Swap vodka for sake in a Bloody Mary and the easy assumption is that you’ll end up with something weaker and thinner. The Tokyo Mary proves the opposite. Sake carries its own quiet savoriness, and once soy sauce and a little yuzu join the tomato base, the drink reads less like a variation and more like an entirely different category of cocktail wearing a Bloody Mary’s clothes.
The togarashi-and-sesame rim is doing more work than it looks like it is. Togarashi is a blend, not a single chile, and it brings citrus peel and sesame along with the heat — which means the rim itself is already halfway to being a garnish and a seasoning at once. The wasabi stays off to the side on purpose, a dab you control sip by sip instead of a fixed amount stirred into the whole glass.
Get the full The Tokyo Mary recipe →
This is the Bloody Mary to make for someone who insists they don’t like Bloody Marys. It’s lighter, lower proof by volume of tomato, and reads more like an izakaya snack in liquid form than a brunch cocktail.
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