Tiki in Tokyo (& making my first Mai Tai)!

Ever since I had my first experience at Trader Vic's in Bangkok on Christmas Day, I've been really getting into the whole tiki thing...!

Trader Vic's in Tokyo has become a weekly Friday-night destination (the big earthquake put the kibosh on my planned visit for 3/11 though). Two weeks ago, I ventured into Tiki-Tiki in Shinjuku. (More of a "theme-park" flavor than Trader Vic's, but they have a nice-looking tiki mug available for purchase (picture below).)

Last weekend, I decided to see if I could make my own Mai Tai, which was kind of hard as I had none of the ingredients, nor proper glassware, nor any sort of bar tools at all.

So, I spent the better part of the weekend online, trying to locate the best recipe, ingredients, and hardware.

This week, the things I ordered started to arrive:

1 700ml bottle of Appleton Estate 12 year old rum
1 700ml bottle of Clement VSOP Rhum Agricole
1 700ml bottle of Marie Brizard Curacao Orange (Clement Creole Shrubb seems to be what people are using in the USA now, but it doesn't look to be available in Japan.)
1 700ml bottle of Monin orgeat (Pretty much only brand of orgeat available in this country.)

With all of the main ingredients on hand, I got a couple of limes amd set out to make a cocktail for first time! (Living in Japan made me a beer drinker. My very first cocktail ever was the "Trader Vic's Own Punch" last Christmas..!)

Unfortunately, the cocktail shaker I had bought online ended up being really small, and not much use. Instead, I used a scrubbed-out coffee can. (It worked amazingly well! It held all the crushed ice easliy, and really mixed things up effectively.)

The result was better than I had thought it would be! It was sans the mint sprig garnish, but the lime shell did look nice floating in the glass. My friend Hiromi said she thought it was as good (or better) than the ones we got at Trader Vic's.

Anyway, the drink menu at Trader Vic's is much more thorough than mine (only 1 item on it), so I'll still be making my weekly excursion there. (I just pop-in for one or two drinks on my way home from work.) (The manager was kind enough to give me a cocktail menu, so part of my fun during the week is to figure out which drink I want to sample next.)

So, if you're at Tokyo's TV's, and happen to see a rather tall white woman working on a Scorpion, Menehune Juice, Zombie, or Tiki Puka Puka, stop by and say hi!

(The picture below is the mug you can buy at Tiki-Tiki. (It comes in the box, and they even give you a snazzy-looking bag to carry it home in!)

GREAT to see you so inspired by the wonderful place that is Trader Vic's!!!
Welcome to the wonderful world of MaiTais!!

& I'm getting thirsty for a MaiTai just reading your ingredients list, too :) As you get more familiar with making them, it's also fun to switch-up the rums & see what it does to the flavor - it is amazing how the characteristics of a cocktail can change with switching-up the rums, too. The rums you have chosen are, indeed, excellent MaiTai rums!

Does Tiki Tiki only have this one mug currently available? It is my favorite of their mugs, though, as you so rarely see a female tiki mug & it is very nicely done, too!! They had 6 different mugs available in the past - you can see them here: http://www.ooga-mooga.com/cgi-bin/all/search.cgi?terms=tiki+tiki+shinjuku&des_id=any&man_id=any&img_id=any&shp_id=any&clr_id=any&details=yes&mode=search_process&x=0&y=0

I have all but the Palm Mug - I have never seen that one before. I really enjoyed both the cocktails & the food at Tiki Tiki when I have gone in the past. When we come for a visit this Fall, we were thinking of also venturing to the Yokohama Tiki Tiki. If you make it there, I'd be interested in hearing what you think :D

Have FUN making those MaiTais!!!

The mug is based on this Tiki statue:

It was available from Paul Marshal Products as "Surfing God" :)

• not goddess, perhaps to defuse possible complaints about it's full frontal nudity at the time:

...a name which stuck, even on Surfer T-shirts:

But it was also a popular mid-sized Tiki carving used in classic Tiki Temples such as the Polynesia in Seattle:

...and the San Francisco Trader Vic's!:

I would love to ad that ashtray to my collection! A great example of international Tiki transmogrification.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2011-04-07 10:03 ]

Hey, I thought I had all the mugs. I even have the ashtray. But, I don't have that Palm mug. Maybe that's new?
One that's not on Ooga Mooga is this one.
http://www.tikifish.com/tikishinjukudrinks.jpg
Clearly another takeoff on the Polynesian Resort mug but this one is BIG!
I keep it on my desk where I pay my bills.

Michelle66, if you're ever down Okayama way you might want to check out the Hawaiian Bar Magic Pan. I did a review last year. It can't compare with big city establishments like TV's or Tiki tiki but it's not bad for the inaka. Plus, Okayama's a neat little city.

• fm

Oh, and Bigbro, thanks for the history on that tiki. It's interesting to see the the inspiration for things.

• fm

Wow! Lots of great info!

croe67: The tiki mug is all that is on the Tiki Tiki menu as an available purchase. Most of the other mugs are all being displayed as what each particular drink is served in.

Their menu is here: http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g068224/menu7.html

I don't smoke (and try to sit far away from those who do), so I have no idea about the ash tray.
"Tahitian Loco Punch" is served in the hibiscus mug.
"Aloha Drink Yogurt" comes in the coconut mug.
The "Humming Bird" is served in the hula girl mug.

Neither the palm mug, nor the skull mug seem to be on the menu.

And, I'll try to get to Tiki Tiki's Yokohama location some time (but it's TV's at the New Otani that has captured my heart! :))

Bigbrotiki: Wow! Above and beyond with the many pictures! Thank you for the history (I love that kind of stuff!)

Fezmonkey: If I get down to Okayama, I'll check Hawaiian Bar Magic Pan out. But, i'm more likely to travel outside the country more than inside. Japan is VERY expensive for everything, so I'd rather go to the States for two weeks than try to afford a one-week trip around here.

As for me getting into the drink making side of things, well, I've been busy this week buying stuff..!

Got a bottle of Havana Club 3-year white rum on Friday. (My friend Hiromi wanted a Banana Cow, so I needed to pick up a bottle of Agnostura bitters yesterday.)

Anyway, tonight was my second attempt at a Mai Tai.

The recipe I followed:

1 oz Appleton Estate Extra 12 year
1 oz Clement VSOP
1 tbsp (1/2 oz) Marie Brizard orange curacao
1 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
1.5 tsp (1/4 oz) orgeat
1.5 tsp (1/4 oz) sugar syrup
2 cups of crushed ice
Garnish: sprig mint, fruit stick, lime shell

Yum!

It seemed a bit sweet, though. Maybe I'll cut down a little on the sugar syrup next time. (Any recipe ideas?)

Below is the (growing..!) pile of cocktail fixin's (along with some of the "loot" from TV's).

And here's a pic of tonight's Mai Tai. (Its presentation is the same as how it's done at Trader Vic's. (I even bought some of their glassware!))

On 2011-04-10 06:26, Michelle66 wrote:

And here's a pic of tonight's Mai Tai. (Its presentation is the same as how it's done at Trader Vic's. (I even bought some of their glassware!))

That's your first Mai Tai!?

Congrats! My first mai tai was so bad I won't even capitalize the name. I recall it looking like an iced coffee drink....

This is my go to Mai Tai recipe.. Enjoy..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZUYP1gn-fY

Made myself and wife our first mai tai tonight. After comparing homemade "emergency orgeat" against Torani my wife preferred the Torani so my recipe was as follows:

1 oz Bacardi Gold
1 oz Cruzen Aged
3/4 oz fresh lime
1/2 oz homemade orange liqueur
1/4 oz Torani Orgeat
1/4 oz homemade rock syrup

This is my first sip of a Mai Tai. Strong and tart a mai tai is a great drink. I'll be making this drink again.

Bacardi is not considered rum in these parts

"Nothing wrong with Bacardi..." - Martin Cate

And isn't Bacardi what Tiki-Ti uses for most of their drinks ?? :)

Fine, wise guy, have YOUR Mai Tai with Bacardi, I ain't drinkin it.

Heh. :D

I also made a mai tai substituting Cruzen black strap for the aged rum, while good the black strap taste did overpower the drink. Tonight I'm going to make a reverb crash.

We are taking cruises this year to Belize, Barbados, St. Maarten, Tortola, and other southern islands. Travelers rum is made in Belize, Gay rum in Barbados, and Callwood rum in Tortola. We will visit the distillery for Gay and Callwood. Has anyone tried their rums? Can you make recommendations for which ones to bring back to the states? Let me add English Harbour rum from Antigua as another possible purchase.
ru
Ricky tiki

[ Edited by: Ricky Tiki 2011-04-20 05:19 ]

As for the barcardi gold, it made a pretty good mai tai.

Michelle66 that Mai Tai looks great and you're using some ideal rums in it.
The only thing I'd change is to use a thinner straw rather than that big one (just being picky).

So welcome to the world o0f great drinks and spending all your spare cash on rum.

On 2011-04-20 05:14, Kon-Hemsby wrote:
Michelle66 that Mai Tai looks great and you're using some ideal rums in it.
The only thing I'd change is to use a thinner straw rather than that big one (just being picky).

So welcome to the world of great drinks and spending all your spare cash on rum.

Glad you liked the picture!

Actually, Trader Vic's in Tokyo really got me fired up into the whole world of tiki drinks.

TV's inspired me to buy the "Trader Vic's Tiki Party" book for the recipes of my favorite TV's cocktails, Sven A. Kirsten's "Book Of Tiki" for a history of the tiki culture, and (last but not least) the "Tiki+" app for my iPhone for some great tiki drink recipes (and for its fantastic rum resource, which is how I knew to buy Havana Club 3-year rum instead of a lesser-quality selection).

Since the pictures on the first page of this thread were taken, I've expanded my alcohol (& glassware) collection, as well as the list of drinks I've attempted.

In addition to the Mai Tai, I've also done these:

• Banana Cow (from the TV book)
• Scorpion (TV book)
• Molokai Mike (TV book - tasty, but I wasn't able to get the top layer to "float" quite right)
• Banana Daiquiri (Tiki+ app)
• Zombie (TV book):
  

The other day, I started getting a bit tired of rum drinks, so I picked up four new bottles: Beefeater Gin, Heering, Sloe Gin, and Creme de Cassis.

All so I could make a Trader Vic's Sling:

Now the pile of drink fixin's is to the point where many different tiki drinks are possible.

Funny you should mention the straw, as I got the wide ones so I could suck up some of the tiny ice pieces when I sip. (I love to crunch ice and not being able to enjoy the crushed ice seems wasteful.)

As for the Mai Tai rums I bought, there's a blog called "A month of Mai Tais" out there. The man who wrote that page obviously knows his rum (as does Jeff Berry, who wrote the Tiki+ app), so I figured I'd defer to their judgement.

BTW, I splurged for a Boston Shaker and retired the coffee can...! A lot less hassle this way!

[ Edited by: Michelle66 2011-04-21 05:28 ]