Note: Craft & Romance is now closed.
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How the fortunes have changed for Kichijoji's beer-guzzlers: last year in spring, the area had no casually accessible craft brew bars, and by the end of this March, you'll be able to choose from at least four specialist watering holes offering competent selections of suds. The biggest names among said boozers are the local branch of Craft Beer Market, opened late last summer, and Yona Yona Beer Works, but we're willing to bet that fellow newbie Craft & Romance will be giving those two more than a run for their money. Sitting pretty on the top floor of a recently completed building on the south side of the station, this handsome spot charms with an almost laughably polished interior – marble counters, really? – but gets right down to business with the brew offerings.
The whopping 30 beers (and one cider) on tap range from domestic favourites (Minoh, Aqula, Swan Lake, Shiga Kogen) to imports from California and Oregon, while our visit also saw a couple of Belgian beers and a house original brewed by Shizuoka's Baird. All beers are ¥500 for a 250ml glass and ¥800 for a US pint – almost identical to Craft Beer Market's pricing. The food menu makes for another strong showing, with the thin but amply topped pizzas particularly well worth consideration. Carnivores, meanwhile, will want to go for some horse steak tartare or the charcuterie platter.
Our first stop here saw unpolished service – misplaced orders, register trouble – but most of those wrinkles had already been ironed out the next week. If it keeps upping its game at this pace, Craft & Romance is set to challenge for Kichijoji's beer bar championship come summer. And it won't be doing battle just on the strength of its menu: chilly and dark on our March visit, the rooftop terrace out in front should see some serious use once temperatures go up.