Arty Tennozu Isle with a restaurant with a view

Last week was Golden Week in Japan where we had Monday through to Wednesday off thanks to a number of public holidays.
Saying that, due to state of emergency and with the current new normal, we stayed put in Tokyo🗼 by mainly staying at home and occasionally cycling on our bikes 🚲 when the sun came out.

For one cycle, we visited 天王洲アイル (Tennozu Isle).

Tennozu Isle

Tennozu Isle is close to Shinagawa station which is a busy transport hub including bullet train platforms, trains to both Haneda and Narita Airport as well as trains to major tourist attractions including Asakusa.

This 22 hectares man-made island’s previous life was a busy distribution warehouse area but in the ’80s, a revitalisation plan revamped Tennozu Isle into an art, creativity and communication precinct.

There are arty flair around this little island like their map:

It was closed due to the state of emergency, but Pigment Tokyo looked like an artist’s paradise – a very beautiful art supply store 🖼. I later researched that they offer art classes including make your own watercolour paint by mixing natural pigments together 😍!

Tennozu Isle’s highlight is Bond Street with wall art and massive building art that are pretty on the eyes and and harbor view restaurant at the end of the street called T Y Harbor that are good for your tummy.

T Y Harbor 🍴

T Y Harbor was exactly what we needed. Open since 1997, this brewery slash restaurant slash bakery cafe (Breadworks) offers inside dining, river lounge and an outdoor terrace space with plenty of fresh air and distance from other patrons as the terrace is wrapped around a canal.

We were lucky enough to get the very corner table in the outer terrace facing the canal and the closest table was 4-5m away.

Besides placing a hand sanitiser at the entrance, they offered their menu via QR Code for hygiene reason which was a thoughtful touch during such time.

T Y Harbor reminded me so much of my Sydney life:

Fresh draught craft beer 🍺 ✅

Outdoor waterfront view ✅

Decent portion, especially crispy fries 🍟 ✅

I selected their limited beer called Afternoon Tea Ale 🍺 described by T Y Habor as

"brewed with yeast from Australia, this spiced herb ale has a smooth palate along with a rich earl grey aroma. Enjoy the smooth after taste enjoyable for a perfect relaxing afternoon tea time."

So refreshing and very drinkable after a long cycle ride!

T Y Harbor was very popular with expats and it’s a perfect place for long lunches on a sunny day ☀️ .

We crossed Tennozu Fureai bridge and cycled through Konan Park to get home.

---

It’s been months since we dined out and we definitely took eating out for granted until now. It felt refreshing to eat a meal somewhere other than at our dining table and to experience a ‘normal life’ by taking a break (relatively safely through social distancing and wearing face mask between bites into our burger) from what is expected to be a long way out of getting Japan out of coronavirus pandemic.

---

T Y Harbor

Opening hour: 12:00pm – 7:00pm (during state of emergency)
T Y Habor Website