Little Toyko: Tropical Bar The Mermaid Opens Today

 

The Mermaid, a new tropical bar, in Little Tokyo opens tonight. It’s not a tiki bar so don’t expect palm trees but rather a mysterious black box that reminds me a bit of a cave. It’s located in the same strip mall as Sushi Gen and Tea Master Matcha Cafe.

 

This location used to be a Japanese maid cafe that featured a sunken bar. The bar has been raised a bit but it’ll still seem like the bartenders are working on another level from you. It felt a bit like I was on a deck of a ship looking down.

The bar will eventually feature a shelf dedicated to female distillers. I love that idea.

I attended a friends and family party last week and tried a couple of drinks and food. The first drink I had was a beautiful deep red drink featuring a couple of house made syrups including lime cordial and hibiscus.

Mermaiden Voyage – two types of rum, house lime cordial, house hibiscus syrup, mint, coconut salt, lime

 

I also tried a punch called the Captain’s Punchbowl. I love stuff like orgeat, falernum and all spice dram. It was interesting to see all three in a drink.

The Captain’s Punchbowl – Real McCoy 3 year rum, orgeat, falernum, all spice dram, simple syrup, lime, mint

 

The food sounded fantastic like nori guacamole, hearts of palm ceviche and pineapple pork. I’ll have to go back to try those. I did get to try the braised brisket and shrimp roll. I liked the shrimp roll quite a bit. The fresh dill really made it.

 

The Mermaid

428 E. 2^nd St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 

 

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