Bartender Shingo Gokan is a master storyteller, building bars like chapters in an ever-expanding anthology under his bar consulting company, SG Group.
His foundational narrative centers on the 77 Japanese diplomats of the Tokugawa shogunate who visited New York in 1860 and their imagined encounter with legendary bartender Jerry Thomas. This reverie became the concept behind The SG Club, which opened in Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood as a living work of historical fiction in 2018.
In January 2024, Gokan partnered with Employees Only’s bartender, Steve Schneider, to launch Sip & Guzzle in New York — a bar that mirrors his own journey in the early 2000s from Tokyo to Manhattan, where he honed his craft at the renowned Angel's Share. In July 2024, he unveiled the eponymous Gokan in Hong Kong, which playfully extends his fictional narrative. "I started to imagine that one of those Japanese samurai, a guy called Gokan-san, got shipwrecked off the coast of Hong Kong on his way back to Japan," Gokan explains.
The bar’s interior brings this story to life. Past the vintage American-style brick facade, the decor intertwines elements of local and Japanese design: In the front salon, patterned mosaic tile flooring nods to Hong Kong’s casual and traditional bing sutt cafes, while Japanese influences appear in the form of gold leaf accents and carved wooden wall panels that resemble folding screens. A striking dividing wall designed to resemble blocks of frozen ice cubes references the bar's location on historic Ice House Street, once central to the city's 19th-century ice trade.
Apart from being named after its owner, the bar's moniker also means "five senses" in Japanese, a concept that is reflected in the way the cocktails are organized by taste profile rather than spirit base. Signature drinks include the Mapo Mary, infused with Sichuan spices, and the Watermelon Koffeezz, a gin fizz-style cocktail that harmonizes clarified watermelon juice with light roast coffee from Koffee Mameya, creating a complex drink that balances sweetness and bitterness. The Khun's Tommy offers a tom yum-inspired variation of the classic Tommy's Margarita, blending tangy, herbal and spicy notes.
The bar has been a hit so far; it celebrated its first anniversary by debuting at No. 33 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars’ list this year. Gokan carried that creative momentum back to Tokyo and effectively came full circle with Sangai, which opened Aug. 6 and occupies the third floor of the building housing The SG Club and Savor, the group’s members-only cigar bar.
Sangai, which is the SG Group’s seventh bar, departs from the narrative of Gokan’s fictional alter ego but continues to build on the theme of connecting cultures, with a focus on Japan’s terroir.
Climbing the narrow staircase, guests discover a cedar ball — a traditional symbol indicating sake establishments — at the entrance. The shadowy interior then draws your eyes toward an eight-seat Japanese oak counter, while a mysterious half-sized wooden door behind the bar adds an air of intrigue to the space.
Dominating the far wall is a hand-painted map of Japan rendered as a dragon, its body forming the archipelago. The map carries its own mythology, according to The SG Club’s Instagram page: “In the 1960s, a Westerner captivated by the unfamiliar flavors and culture he encountered in Japan brought back this single map... etched with a record of his journey.”
This artwork serves as the visual manifesto for Sangai's "Terroir × Terroir" concept, which pairs Japanese spirits and produce with ingredients sourced from around the world. The idea builds on the cocktail-pairing program at the SG Airways pop-up he launched during the pandemic.
Sangai’s seasonal omakase (chef’s choice) tasting menu (¥16,500), which comes with small accompanying bites, includes five cocktails and the option to order additional drinks a la carte. While the East-meets-West theme remains in the drinks here, what distinguishes Sangai from Hong Kong’s Gokan is each cocktail in the omakase must feature a Japanese element.
Highlights include Okinawa × Lima, which pairs Kokuto de Lequio, a mixture of awamori liquor and rum, and Okinawan passionfruit with the citrus sparkle of Peruvian lemon drop pepper, and Akita × Athens, a blend of nashi (Japanese pear) and Aramasa sake scented with herbaceous mastic liqueur, served alongside a rice cracker smeared with iburigakko (smoked daikon pickle) cream cheese.
Most evenings, Gokan himself can be found behind the bar, dressed in a dark blue kimono. After years of expanding his empire — from Shanghai to New York, Hong Kong and Madrid — the once nomadic cocktail whizz has found his way home, slinging cocktails in a bar that sits directly above where his story began.
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