02 · GALLERY
Five frames.
Bar Martha is the room that made the listening-bar canon. You enter through a single unmarked door in Ebisu and the rules begin before the music does. No phones, no photos, no conversation above a whisper. The bartender will not pour you a drink while a record is changing sides. The Klipschorn speakers are placed for a sweet spot two stools in from the door. Sit there. Order a Japanese whisky. Let the room work. Two hours later you come out a slightly different person, the way you do from a Japanese tea ceremony or a long Brahms symphony, and Ebisu's streets feel rebuilt.
Sit at the bar not the table. Dead-centre between the Klipschorns, two stools in from the door. Bring cash. Order whisky neat or lose the room's regard.
The defining Asian listening-bar entry. The room that exported the format.
Weeknights 21:00 to 23:00, the room's quietest. Saturday late (after midnight) for the deeper listening crowd. Closed on Sundays. Strict house rules: no phones, no photos, no loud conversation.
Open Monday through Saturday, 19:00 to 02:00 weekdays, 19:00 to 03:00 weekends. Closed Sundays. The bar follows a strict no-photo, no-loud-talking policy. Cash and card both accepted.
Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line or JR Yamanote Line to Ebisu Station, west exit, ten-minute walk south. The unmarked door is on Ebisu Nishi 1-chome side streets; use Google Maps with the Japanese name (バーマーサ) for the exact pin.