As I mentioned yesterday, I received a bunch of coupons with my new Hyatt Regency Tokyo Point Card. The two best coupons were the 1000 points with any purchase Birthday Coupon, and the half off drinks between 16:00-20:00 at the Eau de Vie bar. I wanted to see if it was possible to use both at the same time, and I had never seen this bar before anyway, so that’s all the excuse I needed to drop in and pay a visit tonight.
Can’t get a straight shot of the entrance because the railing overlooking the atrium is too close.
The sign out front tells us that this place was established in 1980. It does feel like it is possible that this is one of the few things that has remained unchanged about this hotel since the Century Hyatt Tokyo first opened.
Also: the bathtubs of the unrenovated rooms. But I digress…
Google Translate tells me that “Eau de Vie” is French for Brandy. It seems an appropriate name for a hotel that has a lounge named Lounge and a Pastry Shop named Pastry Shop. Come to think of it, any name besides Bar comes off as a bit too subtle for the Hyatt Regency Tokyo…but they make up for it by beating you over the head with that fact that this is a hardcore, old-school, straight-up BAR, right down to the quiet jazz mood music.
It’s too dark inside to take pictures. But that’s never stopped me before.
There are tables to be had, but in a place like this, the bar counter is the place to be. An ample supply of all sorts of expensive liquors awaits.
Not the kind of place I feel comfortable ordering a strawberry daiquiri.
I know very little about liquor, so when the menu comes I just point to whatever the special happens to be. If you’re expecting something wild and exotic like the Timeless Passion Cocktail, then you are obviously new to the Hyatt Regency Tokyo. It is a timeless classic, the Classic Mojito.
But it’s made with fine Cuban rum! That’s pretty exotic!
Google also tells us that “traditionally, a mojito is a cocktail that consists of five ingredients: white rum, sugar (traditionally sugar cane juice), lime juice, sparkling water, and mint. The original Cuban recipe uses spearmint or yerba buena, a mint variety very popular on the island.” I did not catch whether the bartender was using sugar cane juice, but everything else checked out, so I don’t doubt that this was the real deal.
He was not stingy with the spearmint. Nor with the ice.
Again, I’m the wrong person to be giving out drink reviews, but it sure seemed like a high quality Mojito to me. Minty, with a nice bite from the rum and the lime. I had an enjoyable time nursing this and the bar nuts for around 20 minutes.
But I came to use the coupons, and now was the time to put them to the test. When the check arrived, I handed over the birthday coupon, the half off happy hour coupon, the Hyatt Regency Tokyo Point Card, and my Hyatt credit card. The staff took them all without a word, and a minute later I had my receipt for the 1010 yen drink, and 1050 points on my Hyatt Regency Tokyo point card!
Point total is updated in real time on the card!
I am now over 4% of the way to the 25000 points needed to upgrade to the Hyatt Regency Tokyo Premium Card! Someday, free parking will be mine.
And on top of all that, I received another coupon for 50% off drinks.
Extremely overpriced drinks become only moderately overpriced!
It’s good for parties of up to 10 people. I don’t think that I’m going to stop in for a drink again before the coupon expires on August 31st. If any of you would like it, leave a comment and I’ll think of a way of getting it out to you.
