New “NEKO NO DENSETSU” Cocktails Celebrate the Legend of the Cat
(L: C.R.E.A.M. R: Arigato El Gatto)
March 25th, 2025
Inspired by Tokyo Confidential’s Creative Director Holly Graham and her love of cats, the new cocktail menu, Neko No Densetsu, draws inspiration from the legend of Tokyo’s Gotokuji Temple, said to be the birthplace of the maneki-neko, or lucky cat. As a collector of the novelty maneki-neko figures, with nearly 30 figures from her personal collection displayed across Tokyo Confidential’s backbar.
The new menu comes to life through vibrant comic book illustrations by local artist Touré Grantham of Sunking Designs, the menu tells a reimagined version of the story which sees two familiar fearless female samurais setting out to rebuild the temple after they’re rescued by a mysterious cat. Rebuilding the dilapidated temple as a token of gratitude, the samurais add a bar to the structure, creating a shrine for the cocktail nekos of the world to make pilgrimages and offer their elixirs to honor the maneki-neko. The menu that follows includes a collection of their elixirs, inspired by a curious feline cast of characters from scientific theories to pop culture references, historical legends to mythical mischief-makers.
New cocktail highlights include the C.R.E.A.M – Cats Rule Everything Around Me, said to be created by an ex-member of the Mew Tang Clan who set out to write his own rap about “wake me up fuck me up energizing elixirs” with bourbon, mugi shochu, raspberry, coffee and cream. And in a nod to the team’s love of agave, the Arigato El Gatto – depicted in the menu as a Mexican champion Luchador neko who made a quick stop in Seoul on the way to the temple – merges Mexican and Korean ingredients with mezcal, soju, watermelon and chili, with a Tajin and Shichimi rim.
Other notable cocktails include Dead or Alive – drawn as Schrödinger’s cat who escaped experimentation to travel the world and offer his elixir to the maneki-neko – is a collection of flavors from his travels with rum, pistachio, hazelnut, yoghurt and Parmigiana foam. While Hyrule features TC’s Funkytown Sake (a recently launched house blend in collaboration with Yamagata brewery Katō Kahachirō Shuzō, founded in 1872), pale ale, strawberry, beetroot and hibiscus mistelle and vanilla.
The menu includes an updated food menu, anchored in a selection of hotdogs such as the neko-inspired CatDog, topped with cream cheese, bacon bits and green onion or the classic Game Day Dog with mustard, ketchup and crispy onions. Nibbles include a bag of free-flow popcorn, a snack plate with smoked nuts, dried fruit and chocolate, a cheese plate and other small bites to accompany the drinks.
Tokyo Confidential is located at 9F, THE V CITY PLACE, 1 Chome 6-1 Azabujuban, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0045, Japan, and is open Mondays through Saturdays from 6pm to 1am, and Sundays from 6pm to 12am.
For more information, visit www.tokyoconfidential.
(images credit Tokyo Confidential)
