Tokyo 東京 Espresso エスプレッソ

Café Use >>MAP Kitazawa 3-31-3 Setagaya-ku TEL: 03-3466-5058 東京都世田谷区北沢 3-31-3 A husband-and-wife operation, this Shimo-kitazawa café has fascinating nooks and crannies—even a private room that seats three. The coffee is of the drip variety, ground to order, and served in 1940s-era Jadeite Green Fire King Oven Ware cups (in keeping with other antiques in the shop). It’s consistently excellent. The wife bakes the café’s desserts (the cheesecake is particularly good). Dimly-lit Coleman lanterns sit above the counter (see picture). The husband painstakingly removed the guts from each lantern and wired them with electric bulbs. A very special café.

Another Door Café >>MAP 2-10-7 Nishi-Ebisu, 2F TEL: 03-3462-2483 東京都渋谷区西恵比寿 2-10-7 You’ll either love this place or find it too precious for its own good. The owner, a gravely serious man who spent 20-minutes rearranging a rug and two chairs while I watched in amusement, clearly has a specific aesthetic. I won’t go into detail, but urge you to visit his website for an idea (linked above). Unfortunately, he’s using Lavazza pods and the espresso suffers considerably as a result. His wine collection is perhaps more enlightened.

Dexee Diner >>MAP Hiroo 1-1-39, Ebisu Prime Square Tower TEL: 03-5464-3721 東京都渋谷区広尾 1-1-39 プライムスクウェアタワー1F　 Dexee has spots all around Tokyo but the Ebisu location is especially worth a visit (for the food and not the espresso). The expansive menu is a great mix of westernized Japanese like hamburg steak and American standards like pancakes and French toast. Espresso is not the focus here and mine poignantly brought back my first days on the machine trying to get just one shot right.

Le Parc Ebisu >>MAP 1-19-6 Nishi-Ebisu TEL: 03-3780-5050 東京都渋谷区恵比寿西 1-19-6 Located in what was a fine-dining French restaurant, Le Parc serves superior dim sum in an elegant setting at prices that range from 500 yen to 2500 yen a dish. Nobody’s bumping your elbows with a dim-sum cart here. The place has a particularly deft hand with greens (see the pea shoots pictured).

Caffe Fresco >>MAP 3-31-1 Minami-Asagaya Suginami-ku TEL: 03-5397-6267 東京都杉並区浅谷南 3-31-1 The first thing one notices upon entry to this six-year old café located on a side-street off the famous tree-lined Nakasugi-dōri in Asagaya is the fire-engine yellow La Marzocco FB/70. The owner pulls great shots and appears to be on the never-ending quest to get better. Excellent espresso. Updated: August 6, 2009