Frigo Est
Belgian beer lovers get a pub to call their own in Jimbocho

Courtesy of Frigo Est

On our first visit to Frigo Est, we got the feeling that we’d been there before. And, in a sense, we had. This Belgian beer pub is operated by the same group that runs Favori in Ginza and Belgo in Shibuya, and it recreates the appeal of its sister establishments.

Like Belgo, Frigo Est has a small, multi-level interior that’s highlighted by lots of dark wood. In fact, when we stopped by shortly after the March opening, the smell of sawdust still hung in the air. Patrons can choose to sit at tables opposite the bar counter, or head up to the raised area, which has a couple of tables with benches built right into the walls. Pride of place, though, goes to the two glass-fronted fridges holding dozens of bottles of ale. For every familiar label like Chimay, Leffe and St. Feuillien, there are dozens more from obscure breweries, many of which are hundreds of years old.

The primary difference between Frigo Est and its cousins is the neighborhood: whereas Belgo is just minutes from the youth enclave of Shibuya station, this pub has more of a shitamachi feel, surrounded by cheap ramen shops and massage parlors.
Frigo Est offers occasional beer specials, including Irish Night on Wednesdays, when pints of Guinness are just ¥700, down from ¥850. There’s also a “Belgian Beer Passport” system, which is a point card that awards a free beer for every 20 that you try.

During our visit on a rainy Wednesday night, passport holders were out in full force, and they included both ojisan, who we would have guessed would be in attendance, and young OLs, who we wouldn’t. The crowd picked up as the evening went on, which was good for the buzz, but which made for longer and longer waits at the bar—patrons can’t run a tab and are expected to pay by the glass.

It’s a good thing that the beers are worth the wait. Not being able to find our new favorite, Mont Saint Aubert, we decided to choose at random—which is not a bad way to go. The De Koninck (¥1,200) had
a lovely amber color and was a good starter at just 5 percent alcohol; like all the other ales we tried, it was served in a specially chosen glass. We made the leap to a stronger hand-crafted beer next—Trappistes Rochefort 8 (¥1,250), which rings in at 9.2 percent alcohol and had a malty taste with hints of fruit.

Frigo Est also prides itself on the authenticity of its European (read: heavy) food. We tried the pork rillette (¥750), which was a kind of paté served with thinly sliced French bread, and the Iberico chorizo (¥800), which came as several disks of chewy, intensely flavored meat. Though both were delicious, the portions were small, and not enough to soak up our increasingly high-alcohol beer choices. The next morning, we discovered another good point about Frigo Est: the hangover from Belgian craft brews is a lot kinder than that from their mass produced Japanese brethren.

2F Umezawa Bldg, 2-1-12 Nishi-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku. Tel: 03-3262-1138. Open Mon-Sat 5:30pm-2am, hols 3-11pm, closed Sun. Nearest stn: Jimbocho (exit A4) or Suidobashi (east exit). www.eurobeer.net

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