Jazzing up shochu

SOMEDAY, when the bars reopen, you might spend an evening cocooned in a leather armchair, in a relaxing wood-panelled space where vinyl records spin and shelves are stacked with intriguingly labelled bottles.

For now, some delights of RPM by D.Bespoke can be sampled at home, with bottled cocktails and light meals available for takeaway or delivery.

The bar's name references the revolutions-per-minute of vinyl, and shows its ties to founder Daiki Kanetaka's more formal Ginza-style bar D.Bespoke. Where D.Bespoke is a hushed temple to Japanese bartending, RPM has more of a jazz kissa (short for kissaten or cafe) style, with records from Mr Kanetaka's own collection. The musical aspect, he reveals, is a "point of interest" to attract customers who can be introduced to RPM's other theme: Japanese shochu.