Nagoya's drinking scene is concentrated in two zones. Sakae, around Hisaya-odori Park, is the polished after-work district — high-rise bars, hotel lounges and izakaya chains. The Nishiki neighbourhood, ten minutes away on foot, is where the small independent bars cluster: jazz cellars, standing bars (tachinomiya) and the dense alleys west of the Horikawa.
The city is also one of the strongest coffee towns in Japan. The local custom of "morning service" — a thick slice of toast, a boiled egg and an optional dollop of sweet bean paste, all thrown in free with a morning coffee — was invented here in the 1950s and is still standard at the city's kissaten.