When Hideki Saito started conceiving the Black Dice Café, he had a pretty specific clientele in mind — himself. “I wanted to do my own business; I’ve been in the restaurant and bar industry pretty much my entire life, and I put [Black Dice] together so it would be a place I would want to go to,” he says. “I couldn’t find a place like this in Toronto.”
That Saito would be hard-pressed to find something akin to Black Dice, a Japanese sake bar meets 50s rockabilly dive, is not surprising. The spot is something of an anomaly among the bars and restaurants that line the Dundas West strip. Walk through the unassuming glass doors and you’ll suddenly be transported to a 1950s rock ‘n’ roll clubhouse, bathed in a soft neon light.
This Brockton Village bar has a pinball machine, a jukebox, and an excellent selection of Japanese whiskeys (in other words, what more could you ask for?). In the way of interior, the Japanese rockabilly theme and neon lights add the lively feel of a charming dive bar – but the selection of sake-based cocktails, draught sake, and Sapporo specials will make you feel like you’re somewhere truly distinct.
Full of intimacies that reveal themselves over the course of the evening, The Black Dice is Toronto’s sole Japanese rockabilly bar. Housed at Dundas and Dufferin, the compact spot is oft quiet during the week, the perfect kind of atmosphere for an anonymous cocktail (save spontaneous nights where a fleet of motorcycles are parked out front and the rockabilly types roll British punks tunes off the 1950s jukebox). It ramps up on the weekends, drawing crowds with their unparalleled Japanese whiskey selection and DJ tunes (from 50s rockabilly to surf to R&B), streaming through the doorway.
Juxtaposition is the word at this punkie dive bar meets elegant cocktail house, where Japanese-American cocktail fusions complement a fully functioning 1950s jukebox. Hit this Japanese rockabilly bar with a pal or romantic and take turns sipping sake-based aperitifs and racking up a new high score on the surf champ pinball machine in the back corner.