Tokyo 東京 Espresso エスプレッソ

Café Landtmann >>MAP 3-11-7 Kitaaoyama, Minato-ku Ao Bldg. 4F 東京都港区北青山 3-11-7 AO ビル 4F TEL: 03-3498-2061 A pantheon to Vienna in Aoyama’s new Ao Building (another new and gleaming shopping mecca opened just in time for the current economic slump). It’s better to stick with the Vienna Coffee or another whipped cream creation as the espresso is a watery insult. My goulash soup (!), salad and bread made for a refreshing lunch and I envied the neighbor’s wiener schnitzel.

Unice >>MAP 1-34-17 Ebisu-nishi, Shibuya-ku Za HOUSE Bldg. B1 TEL: 03-5459-8631 東京都渋谷区恵比寿西1-34-17 Za HOUSE ビルB1 Sure, the place stays open until 5:00 a.m. , but with espresso that's pure drek, it makes no difference. The cafe's perpetually smoky too.

Tous les Jours >>MAP Daikanyama 1-6, Shibuya-ku TEL: 03-3476-0198 東京都 渋谷区代官山町1-6 On the edge of Daikanyama, Tous les Jours is a shoebox of a cafe. Bypass the espresso and walk straight downstairs to the hidden bar.

Espresso and Bagel Cafe/Stand 300 of Joy >>MAP Daikanyama 15-10, Shibuya-ku TEL: 03-3462-5786 東京都渋谷区代官山町 15-10 A bagel and espresso café in the morning, a stand bar at night, this place should stick with the latter. It’s DeLonghi pods all the way here and . . . well . . . we all know what that means.

Deli & Café 5 >>MAP 3-25-17 Den-en-chofu, Ota-ku TEL: 03-3721-7951 東京都大田区田園調布 3-25-17 Den-en-chofu, home to many wealthy expats (it’s one of the few areas in Tokyo where one can get a house AND a yard), is home to this café. Service is stiff and largely ignorant of good espresso. However, if you don’t mind passable espresso from a super-automatic and are looking for a comfortable spot to read or study, I can’t recommend this place enough. The secret is, however, to bypass the first floor and head upstairs to the newly-renovated and lovely loft space. There are two sofas and some comfortable chairs.

Café Frangipani >>MAP 6-8-21 Roppongi, Minato-ku TEL: 03-3478-2966 東京都港区六本木6-8-21 Okay, so the place has a VW Bus smack dab in the middle of the café with seating for two. Unfortunately, this novelty does absolutely nothing to compensate for sub-par espresso. You get the feeling that the staff is simply too cool to care about much of anything except their ‘dos.

Cafetherapy Diichai >>MAP Sangenjaya 1-31-11 Setagaya-ku TEL: 03-3421-4377 カフェセラピー　ディーチャイ 東京都世田谷区三軒茶屋 1-31-11 A hard-to-find home cafe in the backstreets of Sangenjaya. The building is 45-years old and the owner-chef is extremely friendly. Sure, he's using a DeLonghi super-automatic and the espresso is . . . well . . . vintage DeLonghi (drinkable yet wrong). But one doesn't come here for the espresso. Instead, the atmosphere and food (homemade soups, cabbage rolls, house pickles, etc.) are the draw. Better still, brown rice is on the offer.

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.

Cafe Nico >>MAP 5-18-16 Yakumo-Meguro (adjoining Komazawa Park) TEL: 03-3717-6677 東京都目黒区八雲 5-18-16 Feel the LOHAS love at this hipper-than-thou café adjoining Komazawa Park. The espresso’s sh*t (see picture for Nico's perpetuation of bad espresso), but what it lacks in espresso prowess is more than made up for by location and atmosphere.

Table d’Hote (French-Japanese) >>MAP 9-18 Hachiyama-cho, Shibuya-ku TEL: 03-3464-1776 渋谷区鉢山町 9-18 Open three days a week (Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays), this special-occasion restaurant is the meticulous child of chef-owner Kei, who trained in France. Reservations are mandatory and there is no menu—only the chef’s course at slightly over 5,000 yen. The restaurant is located in Kei’s home. Highly recommended. Caution: pods are used for espresso service.

Café Vostok >>MAP 6-20-1 Okusawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo TEL: 03-6379-8155 東京都世田谷区奥沢 6-20-1 ユタカフォレスト UPDATE: THIS CAFE IS CLOSED . Quirky café and restaurant located in an antique store or vice versa. The coffee is serviceable but the real attractions are the pirozhki (a Russian meat-stuffed bun like a pierogie) and the borscht. Both are homemade and wonderful.