The best cocktails in Brussels are 30 floors up

The best cocktails in Brussels are 30 floors up

There is a difference between drinking a cocktail and experiencing one. At Akai, that difference is measured in floors, in precision, and in the particular quality of Brussels light seen from above.

The best cocktail in Brussels is not found in a basement or at street level on a busy corner. It is found on the 30th floor of the Cardo Hotel, in a Japanese cocktail bar where every glass is held to the same standard as the plate beside it.

A cocktail bar with a point of view

Akai's menu is not built like a standard bar list. It is constructed around an obsession with Japanese spirits — Suntory Haku Vodka, Suntory Roku Gin, Suntory Toki Whisky — and a reading of the great classics that gives each one its own identity.

The Pornstar Martini is, by some distance, the most ordered cocktail in the house. Over 6,200 served in 2025. Akai's version: Suntory Haku Vodka, passionfruit, vanilla, and the half-glass of Prosecco served alongside. Simple on the surface, demanding in execution.

The Hakka is our signature. Suntory Haku Vodka, lychee, sake, coconut, passionfruit — a cocktail that resembles nothing else on your table. In 2025, it became the second highest-earning cocktail on the menu, ahead of the Espresso Martini. Guests who order it once almost always order it again.

The Lychee Martini — Suntory Haku Vodka, lemon, lychee — took second place by volume in 2026. It is not a passing choice. It is the one regulars keep coming back to.

Japanese signatures, for those who want to go further

Our Signature Cocktails section is built around Japanese flavours. The Shiro Negroni replaces gin with sake and umeshu, balanced with dry vermouth — a Negroni that surprises without betraying the original. The Shinobi Bloom Sour brings together sake, yuzu, ginger and sugar into something fresh and precise. The Tokyo Spritz — sake, cava, yuzu, soda — is the summer expression of the same philosophy.

For those who know their classics and want to find them done properly: the house Negroni (Suntory Roku Gin, sweet vermouth, Campari), the Smoked Old Fashioned, the Vieux Carré with rye whiskey and cognac. These are cocktails without embellishment, which demand irreproachable ingredients.

A Japanese cocktail bar and restaurant — not two separate concepts

What sets Akai apart from a classic cocktail bar is that the glasses and the plates do not simply coexist — they answer each other.

A Tokyo Spritz or a Shinobi Bloom Sour before the sashimi. The Hakka mid-meal when the maki rolls arrive. An Espresso Martini to finish, alongside oysters ponzu or the last pieces of o-toro nigiri.

This is what it means to be a genuine Japanese restaurant bar in Brussels: every moment of the evening has a drink that belongs to it.

Our house mocktail — the Akai Martini (New London Light, pineapple juice, passionfruit, vanilla) — deserves its own mention. Over 6,100 units sold in 2025, representing nearly a quarter of all cocktail and mocktail orders. For those who don't drink alcohol, the evening is no less considered. The mocktail menu also includes the Caramelo, the Napolitano and the Pomelo Street — creations held to the same standard of intention as the rest of the list.

A Japanese restaurant dinner that begins at the bar

A Japanese restaurant dinner in Brussels does not begin with the starter. It begins at the bar, with a view over the city that most people in Brussels have never had the chance to see from this height.

Guests arrive from 6pm for an hour at the lounge before dinner. A panoramic view of Brussels, a cocktail chosen from a focused and confident list, and the particular atmosphere of a place that knows exactly what it is.

The kitchen opens with maki rolls — Crunchy Salmon Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll, California Snow Crab Roll — and platters of sashimi and nigiri. Service runs until midnight, with sushi served until 11:30pm.

A restaurant worth the occasion

Akai is a festive restaurant in the most precise sense of the word: every detail is considered so that the evening matches the occasion. Not loud. Not forced. Complete.

On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, the music rises after 10pm. The cocktail bar shifts tempo. The DJ set transforms the space — the panoramic terrace becomes somewhere you stay longer than you planned.

This is what regulars are looking for: a Japanese restaurant in Brussels where the evening does not end with the bill. A place that justifies the decision to book.

Akai Brussels — Practical information

Japanese restaurant & cocktail bar — 30th floor, Cardo Hotel, Brussels Open every day from 6pm Kitchen until 11pm — Thursday to Saturday until midnight — sushi until 11:30pm. Dress code: smart and elegant.