Holly Graham has stories to tell. She's ridden the Trans-Siberian Railway alone, watching the Russian landscape unfold in a vodka-fueled blur. She's danced on beaches in Thailand, sipped cocktails on rooftops in Hong Kong and nursed hangovers in Seoul. She's even been known to climb up on a bar from time to time, cheered on by a crowd of revelers.
These days, the adventure that excites Graham the most is the one taking place at Tokyo Confidential, the buzzy new watering hole she launched in the capital’s upscale Azabu-Juban neighborhood. In a space that feels equal parts modern speakeasy and neighborhood dive, the British-born bar maven is shaking up creative cocktails and using her industry clout to bring some of the world's top bartending talent to Tokyo.
On a recent evening at Tokyo Confidential, a diverse crowd of locals and tourists fills the space. A colorful phalanx of maneki-neko (lucky cat) statuettes from Graham’s personal collection stands sentry among the bottles, while a custom-made Godzilla sake dispenser looms above the antique wooden bar. Behind the counter, head bartender Waka Murata mixes bourbon with sweet vermouth, strawberry mistelle (a fortified fruit juice), Campari and habanero — this elixir she presents in a glass cradled in a baseball glove. The next drink, cheekily dubbed “Only Fans,” is a riff on a martini made with vanilla vodka, shikuwasa (a kind of citrus from Okinawa), passionfruit, sweet potato shōchū (Japan’s indigenous spirit) and Champagne. A giant foam finger hangs on one wall as the playlist jumps from Sophie Hunter to Talking Heads.