3 Japanese bar and pub chains worth travelling for

Named after its founder and renowned bartender Shingo Gokan, the SG Group knows how to have fun with cocktails while maintaining the level of professionalism that’s come to exemplify Tokyo’s cocktail scene. Best known for its speakeasy-style The SG Club in Shibuya, the group draws inspiration from Japanese history for its elaborate concepts. These include SG Low, an amalgam of a cocktail bar and a down-to-earth izakaya, where sophisticated bartending techniques are used to elevate classic Tokyo tipples like the lemon sour.

A jack of all wine trades, the Fujimaru Group started out as a bottle shop but took its business to the next level in 2013 by opening what remains Osaka’s only urban winery. Shimanouchi Fujimaru Winery includes an excellent Italian restaurant where you get the opportunity to taste the group’s own wines – made entirely with grapes grown in the area around Osaka, which boasts a century of history as one of Japan’s premier wine regions. Tours of the winery are available regularly, and Fujimaru wares can also be tasted at the group’s three other restaurants in the city.

The dumpling pride of Kumamoto, Ninoni operates gyoza pubs mainly in its home region and across the adjacent Fukuoka prefecture. Its signature extra-crispy, bite-sized gyoza feature a satisfyingly thin wrapper and a juicy filling made with local ingredients, including brand-name Hinomoto pork brought in from a dedicated farm in the Kumamoto town of Nagomi. Be sure to wash these beauties down with a cold beer.