La Flamme d'Or

We two enjoyed a dinner with beer in late Dec. SERVICE: 4.5. Friendly and efficient. AMBIANCE: 3.5. It was Dec, with only inside seating available. Dining room shaped like half-moon, with no windows. Rather gloomy. Unique, interesting bathrooms. BEER: 5.0. Had the "craft beer" from Sumida-kawa Br...ewing. Excellent. FOOD: 3.5. It was all good with beer. - 4.0: Kara-age with potatoes. Great with beer. - 3.0: Plate of 4 different types of sausage. - 4.0: カリカリじゃこと紅芯大根のサラダ.

Visited December 2022

Dropped by at lunch ona Friday to La Flamme d'or which is a very depressing place. If you do come here, come in the evening to the Tap Room. Dont confuse La Flamme d'or. This place is a buffett style, cheap, depressing room. More like a hime for the aged than a bar. Avoid avoid.

Visited May 2018

Very cool building with a nice resto-lounge, this is Asahi HQ so if you're into the brand or just curious about this odd looking building swing on by and check it out. Really friendly service at the lounge, and if you have a translate app you can get help with planning our daytrip to the area. Great... views of the river if you're resting mid-day or just into lounging back and watching the boats go by...

Visited February 2015

The Flamme D'Or goes by several names; I heard of it as the Asahi Beer Hall. Stopped by today and I'm glad I did. It was recommended by some locals. The establishment resides on a building commissioned by Asahi, next to their Sumida brewery. It's right on the Sumida river, dead opposite from tou...rist magnet Asakusa. The Golden Flame refers to the gigantic sculpture on top of the building, a local landmark. From the Asakusa side it dominates the skyline on the opposite bank. A French artist designed it as a giant golden flame. Alas, local wits have given it a crude nickname based on it looking like something else, But that's on the roof, not the restaurant. The beer hall is an easy three minute walk from the Asakusa subway station, exit A5; exit 4 will get you there as well. It's the first building on the left when you cross the river on the bridge. I ordered the meat and cheese plate (about 960 yen). I also ordered both of their beer flights. Each flight was three beers, 5 or 6 ounces each. There was a German pilsner, a Belgian light framboise-like beer, a Japanese witbier, a British ale and two Japanese dark beers , a porter and a stout. (See photo) All six were excellent. Each trio of beers was 680. To put that in perspective, I saw a pub in the Uena JR station selling pints of Guinness for 1500 yen per pint: $15! A competitor of Asahi has opened their beer pub on the Ginza (the most expensive real estate on earth; their beer is a bit more expensive and their food considerably more expensive. My food was good but not great. The beer was excellent. I rated "food" as "very good" but that's really averaging a 3 for food and a 5 for beer, so it came out as a 4. The atmosphere is excellent: mellow jazz and modern architectural design with lots of unusual features. The two restrooms are adjacent to one another by a curving wall of frosted glass. That sounds nutty for Japan, where even public displays of affection between a married couple are considered gauche, but it actually works (see photos). I came in the late afternoon. Not many folks in the place, but I left at 5:00 and Typhoon Phamfone had passed through Tokyo that morning so I doubt the sparse crowd was normal. Bottom line: beautiful place with great beers at San Francisco or Singapore--rather than Tokyo--prices. I recommend the place, and suggest going to the Asakusa temple complex in late afternoon, getting an early dinner here and then getting back to Asakusa at sundown, since it changes character considerably between day and night. One caution: as with most Tokyo restaurants, the menus don't have English translations, and most wait-staff speak no English. The menus do have pictures, so you can point to what you want; and the beer flights did have little flags on the description of each beer, so I could tell what country they were from.

Visited October 2014