A Shop Operating a Saké Brewery Inside a Train Station Serves Breakfasts with Brewer’s Rice

Tokyo Station Saké Brewery is the world’s first saké brewery inside a train station. The company behind this saké brewery and shop — located in the Gransta Tokyo shopping complex inside Tokyo Station — is Hasegawa Saketen, which is devoted to the development of Japan’s saké industry and saké culture. The shop was reopened in 2020 after a renovation to make saké more accessible to people passing through the station. This is includes a tasting area where people can enjoy fresh saké directly from producers. Also popular are menu items made with brewer’s rice, which is not normally sold to the public. We spoke with Goto Minori, who is charge of running the shop, about the development of the shop’s menu.

Brewer’s rice is a hook to get people interested in saké

Hasegawa Saketen’s shop is located in the Square Zero area in the first basement of Gransta Tokyo, inside the gates of Tokyo Station. One of the most popular items on the tasting bar’s menu is a breakfast course that includes egg-on-rice made with brewer’s rice.

“Brewer’s rice is not especially delicious because it is a rice variety specialized for saké brewing. There are so many varieties of delicious rice out there, like Koshihikari or Akitakomachi. Given this, the one reason why we serve meals with brewer’s rice is to get people interested in saké through this one-of-a-kind experience.”

As Goto explains, the shop was created from the outset with the idea of spreading the culture of saké through experiences. The menu’s development began with the desire to get people to see how saké is brewed, to have them drink saké, and to have them learn about and eat brewer’s rice, which is the primary ingredient of saké.

A sugidama [a ball made from cedar sprigs that is traditionally hung from the eaves of sake breweries] marks the location of the tasting bar. Because it is a standing bar, people can easily drop in when short on time in the morning.

“Although the rice itself isn’t particularly delicious, we still wanted to showcase it in our menu items, which is how we came up with the egg-on-rice dish. We worked hard on getting the cooking method right, especially the amount of water, because brewer’s rice is different from regular rice. At the tasting event for the finished menu items, even our staff members were impressed at how surprisingly good the rice tasted.”

Enjoying a truly special breakfast without any fuss

The egg-on-rice breakfast course using brewer’s rice, a special rice variety not normally sold to ordinary consumers, is served from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. On the day of our visit, the brewer’s rice used was Kuranohana from Miyagi. The rice changes daily, rotating through seven types of brewer’s rice.

Our breakfast course consisted of Kuranohana brewer’s rice; miso soup made with miso from the brewery that brews Akita’s famed Taiheizan saké; cucumbers pickled in homemade salted koji rice bran; and a raw egg

Each grain of brewer’s rice has a large, unmistakable presence, as the rice is produced on the assumption that it will be polished. Once in your mouth, it feels fresh and invigorating, with little stickiness. The liquid egg sticks firmly to the rice, and you can really taste the soy sauce, even when only using a little. The whole dish is more delicious than you’d expect. Another key element of this novel egg-on-rice dish that simply glides down your throat is the painstakingly selected soy sauce.

“After testing a number of soy sauces, we elected to go with Fudai Soden, a prized soy sauce from Nikko Souyu presented to the Nikko Toshogu shrine. Its rich, full-flavored taste goes perfectly with the invigorating brewer’s rice and egg combo.”

Fudai Soden soy sauce is made with a two-step process that blends rice koji with specially chosen ingredients

The egg-on-rice course starring brewer’s rice that you can only taste at Tokyo Station has another surprise up its sleeve: a price of just 440 yen (as of May 2023). This very reasonable price was set with the same intention of encouraging people to taste and experience brewer’s rice. It is certainly a special breakfast worth trying, but you have to get up early since only 20 courses are served per day.

The onigiri rice ball course, a popular takeout item, is available for lunch

The onigiri rice ball course with brewer’s rice (550 yen) is served for lunch from 11 a.m. The rice balls come with two small side dishes and are very substantial. On the day of our visit, we were served one Asahimai rice ball with spicy mentaiko cod roe and one Ginpu rice ball with salmon. Both had plenty of filling. One great thing about this course is that you can eat and compare two kinds of brewer’s rice side by side.

Like the breakfast course, the onigiri rice ball course comes with homemade pickles and miso soup. The rice balls are small and can be polished off pronto.

“The rice balls are available at our takeout stand as well, but they often sell out quite early. It’s not uncommon for the showcase to be empty by evening. But we are happy that people know about the existence of brewer’s rice and that many people enjoy eating it.”

The brewer’s rice used to make the onigiri rice balls rotates daily from seven types:
Yamadanishiki, Omachi, Ginpu, Kuranohana, Kamenoo, Asahimai, and Sasanishiki

“The most frequent question we get from people is ‘I don’t know what saké I should choose.’ There are many approaches to selecting saké. But our hope is that providing the experience of eating brewer’s rice here and getting people interested in the different types of brewer’s rice will lead to a new fun way of selecting saké — namely, choosing a saké brewed with the brewer’s rice eaten at Tokyo Station.”

Hasegawa Saketen has been putting this kind of energy into developing Japan’s saké industry and saké culture for a long time. This shop that provides hands-on experiences was created to make more people aware of the attractions of saké. They developed two courses featuring brewer’s rice as an easy way for people to get into saké. Plans are in the works for other menu collaborations with saké breweries from different parts of the country. By all means, head over to Tokyo Station and try this new experience for yourself.