Although it's not especially fashionable, trendy or gourmet-conscious, somehow the neighborhood around Kanda station has turned into a major destination for craft-beer fans in Tokyo.

Here are some recommendations for the area, with links to fuller listings. Note that most bars are open from 5pm.

Dinner with craft beers

This branch of the popular CBM chain offers their usual 30 taps of craft beer at very reasonable prices (starting at Y480), and they also serve the best food among Kanda area beer bars. Menu highlights include a dozen lamb-centered dishes, with excellent lamb chops, lamb-lentil stew and lamb-cilantro gyoza dumplings.

More of a restaurant with craft beers rather than a craft-beer bar, Himalaya Table prepares excellent Nepalese cuisine and offers eight well-chosen, mostly Japanese craft beers on tap.

Dinner with craft beers

The draft beer list here is limited to a dozen or so beers from Nagano-ken's Yo-Ho brewery, including their hand-pumped real ale and some decent seasonal specials. The ambitious food menu is a bigger draw though, with excellent roast chicken and artisanal sausages, all at very reasonable prices.

For a change of pace, this popular German chain offers eight German and German-style beers, including five of their own brews. Tasting flights are available, and there's a very meaty, German-inspired food menu if you're hungry.

Craft-beer exploration

This Tokyo craft-beer pioneer has one of the best tap lists in Tokyo, offering a good number of US imports as well as several of their own excellent brews. Their Chicago-style deep-dish pizza is very popular, although it can take awhile to arrive when the bar is crowded.

The twenty taps here are focused on craft beers from Western Japan, including multiple beers from breweries like Kure, Rokko and Konishi. Beers start at Y500 for a small glass, and there's a small snack menu, including fried chicken.

Craft-beer exploration

An old-school Tokyo bar with a subdued atmosphere, Kura Kura pours a decent selection of craft beers from their twelve taps and they serve some delicate chicken dishes to snack on, including raw chicken with wasabi.

If you want to bring home some souvenirs of your Kanda beer-bar tour, this retail shop stocks one of the biggest selections of imported canned and bottled craft beers in all of Tokyo. They also provide a no-frills standing area where you can drink any of your purchases (there's a Y200 corkage charge), and they have ten taps as well.

Late-night beers

Maltan is a cozy hideout with a friendly, laid-back attitude, although the art-filled basement bar can get smoky at times. They serve five taps of Japanese craft beers along with single-malt whiskies, all at reasonable prices, and they stay open a bit later than average, closing at 1am on most weeknights and 4am on Fridays.

If you've visited every bar on our list and thus managed to miss your last train (or if you just feel like staying out very, very late), Rokugo is open until 7am every night but Sunday. They stock around 200 bottled and canned beers from around the world, along some twenty different types of cheese.

What's nearby

Kanda is just a two-minute train ride from Akihabara, so you can tour the beers bar here after an afternoon of exploring Akihabara's arts and design scene, otaku sights and electronics shops.