Can it really be the season for beer gardens again already? Well, not really. But what's the point in waiting, when there are so many perfectly fine evenings at this time of year. Seize the night, we say. And, anyway, we were impatient to revisit our longtime favorite summer drinking spot, the wonderful Hanezawa Garden hidden away in the back streets of upper Hiroo.
Impatient but at the same time apprehensive. That's because since last year there have been major management changes. Even though we were assured by the folks in charge at the main restaurant -- the converted ryotei at the heart of this beautiful chunk of verdant real estate -- that the beer garden would be kept, we weren't totally convinced. Our concern was not so much that it would vanish, never to open again, but that it just wouldn't be the same.
The good news is that it has indeed reopened. It's in the same peerless location, surrounded by those same towering trees. The carp pond is still there, as is the incomparable tranquility.