Tapas Bar Near Me in Nishi-Shinjuku: GLASS DANCE's Glass Tapas and Paella

GLASS DANCE is in the basement of the Shinjuku Nomura Building at 1-26-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, five minutes on foot from the west exit of Shinjuku Station and four from exit 2 of Nishi-Shinjuku on the Marunouchi line. It opens every day, Spanish skewers start at ¥290, and the seafood paella with red prawns is ¥2,980. If you need a tapas bar near me among the West Shinjuku towers after work, this is an easy walk from the station.

The bar is run by the DD Group, the Tokyo restaurant company behind many themed bars and dining rooms, and its name explains its best idea. The starters are served as glass tapas: small clear verrine glasses layered with colourful ingredients, closer in look to a dessert than a plate of bar food. The company describes the effect as opening a jewellery box, and that is how a meal here is meant to begin.

The room plays along. It is a basement space with chic designer furniture, chandeliers over the central round tables and a six-seat counter in front of a backlit wall of dozens of bottled beers. The counter is the spot for one or two people; the bar says solo guests are welcome to take their time there, while larger groups go to the tables and sofa seats.

The easiest first order is the GLASSDANCE platter, four of the recommended tapas for ¥1,490. Single cold plates are cheap: an orange-scented carrot salad with walnuts is ¥390, pickles are ¥490, sea bream tartare with fresh wasabi is ¥490 and a white liver pâté with walnuts and raisins is ¥490. Salmon and avocado marinated in lemon and herbs and sardine escabeche with sherry vinegar are ¥590 each.

For the table, the Iberico bellota ham is ¥1,690, jamón serrano is ¥890 and a combined ham platter is ¥1,890, with a plate of Iberico chorizo for ¥490. A daily cheese assortment costs ¥1,490. The bouquet-style Spanish salad, arranged to stand up like a bunch of flowers, is ¥1,290, and it is the prettiest plate on the menu.

The original Spanish brochettes are where GLASS DANCE differs from other bars. There are ten kinds. Herb chicken with a wasabi green sauce, pork belly with barbecue sauce, chicken gizzard served with smoked iburi-gakko pickle and quail eggs wrapped in bacon with honey mustard are each ¥290. Vegetables with anchovy sauce are ¥390.

The richer skewers are ¥490: melting four-cheese, soft-shell shrimp, octopus and tomato with basil sauce, and a green pepper stuffed with homemade tsukune. If you cannot decide, the chef's assortment of three is ¥1,100. Skewers make sense here because they are quick: order a few with the first beer while the paella cooks.

The hot list covers the bar classics at low prices. Pulpo a la gallega is ¥690, prawn and cod stewed in tomato is ¥690, and flamenca eggs with sausage and a soft egg are ¥790. Croquetas of ham and cod, or of crab cream, are ¥590, as are a big plate of fries and the anchovy cabbage the bar calls its popular snack.

The ajillos come with baguette. Red prawn ajillo and mushroom ajillo with Spanish ham are ¥890 each, and a sardine ajillo with lemon is ¥790. The largest hot tapa is mussels steamed in Tío Pepe sherry for ¥1,290. Desserts are short: an orange Basque cheesecake or a chocolate brûlée with vanilla ice cream is ¥690, and a dessert platter is ¥1,500.

The seafood paellas use a stock built mainly from clams, prawns and sea bream, and the meat paellas use a dark consommé of Japanese beef tendon and chicken bones, deepened with porcini and ham. The rice is a Japanese variety chosen for paella. The Valencian chicken and jamón serrano paella is ¥2,180, squid ink is ¥2,480, Galician baby octopus is ¥2,580 and pork with mushrooms is ¥2,880.

The red prawn seafood paella at ¥2,980 is the one the menu marks as a recommendation, and it is the one to order. Skip the lobster paella at ¥4,980 unless it is a celebration: it costs two thousand yen more for a single showpiece ingredient. Undecided tables can split a half-and-half pan for ¥3,880, and small clam paella is ¥3,980.

Beer is a big part of the list. Asahi Super Dry on draught is ¥660, and four Spring Valley craft beers are ¥1,100 each. From Spain there is Mahou pilsner for ¥900, Moritz for ¥1,100 and two Maeloc ciders made from Galician apples, organic or dry, at ¥900; the dry one won silver at the International Cider Challenge in 2017.

The house sangrias come in four styles, steeped with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and mango. Wine is kept simple, with Hello World Viognier and Cabernet Franc at ¥4,300 a bottle, plus red and white by the glass and carafe on the party menus. The two-hour free-flow Casual course, with seven dishes including chicken paella and grilled pork, is ¥5,000 per person.

Dinner starts at 5pm every day and runs until 10:30pm, or 11pm on Fridays, with food last orders an hour earlier. Weekday lunch is 11:30am to 2pm and weekend lunch is noon to 3pm. A table charge of ¥550 including tax is added to à la carte orders, though not to courses, and the average dinner bill is about ¥3,500.

The Gurunavi booking calendar showed open tables every day from 16 October 2026 onward, so a booking is easy on most nights. Because the room seats about 60 and can be hired for up to 80 standing, the main risk is a private party; call ahead on Fridays. If it is full, Omoide Yokocho, the old alley of tiny yakitori counters by the west exit, is five minutes back toward the station.

The bar sits among the skyscrapers of West Shinjuku, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, with its free observation decks on the 45th floor, is a short walk away near Tochomae Station. An evening visit to the observatory followed by skewers and sangria in the basement is one of the cheapest good nights out in this part of the city.

Address: Shinjuku Nomura Building B1, 1-26-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-0590. Phone: +81 3-3348-5920. Dinner daily 5pm to 10:30pm, Fridays to 11pm; lunch weekdays 11:30am to 2pm, weekends and holidays noon to 3pm. No regular closing day; closures follow the building. Table charge ¥550 for à la carte. Paid parking in the building is ¥300 per 30 minutes. Cards, Suica, PASMO, PayPay, Alipay and WeChat Pay accepted.