TABI

A modern izakaya and audio bar in the basements of Solyanka

"Our relationship with Japan began with Hitachi – a bar for 12 guests in the basement of the Abbay Players pub on New Arbat, which Vitaly suggested building instead of a distant corner with sofas. We chose the name in honor of a Japanese cassette player, which played everything from early Madonna to Japanese rock. The cocktails, sake served in large glasses, and a few snacks in the style of sanjo sandwiches – 'Hitachi' lasted for 4 months, and we closed it down, with the idea of moving it to a more suitable location and expanding," says Denis Bobkov, co-owner of the project. The bar was reincarnated in the format of an izakaya and is called TABI. It has been operating in the basements of Solyanka since May 2023. Tabi is the name of traditional Japanese work shoes and the style of socks worn with rickshaws, which, after 6 centuries of existence, have become a staple in wardrobes around the world. In the basement on Solyanka, we have respectfully added a touch of irony to the traditional izakaya format to create a place with Japanese cuisine that is accessible to everyone. In March, the project team – Denis Bobkov, Vitaly Bgantsev, and Victoria Konyukhova – traveled to Japan to see what izakayas are like and to bring back the most interesting things to Moscow. In addition to ideas, they brought back a wide variety of sake glasses (ochoko), lamps of perfect shapes, slightly quirky but eye-catching items found in flea markets and concept stores in Tokyo and Kyoto – a ceramic Godzilla, a plastic anaconda, paintings, and photographs. The interior combines old and new elements – some of the chairs were brought from a Japanese vintage store in Paris, while the others were made in Samara to match. The boxes used for noodles, which are part of the furniture, also came from a flea market in Paris. The open kitchen is neatly lined with sheet metal, and the historical basement walls have been preserved. A substantial audio system has been installed in the 32-seat space: huge speakers above the bar – Tannoy Super Red Monitor SRM 15 monitors from the 1980s, a hand-made Japanese rotary mixer, the latest model of the legendary Technics 1210 GR turntables, and even Japanese Taruya record needles – all for soft, rich, and incredibly detailed sound reproduction that won't be drowned out during dinner. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, music lovers, DJs, and audiophiles in Moscow will host listening sessions at the izakaya. The kitchen team was trained by Hiroki Arakawa – a chef who has worked in Osaka, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Moscow ("Sakura Bloom" and "Kappo Hiroki Arakawa"). The menu features about 40 dishes, many of which are traditional and relatively unknown in Moscow: from curry buns and silk tofu steak to gyoza in a classic dashi broth and mitarashi dango – a Kyoto dessert. As a touch of irony: a classic katsu sando (sandwich) with a sausage instead of a cutlet, french fries with nori salt and marinated egg yolk instead of sauce, and kyuuri shio koji – a "summer" salad of cucumbers and tomatoes, marinated in koji bacteria, which are used to make sake. The star of the kitchen is the hibachi – a traditional Japanese charcoal grill, on which skewers are cooked: tori tsukune – a chicken meatball with an egg yolk, shioyaki mackerel with unagi sauce, beef tongue with a leek sauce, and Wagyu beef. They have also experimented with rice in various formats: from quick hand rolls, known as tsutsumi, to a bowl with Japanese fruit curry and "tazika" rice with marinated caviar or beef and onsen egg. The bar offers natural wines, sake, and cocktails. To simplify the choice among dozens of sake and wine options, they have created a system where you choose between "dry and floral" or "rich and mineral," and the staff will select the appropriate glasses for you. Vitaly Bgantsev is conducting experiments with the cocktail menu: macerating alcohol with fruits, carbonating it, and bringing citrus fruits to different states – from soda to ice, and even making wax. The menu includes, for example, sake quickly macerated with mango, a strawberry sparkling sake, and a matcha affogato with sake instead of coffee. There will also be classics with perfectly balanced ingredients: a soju highball and a whiskey highball – Japanese spirits with properly carbonated soda, and a "kamikaze" cocktail with vodka and a yuzu negroni. Even the tableware has been experimented with: the bartenders make the "glasses" for the Lemon Juice cocktail themselves from wax. Sommelier Alina Mikhaleva selects the wines with an eye on Japanese trends: there are more than 20 options, all of which are natural, ranging from the most unusual to the quite elegant with a classic profile.