if you name a dish first.

The three-sherry tasting flight at ¥1,300 is the best first order for anyone new to sherry. More than 15 cocktails include an original sangria, limoncello soda and the Barcelona, sangria topped with cava. At lunch, Estrella Galicia is ¥900, Asahi Super Dry is ¥700 and glasses of red or white wine start at ¥700.

The cheapest way to eat here is the row of ¥600 small plates: octopus and potato in the Galician style, marinated sardines with piquillo peppers, chickpea and spinach hummus, and chicken with lotus root in a mustard marinade. A very rich chicken liver mousse is ¥800, the La Mancha salad of egg, tuna, olives and tomato is ¥950 and the Spanish omelette is ¥1,000.

Hot plates include spicy Ibérico pork tongue skewers for ¥900, callos tripe stew for ¥900 and a sansho-pepper sausage made from Nikko HIMITSU pork for ¥1,300, which the menu marks as a recommendation. Both ajillos cost ¥1,000, one with prawns and winged beans and one with chicken cartilage and mushrooms. Bread is ¥150 a piece and garlic toast is ¥500.

The paella stock is made with fresh seafood sent from Tsukiji and finished with saffron. Seafood paella is ¥2,200, squid-ink paella is ¥2,400, Ibérico pork paella in the Bismarck style is ¥2,600 and the chef's changing paella of the day is ¥2,800. A larger pan costs ¥800 more.

The menu warns that paella can take 40 minutes to an hour to arrive, so order it with your first drink, not after the tapas. For meat, the lamb T-bone steak with basil sauce is ¥1,700 for two pieces, sautéed Spanish red pork skirt with garlic sauce is ¥1,800 and the wagyu roast of the day is ¥2,500, with the brand chosen by the chef.

Jamón Ibérico cebo aged 24 months is carved from the leg, at ¥1,500 for a medium plate and ¥2,200 for a large one, while Serrano ham is ¥800. Spanish Manchego and Valdeón blue are ¥900 each, French Brie de Meaux and Mimolette are ¥800, and a board of three cheeses is ¥1,500 or five for ¥2,000. A mixed ham and salami plate is ¥1,500.

Desserts are simple and cheap: Basque cheesecake, apple caramel torta and gâteau chocolat are ¥600 each, and a dessert platter is ¥1,200. On the café-time menu, any dessert can be paired with coffee or tea for ¥300 more, which makes PELOTA a good stop after a walk in the garden.

Lunch runs from 11.30am to 3pm, with a prix-fixe course from ¥2,200 that includes soup and salad and a choice of mains such as roast almond pork or herb-baked sea bream; braised beef cheek in red wine costs ¥500 extra. Dinner is from 5pm to 11pm, with the last food and drink orders at 10pm. On weekdays the kitchen closes between 3pm and 5pm.

Booking a seat online for 5pm to 6pm on a weekday, for two to eight people, comes with one free drink each. Cancelling a seat-only booking on the day costs ¥2,000 per person, or ¥3,000 if you do not call. Children are not admitted at dinner, so families should come at lunch.

Groups are a big part of the business: the room seats 50 and holds 60 standing, and it can be hired for parties of 30 to 60, which is why it is popular for wedding after-parties and reunions. Smaller parties of 10 to 20 are seated along the wall sofas. Couples and solo drinkers take the counter, and English, Chinese and Korean menus are available.

One honest suggestion: skip the dried fruit plates, at ¥600 to ¥1,000 they are just snacks, and put the money toward the sherry flight and the octopus instead. If the paella wait is too long, the Spanish omelette at ¥1,000 is the faster way to fill up before a train.

The bar is a short walk from the garden's Okido Gate near Shinjuku-gyoemmae Station, so the easiest plan is a walk in Shinjuku Gyoen in the afternoon and an early dinner here once the garden closes. In autumn the garden's trees turn colour, and the window seats look straight into that green.

Shinjuku-sanchome Station on the Marunouchi, Fukutoshin and Toei Shinjuku lines is two minutes away, and the southeast exit of JR Shinjuku Station is about seven minutes on foot. That puts the bar between the department stores of Shinjuku-sanchome and the quieter streets around the garden.

Address: 2-5-15 Shinjuku 1F, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0022. Phone: +81 3-5925-8605. Hours: 11.30am to 11pm; lunch 11.30am to 3pm, dinner 5pm to 11pm, last orders 10pm; closed Mondays and Tuesdays. The whole room is non-smoking. Cards accepted include Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express and Diners, plus transit IC cards and PayPay.