BAR REVIEW: Bar Doko

Finally something positive to write about! I promise all my reviews won't be negative. This tiny spot is adjacent to the sushi restaurant Doko, which I have yet to try. I counted maybe 16 seats in the entire bar, which is very heavily focused on Japanese whiskey and the "omotenashi" concept of Japanese hospitality. In fact, pretty much all of the cocktails use some version of the spirit, though with the caveat that there were some ingredients and Japanese words on the menu I didn't fully understand, so that may not be 100% true.

I decided to jump in the deep end, starting with the "EI" Eternity cocktail, made with Maker's 46 and somehow incorporating A5 Wagyu and caramelized mushrooms (???). The amount of umami was very unusual for a cocktail, but I'm always down to try something interesting, and I quite enjoyed it. I have to say, though, as a noted mushroom hater, the garnish of a cluster of beech mushrooms was a bit off-putting.

There were a handful of other intriguing cocktails on the menu, but since the selection of whiskey was so tremendous, I went with a Fuji flight. The Fuji Single Grain was certainly the high point of the three selections. I slightly regret not balling out and going for one of the most exclusive flight options, but we'll save that for another time.

Overall a high recommendation from me, coming in at #13 on my ranking of Houston cocktail bars.

I do have to shout out the hilarious table next to us, with the guy telling his date no less than 20 times that he was a neurosurgery resident. I think everyone in the bar got the picture.