Togarashi Ginger Highball at Jicca (Tokyo)

As you know by now, Tori-chan is a dear friend of ours who opened Jicca, a restaurant and wine bar in the Hatagaya neighborhood in Tokyo nearly two years ago. She is a native of Minami-soma in Fukushima prefecture; a town that was severely affected after the earthquake in 2011. She was in Tokyo at the time, but her entire family had to evacuate their home for a few months including her grandmother.

We tried visiting Minami-soma with Tori-chan this trip but it was 1.5 hours by bus from the nearest bullet train station and our schedule was a bit too tight. So we decided to stay in Fukushima City instead. We hope to make it to Minami-soma on our next trip though.

Back to Jicca -- it is a place where everyone knows your name. Seriously. We walked in last week and we saw the SAME GUY that we saw in the SAME SEAT as last year -- Okamoto-san. He pretended to not see us but oh boy did he remember us rowdy Americans.

We love going to Jicca to just hang out. Strangers walk in and by the end of the night, we're all bffs. In fact, I made a new Facebook friend from that night! What's up, Yohei! Jicca is a special place; with really comforting, creative food and excellent drinks.

Like the Togarashi Ginger Highball! Tori-chan makes her own ginger syrup for this refreshing cocktail. Video shot and edited by Yoko Kumano. Enjoy!

RECIPE + METHOD
1. Fill glass with ice. Stir ice to temper ice.
2. Add 1.5oz whisky
3. Add 0.75oz ginger syrup*
4. Top with soda
5. Add  pepper garnish

*Find an old ginger syrup recipe by Paystyle here or use Shrub & Co's Spicy Ginger Shrub!