Tempura & Wine Shino

The property where Café Apéro was to be built had two floors, the first and the second, connected by an inner staircase.

A café in a neighborhood without cafés. That alone was a challenge — could we really fill all this space? Honestly, we had our doubts. So we wondered: could the second floor become a restaurant of its own?

As it happened, GRAPES had a certain cook at the time: Akihisa Shino.

In the midst of the pandemic, Shino had been chef at a restaurant in Ginza. When it closed, an acquaintance introduced him to GRAPES, and he had been working in the kitchens of our other restaurants. But looking at his career and the work he had built up, it was clear Shino was someone who should have his own restaurant.

An empty second floor, and a cook who deserved a restaurant of his own. The two came together, and we decided to build Shino's restaurant here.

Shino is a cook who has worked across the full breadth of Japanese cuisine. But precisely because he could do everything, his particular strengths were sometimes hard to see.

So we made tempura the core. Shino had spent years devoted to fried dishes, at the Hilltop Hotel and elsewhere. We paired that experience with wine, the very emblem of GRAPES. Tempura and wine. From there, the shape of a new restaurant came into view.

Shino is a deeply earnest man. He has devoted his whole life to food and drink. There is something of the samurai about him, something old-fashioned. But at his core lies kindness.

On the other hand, chatting endlessly with guests across the counter is not his forte.

That is why, at Shino, the frying station sits behind the counter — an unusual layout for a tempura bar. In terms of showmanship, it may fall a little short. But it is Shino's philosophy itself: not to be the star, but to work behind the scenes.

He did not have a wealth of experience in so-called high-end restaurants. Even so, Shino has been fortunate in the people around him. Inside the company and out, he has advisers who support him. Together with them, Shino keeps refining his cooking day by day. Shino's tempura is getting better slowly, little by little.

For the white batter, eggs with pale yolks. For the oil, an original blend based on taihaku sesame oil. On the side, a house-made salt of kombu and dried shiitake. The wines center on Champagne and Burgundy — whatever you like, as much as you like. Back and forth between a freshly fried bite and a glass.

Shino is a man of few words. But he has also been blessed with a good team. His tempura does not startle you with honed, razor-sharp precision. It is cheerful and warm, with a gentle deliciousness that mirrors Shino's own heart.

Shino, evolving little by little. We hope you will watch over its journey.