Waltz.

Waltz

The Evergreen half of the list is built on re-distilling, centrifugal clarification, fermentation and carbonation, and the other half rotates against Japan's historic calendar of 72 micro-seasons, so the menu changes roughly weekly on one page and never on the other (CLASS).

Why go

Gento Torigata opened this in May 2025 as his first solo bar, after Jigger & Pony in Singapore, Erik Lorincz's Kwãnt in London, and, the detail that explains the room, a bar in Ginza called Airelon (CLASS opening piece; CLASS review). You find it behind an unmarked, sound-proofed door under dark curtains on Scrutton Street, and inside there are barely a dozen seats at an eight-metre elm counter cut from a fallen tree in Gibson Square, Angel (Europe's 50 Best Bars 2026; CLASS). The technique reads across the whole list: green walnuts turned into an Italian-style nocino and sharpened with Buddha's hand tincture, a matcha old fashioned on Hibiki and Yame matcha, and highballs where the ice, the dilution and the temperature are the whole argument. There are twelve sakes by the glass, and the jazz is the bar's own reference point, since the name comes from Bill Evans' Waltz for Debby.

Order this / avoid

• Order: off the Evergreen page, because it does not move. The Matcha Old Fashioned was GBP 20 in July 2025, a tasty fresh, tannic rendition once you get past the color, and the sake gibson is the other named signature2. For a long drink, the Wakayama highball at GBP 17, Suntory Chita whisky with baijiu, ripe banana and umeshu, which Hamish Smith calls round and deep, while still refreshing despite being, by his own admission, no fan of highballs. Time Out's pick is the Original Picante, shockingly green and perfectly spicy4.
• Avoid: the floor, if cocktails are why you came. The full cocktail list goes only to the dozen seats at the counter, and the floor is served highballs and aperitifs (CLASS). Also treat anything on the In Season page as temporary: the reviewer's late-spring drink was already scheduled to come off that summer.

What locals & experts say

• CLASS, Hamish Smith (July 2025), 9/10 overall: his case is that London never had this. Japanese-style bars have mainly been ritzy adjuncts to restaurants, think Zuma, Nobu, Shochu Lounge, but none that I have visited, anyway, had that feeling of pulling up to the wood in Ginza. Not until Waltz opened its doors in Shoreditch this spring. His verdict: Like Angel's Share and Bar Goto in New York, Waltz feels every bit a proper export of the fabled Japanese cocktail bar. He scored hospitality 10, drinks 9, atmosphere 9, decor 8, value 7.2
• Mr Lyan (Ryan Chetiyawardana), in Time Out's seven-expert martini poll (June 2026): his favorite martini in London is here, specifically a nice version of a Gibson.6
• Time Out London, Liv Kelly (July 2026), 5 out of 5: This place has won a smattering of awards since it opened in 2025, but the execution of the service and the quality of the drinks are more reminiscent of a veteran institution. On the room: high navy walls are painted with dainty little starling murmurations to mimic a dusk sky.4
• Europe's 50 Best Bars 2026: No. 23, plus the Three Cents Best New Opening Award 2026, for Japanese-forward, technique-driven seasonal serves and highly refined interpretations of classics. London took seven places on that list, more than any other city.3
• Local rec: Jeff has it as a "New bar bartender rec," which Mr Lyan's pick backs up. REAL.

Good to know

• Getting a seat: the counter is walk-in only and there are about twelve stools, so come early. A couple of tables can be reserved, but the tables do not get the cocktail list (Europe's 50 Best; CLASS).
• Timing: unknown, and honestly so. No venue website resolves at either domain we could find, so no hours or closed days can be given. Time Out's reviewer was drinking there at 5.30pm on a Monday.
• Price: GBP 16 to 20 a cocktail as of the July 2025 review, which is a year old. CLASS scored value 7 out of 10 at those prices.
• Where: 28 Scrutton Street, EC2A 4RP, a short walk from Liverpool Street. The door is barely marked and sound-proofed, so look for the dark curtains.
• Dietary: nothing available. There is no reachable venue channel to carry an allergen or vegan statement, so ask at the bar.
• Hygiene: FSA rating 5, inspected 15 May 2025, registered under Hackney.
• Sound: Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Nina Simone, then Japanese jazz and city pop later on, on custom speakers (CLASS).

Craft signals (cocktails: 72 seasons, and a fixed Evergreen half)

The cadence here is unusually literal. The In Season half of the list turns on the Japanese calendar of 72 micro-seasons, more than one a week, which is why a seasonal drink you read about in July is almost certainly gone, and CLASS flagged exactly that with the Golden Beetroot & Radicchio in July 2025. The Evergreen half holds still on purpose and carries the house method, re-distilling, centrifugal clarification, fermentation and carbonation. Two signals, both drink-side: the stated 72-season cycle, and Three Cents Best New Opening 2026 with a No. 23 in Europe placing as the peer verdict.

Jeff's take (his words)

• Note: "New bar bartender rec" REAL.

Verdict

should-visit — A twelve-seat counter run by a bartender who worked Ginza, Singapore and Kwant, with one half of the list built on re-distillation, centrifugal clarification, fermentation and carbonation, and the other half rotating against Japan's 72-season calendar. Hamish Smith scored it 9/10 and put it alongside Angel's Share and Bar Goto as a real export of the Japanese cocktail bar rather than a themed room, and Europe's 50 Best made it No. 23 and best new opening in its first full year. It is a detour rather than a pilgrimage only because the record is one year old and the counter cannot be reserved, so the trip carries real risk of not getting the seat that matters.