GIGGLE is a rather funky little basement burger and beer bar located some way down the main shōten-gai off Soshigaya-Okura station. Famous for Ultraman, hence the ghastly statue of him outside the station, the town is not exactly one of the funkiest parts of Tokyo. GIGGLE goes some way to remedying the situation. 

Once inside the bar is actually much larger than you might imagine. Plenty of tables and chairs, and a small bar with high stools in front. The bar itself is rather appealing, with various knick-knacks, toys, and bottles arranged upon it. Pumps serve draught Bass Pale Ale, Hoegaarden and Asahi beer. Above the bar tins of canned food, American I’m guessing, add some colour while behind the bar rows of spirits promise warm oblivion. 

The room itself is simply decorated. Bare concrete walls covered in beer and burger posters, collections of British beer mats and football team badges, shelves with books and magazines and rows of empty beer bottles. Two large glass-fronted refrigerators house an impressive away of world beers. In the background, folksy American guitar plays and the friendly staff busy themselves taking orders and supplying customers with well-stacked burgers. The atmosphere is truly relaxed, funky, kind of cute and probably more befitting areas such as Kichijōji, Shimo-Kitazawa or Harajuku.

The menu offers up an impressive variety of traditional burgers as well as some novel variations on the theme, such as the crushed-pepper burger. Toppings and additions can be requested at your pleasure. Other dishes include fish and chips, nachos, fried chicken, salads, taco rice and some rather naughty looking chocolate cake.

The drink menu is also enticing. Besides a good selection of teas, coffees, fruit juice, soft drinks, spirits and cocktails a truly awesome range of world beers is presented. Most I’d never even heard of, and indeed half the fun of the place was reading the descriptions of each and admiring the bottle and label designs.

Some of the beers were: Corona Extra; Salitos; Heineken; Newton; Warfeiner; Samuel Adams; Becks; Brooklyn Lager; Satan Red; Pink Killer (a fruit beer); Leffe; Pilsner; Mongozo Coconut Beer; Mongozo Banana Beer; Chimay; Duval; Red Stripe; St. Sebastian; Carilo; Orval; Delirium Tremens and Guinness, from countries such as: Germany; US; Belgium; Mexico; Africa; Australia; the Netherlands; Jamaica; Ireland and Britain, to name but a few. The prices of the more exotic beers can be a little steep, ranging from ¥900 – ¥1200 per bottle (and the bottles are not always large.) More pedestrian offerings, such as the Asahi are more reasonable with the daijoki coming in at ¥880 and the smaller “lunch beer” at ¥300. Some of the beers are very strong, as much as 9.2% ABV.

Various lunch-set deals are on offer, and there’s a happy hour from 5-7pm each evening, during which beer becomes substantially cheaper.

So, what of the burgers? I went for the chili-cheese burger served with potato wedges. I have to say that it was not only huge, but also fresh, clean and cooked to perfection. This formidable stack of goodness contained lettuce, onion, buffalo tomato and a thick burger of lean juicy meat on top of which was plenty of chili-con-carne and melted cheese. The potato wedges were also delicious, although I think the dish could have benefited from a few more of them. A delicious, if messy affair, and at ¥1,000 pretty good value for money.

My dining partner opted for the salsa burger, also served with potato wedges, which consisted of the same ingredients as my chili-cheese burger with the salsa replacing the chili-con-carne and cheese. Again, a devilishly tasty burger. That said, and I’m not really one for burgers especially from certain famous chains, after eating them we felt no regrets. The burgers at GIGGLE are fresh, handmade, contain “real” / natural ingredients and were not at all oily.

I’d certainly go back for more. A good place for a quick lunch, and I’m also of the opinion that the bar – especially during happy hour – would make a good spot to settle down with a book and a glass or two for a few hours. Although I’ve yet to try GIGGLE of an evening, I get the distinct impression that it would be a lot of fun. Indeed, it reminds me of some of the café-bars in my native England. The thought of spending a night there sampling the beers, after dining on burgers, is strangely appealing.

Open from 11.30am – 11.30pm (last orders at 11pm), closed on Wednesdays. Take away menu available.

Update 28/10/09: After a couple of subsequent visits I can safely say that the quality of the food, especially the cheese burger and clam chowder, remains consistently good as does the service. Weekends are noticeably busier and as such the atmosphere improves too.  

Update 29/11/09: Having now tried spending an evening at Giggle, I can safely say it's a lot of fun, if perhaps a bit quiet. They could do with dimming the lights a little too, so as to create a more cozy ambience. Food was splendid yet again, and some of the beers very tasty. The apple beer is probably best avoided though. Service was good, even though the staff seemed confused by our wanting to settle in for the night and use the place in the manner more usual for izakaya / restaurants. 

Tel: 03-3789-4232

Thanks to the ladies over at 8Tokyo.com for the photo of the entrance.