Flying Bumblebee — Restaurant in Tokyo

For food, I had the salmon jerky (3 times) and the pate. They were very tasty and went well with the drinks. I mixed a few drinks. Started off with a pour of the Yamazaki 12 yr. It is a great whiskey that was very reasonably priced.

Then, the mixing happened. I tried the boulevardier, a mix of bourbon, Japanese Amaro, and Antica Formula ( sweet vermouth). The seasonal drink, Shine Muscat grape with vodka. Finally, my curiosity got the best of me. I ordered mansinthe, a swiss made absinthe by Marylin Manseng. For a first-time try, I would say it was pretty good. Very medicinal smell that I couldn't help but smell the whole time because I liked it a lot. You can decide how much of the ice water you want to add to your drink. The bartender gave recs on how much to add. I went with the stronger route and added the least amount at first. I'd def give one of the other brands a try now.

Finally, I finished it off with Floki, Icelandic whiskey. Being a scotch and bourban guy, I felt it did not have as much depth as other whiskies, probably because it's only aged for 3 years, and I was already 5 drinks in. I'd definitely give it another try. They also have the sheep dung one, which I passed on for now.

Overall, it's definitely a great place to go to. The counter only seating makes it a more...

Bad experience. Date night ruined.

Had high hopes of visiting Flying 🐝 and was looking forward to having a couple of cocktails there…but due to poor decision making and service by the staff, we did not enjoy our time there.

Initially, we were placed at this waiting area and asked to wait for seats. It’s a small bar with prob around 12-15 seats. However there were two seats occupied by a bag n a coat (?) belonging to a group of tourists (please see pic). We asked a couple of times if we can take those two seats instead, but the wait staff gave unacceptable reasons on why we can’t - to summarise, we are upset that the staff didn’t even try and instead, chose to let a bag and a coat occupy the seats throughout our time there. They then proceeded to serve us our drinks, with us still placed at the waiting area, on uncomfortable stools and a shaky table. They also forgot to serve us water and the bar snacks also came late - we felt forgotten.

So it was not possible for us to stay further for a second drink as we felt...

First of all, let me say, Toshu, you are the best! Even 10 stars are not enough to give you a score. I went to a total of 14 bars during the three weeks of my trip to Japan. You are the best bartender of them all. You are the kindest, wittiest, funniest talking bartender I've ever met. The seats were almost full at that time, but you were talking to all the customers and paying attention to them. The cocktail you are going to serve in the upcoming competition is of perfect quality. I am sure it will be a winner.

The only sad thing is that that Monday night was my last night in Japan. I regret why I did not come here earlier. If I had come here and met you on my first day in Japan, I might not have gone to Osaka or Fukoka. I will always come back here. As long as you are here. And next time I would like to meet Ai, the owner of this place, whom you said is a wonderful human being. Toshu, Ai, I will definitely see you when I go to Japan...