Watertrade

Watertrade is a small Japanese-style cocktail bar attached to Otoko, the 12-seat sushi restaurant led by chef Yoshi Okai, inside the South Congress Hotel on South Congress Avenue in Austin. The bar pours an extensive list of Japanese whiskies and sake alongside craft cocktails built around seasonal ingredients, and offers a limited izakaya-style menu of bar bites from Otoko's kitchen. Watertrade is open Wednesday through Saturday evenings, with reservations recommended and walk-ins taken as space allows. For a rider stopping on South Congress, it is a quieter, drink-focused counterpoint to the busier bars along the strip, set inside one of SoCo's boutique hotels.