Big in Japan (by way of Singapore)

Satomi Mizugishi takes over The Pen’s Bar

LAST FRIDAY, The Peninsula Manila’s bar takeover series featured Satomi Mizugishi, formerly of Singapore’s Jigger & Pony (No. 5 at the World’s 50 Best Bars 2024 and No. 3 at the awards’ 2024 Asian counterpart).

Ms. Mizugishi worked there for two years, and resigned just before they made the announcement. Today, she works as a freelance bar consultant back in Japan. We met her right before her bar takeover on June 13 at The Peninsula’s The Bar.

“Right after COVID, I got sick of being in Japan, because no bartenders were working,” she said, which is why she made the move to Singapore.

“It was my very first time working abroad,” she said of her stint working at the top bar in Singapore. While she had worked with different nationalities in Japan before — Chinese, Koreans, and Swedes — Singapore was more multicultural. “I learned a lot of things from them, like how to work together, with different backgrounds and cultures.”

That’s probably why she hit the sweet spot between traditional Japanese tastes and more cosmopolitan takes for her bar takeover last Friday.

FROM PUNCH TO NEGRONI
She made four drinks for the occasion: a Yuzusco Margarita (Patron Anejo, Sancho Matcha Coinyreau, Yuzusco, agave, and lime), a Tropical Coffee Fizz (Patron Anejo, Bombay Sapphire, pineapple falernum, Kokuto — brown sugar — syrup, cold brew coffee, lemon, and soda), an Elegant Negroni (Bombay Sapphire, Buckwheat Campari, Sweet Vermouth, and port), and the DX-Reggae Punch (Bombay Sapphire, HM peach liqueur, dark oolong tea, Kokuto-ginger syrup, and acid).

We had the Reggae Punch first, a cocktail popular in Japan. It was served with a wafer shaped like a macaron, filled with peach preserve, which you bite into right before taking a sip. In the mouth, the wafer crumbled slowly and filled the mouth with a fruity flavor. The drink itself was mild and delicate, with floral notes and a nice, subtle peach flavor — it was like drinking in the scent of a perfume, Guerlain’s Mitsouko, to be exact.

The Margarita was subtly sour; but an all-grown-up version of the bar favorite. It had heat and chili in the latter stages of the swallow, and the green, savory rimming salt added an edge.

The Negroni was expectedly refined and bitter, while the coffee fizz was a delightful surprise — we usually hate the flavor in drinks, but this one translated to a nutty cocoa note with a light and refreshing edge.

The Bar was busy and we ended the evening past midnight (Ms. Mizugishi passed around a shot before retiring for the night).

A BIT OF HISTORY
Speaking again from her experience at Jigger & Pony, she gave tips on how bars can make it to the top. “You have to make some noise in the industry,” saying that winning competitions and doing exchanges and guest shifts abroad really make a difference.

This is what she’s doing to bars now in Japan, to keep them in shape for the next round of 50 Best selections. “Japan has a longer history of bars, but then Japan is a bit bigger than Singapore; and has more bars maybe, but I see just a few of them on the list.

“The average level they have (of drinks) in Japan is quite high, but sometimes the venue is small; the team is small,” she said.

Her experience, however, goes beyond Jigger & Pony. “I’m not too sure when I started,” she said about mixing drinks, because even as a schoolgirl, she had been mixing sodas and juices for fun, and to taste and capture flavors. She said that her mother also regularly patronized bars: “I was quite inspired by my mom. She’s the one who made me a bartender, as well. She was happy, that like, ‘Now, my daughter’s making cocktails for me!’”

Two more guest bartenders are coming to The Pen this year: in August and in October. — Joseph L. Garcia