Meguro river Tokyo
Our first full day in Tokyo started at 9:00 in the morning. After we ate some bananas, we walked around in two trendy areas: Shimokitazawa and Setagaya, which had many small, cool shops and restaurants. Unfortunately, many places were closed on Monday morning but we loved to walk around in these areas.
Mixture bakery
Obscura coffee roasters
Mixture bakery (ミクスチャー) and Obscura Coffee Roasters
After a simple but okay breakfast at Mixture bakery (3-31-51, Kitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo) we walked for a while and then we made a stop at a coffee place called “Obscura”. The barista served us great espresso and an americano, which came with a nice conversation, free postcards and a small lesson of Japanese! We rate Obscura Coffee roasters with an 8.5 out of 10.
Cafe Olu Olu
Vegan Cafe Olu Olu (オルオルカフ)
For lunch, we had a vegetarian meal in a small ‘Hawaiian-theme’ cafe Olu Olu (1-11-1 Ikejiri, Setagaya-ku, Sangenjaya). We chose the macrobiotic plate with all kinds of vegetarian dishes. It was good food for a good price. The palm tree, Hawaiian music and surf movies made sure we were in a ‘big wave’ mood (and that’s a good thing, dudes). We rate Olu Olu Café with a 7 out of 10.
Nozy Coffee spot
Nozy Coffee
Nozy Coffee (について)
On a walking distance from Olu Olu café, there is one of the best coffee spots of Tokyo. At Nozy Coffee, we had two single origin French press coffee, one from Guatemala and one from Indonesia. Both were delicious. This coffee spot is located in the basement and first level of a very small, modern building. You can sit outside on a small wooden bench or inside on one of the four chairs. We decided to enjoy the ‘black gold’ outside. We rate Nozy Coffee with a 8.5 out 10.
Surfshop and coffee bar: Saturdays
Surfshop and coffee bar: Saturdays Surf NYC, Daikanyama
In the hunt for a new t-shirt for myself, we walked further through the very modern Daikanyama-area, which looks like Paris, but then even prettier. We saw all sorts of high-end fashion boutiques and a huge, hyper-modern book store: T-site (17-5 Sarugakucho, Shibuya). At a surfshop and coffee bar called ‘Saturdays Surf NYC’, I bought a nice sweater.
Streamer coffee company
Streamer coffee company
Streamer coffee company (ストリーマー コーヒーカンパニー)
To finish our day of exploring, we went to Streamer Coffee Company, for our last coffee break. It is a very popular coffee spot, close to the famous Shibuya crossing. They are specialized in latte art. In here, the coffee is about beauty and the taste of creamy milk and a smooth coffee taste. They didn’t appreciate me photographing while they creating the latte art. I guess they already had seen many crazy enthusiastic coffee lovers like me ;). I rate streamer with a 8.5 out of 10.
Udon noodle bar Bassanova tokyo inside
Bassanova (バサノバ)
For dinner, we went to a very local, modern-looking place called: Bassanova. It’s a noodle bar, which actually only serves noodle soup with meat (which we discovered only after a while). For us they made an exception, and we had a veggie-style noodle soup with egg. The ‘normal’ customers ordered and paid their noodle dish with a ticket machine at the entrance. We could not do this, as the text was all in Japanese. Unfortunately, the noodle soup itself was not very tasty. I rate this place with a 4 out of 10.
Pictures taken in the Shimokitazawa area
Roads by night in the centre of Tokyo
Dog Barbershop – Shimokitazawa, Tokyo
kloppendhard 