Downstairs Coffee

Pic from official website

So after the disaster that was sick Neena at a smoky cafe, my friend was in charge of finding a smoke free place for our next language exchange meeting. Since he had something to do in Roppongi that evening, he found a cafe nearby. The one he found is called Downstairs Coffee and it's run by the same guy as Streamer Coffee, Hiroshi Sawada.

The cafe is in the Mercedes-Benz showroom. I had seen it before but never went in. It looked a bit swanky and expensive. It is pretty cool but the prices aren't bad at all. I didn't know it at the time, but this cafe, and possibly the entire place, is only opened for a limited time. It will be closing in December of 2012, this year.

My friend and I found a cafe magazine (that I don't have!) that mentioned this place. I didn't read it at the time, but I took a picture of it for later study. It said Downstairs, and Upstairs (a bar/restaurant), opened as part of the Mercedes-Benz Connection. The magazine article also talks about the coffee and its creaminess, and how customers can use the wifi freely. And even though they're basically in the showroom, people can relax and feel a welcoming atmosphere. (It's a short article, but it briefly touches on all the selling points.)

So, I have to say that I agree with the article. The coffee, just like at Streamer, was delicious, and pretty. And this time I could take a picture of it. I didn't take any pictures of the place, because I forgot, like an idiot. But the place is very bright with lots of big windows. It's a car showroom after all. When it started getting dark, the lights came on, and the lighting was the kind that is green and then before you know it, it's pink. It was kind of nice and somehow subtle. I don't remember the seats, and I think our window side table was white, but I'm pretty sure the communal table in the middle was wooden. Quite comfortable and easy to relax and chat or study in.

So, I would definitely recommend this place. And over Streamer Coffee at that. But since it'll be closing in just a few months, you'd better get a move on it if you want to check it out.

Order: Soy Latte (¥430)
Review: It's a shame that it's closing soon.

Website: http://www.mercedes-benz-connection.com/index.html
Access: Roppongi station (exit 8 maybe, the Roppongi Hills side)
Address: 7-8-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Mr. Friendly Cafe

So the last stop on my friend's and my mega cafe adventure was Mr. Friendly Cafe in Daikanyama / Ebisu. This is another one of those places that I'd been dying to go to but just didn't have the chance to go out to. After we left Rosalie, we decided to walk towards Ebisu since I needed to take the Hibiya line to Roppongi that evening. Well, wouldn't you know it, Mr. Friendly Cafe just happened to be on the way! Lucky!

So, I found this in one of my many cafe magazines in the hotcake section. But the unique point here is that the hotcakes are miniature Mr. Friendlies. So cute! I was surprised to find that this is the only location because it's been around for a while and there's a ton of merchandise - cookies, mugs, T-shirts, figurines, bags, etc, etc.

Even though I had just had half a piece of cake, I couldn't pass up the chance to eat those tiny little men. So I order a seven-piece regular set with a coffee. Since I was eating in, I also got to choose a topping. I went with caramel, though I wish I had gone with whipped cream instead. All well, there's always next time. Wait - what? Next time? Yeah, if I'm ever in the area again, I'll be popping over here again. I want to try a sundae or something next time. But anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. My friend ordered the mango yogurt smoothie drink and then we took out seats.

The seating area was small and inviting. Most of the light came in through the huge window which faced the road. The place wasn't really anywhere near the main road so, while it wasn't particularly interesting, it wasn't unpleasant either. And the light was quite nice. There was a rather large stuffed Mr Friendly in the corner of the bench seat that I promptly sat next to.

After a few minutes our drinks and mini hotcake men came out to us. After getting a few pictures, we dug in. (Since I'm such a nice friend, I of course let my friend have a few pieces.) The little Mr Friendly hotcakes were yummy on their own, but I'm a fan of pancakes in general so that doesn't say much. And the caramel dipping sauce wasn't terrible, but like I said, I wish I had made a different choice. My cafe latte was pretty good, and I learned later it was organic coffee, so I guess that's good. My friend's mango yogurt drink tasted an awful lot like a Mango lassie, which is of course not a bad thing either.

I definitely enjoyed coming here. It's a place that plan to come to again. I even bought some Mr Friendly cookies for another friend on the way out. (I'll be honest, I bought myself one mango cookie too.) Out of all the places we went today, Mr Friendly Cafe was definitely the top.

Order: Seven-piece hotcake set (¥263) and  Cafe Latte (¥420)
Review: They'll be seeing my face again.

Website: http://www.mrfriendly.jp/index.html
Access: Daikanyama Stations (a few minutes walk)
Address: 2-18-6 Ebisu Nishi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Patisserie Potager

Picture from Bento.com

So I've been eying this place for ages. I don't know that it actually qualifies as a cafe, but it's close enough for me. I found it on Bento.com's site on the cafe page, so it must count, right? Anyway, it's more of a sweets shop, but anyway...

As I said, I've been wanting to go here for a while, but being as how it's in Nakameguro, I just couldn't make myself go all the way out there. But, then I found someone who lives in the area, so it suddenly became "no big deal". So my friend who resides in Nakameguro and I hit up Patisserie Potager. Yes!

Now, you may be wondering what exactly is so great about this place. It's just a sweets shop, right? Well, no, not exactly. The sweets here all contain some sort of vegetable. There's cakes with carrots, tomatoes, and spinach in them, among other things. My friend chose pumpkin tiramisu, and I went with avocado cheesecake. What? We also had some organic coffee to go along with it.

So, how was everything? The size of the cakes was a bit small, but being as how I was eating cheesecake, I wasn't complaining. My friend and I, of course, tried a bit of the other person's sweet. The pumpkin tiramisu was good, but I preferred my own. (I love tiramisu, but I love cheesecake more.) The coffee wasn't anything special, but it was rather cheap.

As for the price, I ended up being treated to everything, so I ended up not catching the price or getting a receipt. I will say that I'm pretty sure that everything included (2 desserts and 2 coffees) was no more than about 1500. But I could be wrong, of course.

The cafe itself was nice. They don't have any seats inside, but there's a cute seating area outside. And with the nice weather and the breeze, it was a comfortable place to spend a few hours. I would go here again to try the other sweets if I was in the area. But it seems like the area has lots of other interesting places to check out, so I'll do that first.

Order: Pumpkin Tiramisu, Avocado Cheesecake, Two Hot Coffees
Review: A cute and interesting place to visit on a nice day.

Website: http://www.potager.co.jp/
Access: Nakameguro Station (A few minutes walk)
Address: 2-44-9 Kamimeguro, Meguro, Tokyo, Japan

空想カフェ (Kuusou Cafe)

My friend and I both had the afternoon off today so we decided to hit up a cafe together. We planned on going to Toique, because it sounded like a rather interesting place. We walked all the way out there only to find that it was closed until about two hours later. Drats! We were slightly disappointed but we weren't about to give up so easily. So we sat down with our cafe magazines to find a new destination.

We decided to go with 空想カフェ. 空想 translates to daydream or fantasy. Sounds like an interesting place, right? So we walked from Okachimachi to Iriya to find the place. And then in we went. It was indeed a cute place. Very quiet. My friend and I were the only customers and there was just one man behind the counter doing something on his MacBook. We chose to sit down at the interesting shaped table in the middle of the room. There was no one else to worry about, after all.

We then placed our order. We were able to choose coffee or tea. It was a hot day so iced coffee was also okay. "Alright, 2 iced coffees please". And as the gentlemen went to the back, my friend and I shared a dubious look. My friend was slightly bewildered at the lack of cake or bread. If we had done proper research before, we would have known, but because we hadn't, we were a bit surprised. There were books all over the place and a toy room that we probably could have looked at, but didn't.

Instead we had a nice pleasant chat about the type of cafe we would run, given the choice and opportunity. And waited for our coffees to arrive. And arrive they eventually did. With the most interesting stirrers we'd seen in a while. And by interesting, I mean slightly racist looking. After a good chuckle, we used our odd stirrers to add in some milk and sugar syrup to the rather strong coffee. Now, the coffee was pretty good, but something was weird with the milk so it kind of balled together. That was a bit gross.

After spending a good while chatting about random things, we went to pay. We had both decided this wasn't the best cafe we'd been to. My friend disliked it more than I did until...we got a free little keychain toy thing. The gentleman ended up being quite friendly and chatty at the end so he earned lots of points with us then.

I can't go so far as to recommend this place, but I wouldn't recommend against it either. It was nice enough and if I lived in the area I would probably go there. But since I don't and I'm never really in that area, I won't be visiting again. But I must say, I like the concept of the cafe. It's a nice quite space with some interesting things to look at. And I kind of like the idea of just serving a couple things. Keeps things simple for the owner, right? Maybe I'll add that feature to my dream cafe.

Order: Iced Coffee (¥500)
Review: Interesting concept and nice space. But...

Website: http://asakusanocafe.com/
Access: Iriya station (probably about 5-10 minutes.)
Address: 2-30-1 Senzoku, Taito Ward, Tokyo

Mahika Mano (Hammock Cafe)

Photo via Mahika Mano's webpage

So today's caffeinated adventure took my friend and I to a place in Kichijoji. It's really rare for me to go out there because it's so far from where I live. But I had time and my friend and I thought the cafe sounded super interesting.

Anyway, the name of the place was Mahika Mano. It's a hammock cafe and gallery.  We didn't really notice the gallery bit but we weren't really there for that bit. The part we were excited about was, as you might now expect, instead of seats, there's hammocks hanging from the ceiling. It took a bit of getting used to, but it was really nice drinking coffee and chatting while swinging slightly to and fro. I do have a slight complaint about the seats though. They were a bit too low for me, so my old lady knees were a bit uncomfortable . For the average Japanese girl, it was probably perfect though. My favorite bit about the whole place though was walking around with no shoes on, like a house. So cozy!

When we went, I was starving so I got the Jerk Chicken lunch set. My friend got pickles and camomile tea. Everything, while a bit pricey, was delicious. I would have no problem coming here again, but I don't intend to for a while. Kichijoji has tons of cafes so there's no reason to make a repeat visit anytime soon. And to be honest, the staff here left a bit to be desired. And it's another place that doesn't allow photos. Though I sneaked in a few anyway. Shh!



Order: Jerk Chicken lunch set (¥1200)
Review: Cozy and interesting place with good food

Website: http://mahikamano.com/
Access: Kichijoji Station (A few minutes from the Park Exit)

Samurai

I had the whole day off with nothing planned so I decided to make a journey to another cafe or coffee shop before going home. So after leaving Branche, I walked to Kinshicho for a little shopping and karaoke-ing. From there I walked to Kameido where an interesting sounding coffee shop / bar was said to be. The shop is called Coffee Dojo Samurai and the staff lovingly refer to it as Samurai. It's a rocking chair cafe, meaning that the bar chairs are all rocking chairs. The sign is an old Samurai sitting in a rocking chair drinking a cup of coffee. It's pretty fantastic.



So this shop is my new favorite. I told myself that I wasn't intending on revisiting shops because there's so many places out there but this place had everything I'm looking for in a coffee shop. The place is cozy and interesting. The coffee is really good and interesting as well. I had the rose coffee. And on top of that, the staff is very friendly. They must not get many foreigners and for them I was interesting instead of scary. One of the staff members
spoke a little English and he was determined to try it out on me. The other guy just humored my attempts to speak Japanese. I'm hoping to catch the master one of these days. And if I get there too late for coffee (I do need some sleep after all), I can always just go for a drink.

Order: Rose Coffee (¥450)
Review: I'll definitely come back.

Website: http://www.samurai-cafe.jp/
Access: Kameido Station (across from East exit)