Omotesando Koffee

This is the eight post in the series titled Tasting Tour of Tokyo detailing my recent trip to Japan. Other posts include Kikunoi Akasaka, Rokurinsha, Mikawa Zezankyo, Kaoriya, Sushi Sawada, Sushi Aoki, and Street Foods in Tokyo.

Is there really such thing as a "best kept secret"?

After all, good secrets in the food world are hard to keep, and hidden gems quickly gain cult status through word-of-mouth, blog posts, and social media.

But it's hard to keep track of it all. And frankly, even though this tiny coffee shop has gained quite a following in the past year, I had no idea it existed. It's only because of my lunch and subsequent conversation with Shirley of Lovely Lanvin during our ethereal  tempura lunch that I even found out about this place.

Welcome to Omotesando Koffee, one of the most unusual coffee shops I've ever visited.

Omotesando Koffee is most definitely "hidden". The tiny cube of a shop is quite difficult to find. Bryan and I meandered around this ritzy neighborhood in Omotesando quite a few times before we saw this tiny little sign.

Omotesando Koffee is probably unlike any coffee shop you've ever seen. Once you get past the traditional Japanese fence, beyond the lush green plants, you stumble upon this old, tatami-style Japanese home.

Except that it's anything but traditional.

The inside of this Japanese "home" is completely empty except for a large, single cube stuck right in the middle of the house. A lone barista stands inside the cube with his La Cimbali coffee machine and a few snacks.

The menu is simple - variations of iced "koffee", hot "koffee", and some snacks.

One of their most well known snacks or "kashi" is the Baked Custard, tiny cubes that remind me of French canelé (which I love).

I love the Baked Custard, which has a nice, hefty crust yet is gorgeously chewy on the inside. It goes perfectly with my cup of cappuccino. I think it's cute how they serve all of their desserts inside coffee filters. The coffee filters are also printed with the shop name as well as a map of the surrounding area.

The cappuccino is excellent. It's on par with my favorite coffee shops in Cambridge.

Off to the side you can buy other fun coffee related items, such as metal filters, insulated mugs, and even a "cup of coffee" literally made out of coffee beans. Of course, the cube-esque theme is quite pronounced here as well.

As I look around, I realize that I'm very lucky to be able to even visit this place.

You see, Omotesando Koffee was intended to just be a temporary pop-up. In fact, the old Japanese house was slated for destruction sometime in 2012. The original lease was only 12-months long. Owner Eichii Kunitomo's went with this box-like design because it could easily be disassembled and reassembled as it "popped up" around the world.

Things have changed since those original plans. The pop-up became so popular that people didn't really want it to leave the neighborhood. The 12-month lease has since been extended, which means Omotesando Koffee isn't going anywhere anytime soon.


Who knows how long it will be before the shop is able to go where it dreams of going, reflected by the long list of destinations on its website? When will it get to actually disassemble and reassemble in a new location, the way it was designed to move?

I guess we'll have to wait and see, though it seems perfectly happy at Omotesando for the moment.



The Facts
This place is not far at all from all the wonderful places to shop in Omotesando (my favorite being Kiddie Land, which I think has one of the best selections of Ghibli & Totoro themed stuff in Tokyo). You can easily walk from Harajuku (another really fun neighborhood to visit) to Omotesando. They are right next to each other.  If you really like walking, you can do what Bryan and I like to do, which is to walk all the way from Shibuya to Harajuku to Omotesando.

One of the most famous tonkatsu restaurants in Tokyo, Maisen, is located just around the corner from this coffee shop. You can easily visit both in one day, maybe grab a coffee here after a meal at Maisen?

This place is cash only. If you need to get cash, there is a 7-11 right around the corner which accepts international debit cards.

This is a fun place to visit, though if you're short on time, I think it's also OK to skip it, especially if your goal is to experience things that are uniquely Japanese. The coffee is good, but not better than the best artisanal coffee shops in the US. Instead, I like to think that it's offering a wonderful opportunity for the Japanese to experience really good coffee, something we're blessed to have in abundance here on this side of the globe. 

Peregrine Espresso

This is the sixth post in the new series about my recent trip to Washington DC right on Julia Child's 100th birthday (Series overview: Happy Birthday Julia Child): Other posts in this series include Wolfgang Puck's The Source, Ben's Chili Bowl - an Inside Perspective, Exploring Little Ethiopia, Jaleo, and The Federalist.

Oh coffee, how I tried so hard not to become an addict.

Strangely, even though I have been drinking some version of coffee since I was pretty young (my mom used to give me tastes of the free coffee from our local grocery store, diluted with TONS of cream, hot water, and sugar, of course), I was never addicted to coffee.

Throughout college, as other students at the 'Tute (affection way by which we refer to MIT) lived off of intravenous coffee drips into the week hours of the night with their problem sets, I never needed it. Sure, I drank my frappuccinos "socially", but it was never a daily occurrence.

It was the free, available coffee at work that did me in.

For years, I only drank coffee in the afternoon, convinced that I "wasn't really addicted" since I didn't need it in the morning to wake up. It wasn't until I noticed this dull, throbbing coffee headache  whenever I skipped my afternoon cup, that I realized just how physically addicted I was.

So what did I do? Embrace the addiction, of course!

Now I drink a lovely cup of cappuccino that I make at home every morning. After lunch, I brew yet another cup at work. Yes, I have a coffee maker in my office so I can make a fresh cup (even though there's free coffee in the kitchen). Yes, I'm a wee bit obsessive.

While in DC on this food trip, we soon found out there were several members in our group who were just as addicted as I was to coffee. We all politely requested (or more like begged) that a coffee shop be our first stop.

Our host, Katie, couldn't have picked a better place in DC for us to try.

Peregrine has definitely received its share of accolades. In 2009 Bon Appetit named Peregrine one of the 10 best boutique coffee shops in America. Their founder/barista Ryan Jensen won the Southeast Regional Barista Competiton in 2005. It's constantly being named "Best coffee in DC" on numerous lists. Clearly, it has a strong following here in DC.

Those who are willing to wait a few minutes for great coffee can order a gravity drip "microbrew" pourover coffee, where you can slowly watch your coffee being extracted right in front of you. The menu has many unusual and exotic choices, including a rotating variety of single-origin coffees.

Of course, if you're in a huge rush, you can still grab a piping hot cup of their "macrobrew" single origin coffee, although it is only available in the morning (when there are enough people to ensure that the coffee remains as fresh as possible).

You can order a cappuccino and enjoy some gorgeous latte art (see top picture). It was tough to choose between them, but eventually I opted for the cappuccino, which was awesome.

Thanks Kate for taking care of our coffee-deprived bodies that first morning in DC. I can't imagine a better way to start in the morning.

Peregrine Espresso
660 Pennsylvania Ave SE
Washington, DC 20003


Disclaimer
This trip was part of a media tour of Washington DC paid for by Destination DC, a non-profit organization that supports the DC travel and tourism sector. 

Sant’Eustachio Il Caffé

This is the fifth post in the Spontaneous Weekend Trip to Rome Series. Other posts in this series include: Dal Paino Pizzeria in Rome, Etabli, Il Convivio, and Ciuri Ciuri Pasticceria Gelateria Siciliana

We were desperately running out of time.

Our flight out of Rome was at 1:30 PM in the afternoon. Since it was an international flight, we really needed to get to the airport by around 10:30AM, maybe 11 at the latest if we wanted to risk things.

Yet I really, really wanted to try to visit one last place before leaving this beautiful city.

After some diligent research the night before, I had concluded that Cafe Sant Eustachio near the Pantheon (which, interestingly, is also where many of the best gelato places reside), had the best coffee is Rome.

It was a 25-minute walk away (yes, we walked everywhere), near the Pantheon.

We only had one hour.

"Should we go for it? It's really tight." said Bryan, the organized, always-on-time, gets-stressed-when-we're-late kinda guy.

"Let's go!" I said, the spontaneous, always-running-late, trying-to-squeeze-too-much-out-of-life kind of gal.

And we were off, power-walking like we'd never done before in the quest for incredible coffee.

The process for buying coffee in Italy is a little different than at most places. It's a bit confusing if you don't know what's going on (which we did not!), especially if the place is packed.

First, go to the counter (on the right side of the store) and order what you want. You pay first and they print out a receipt for you.

Then stand in a second line at the coffee bar and wait for a barista to be available. Hand him your paid receipt, and then he makes your drink to order.

The only question they ask is whether you want sugar or not. Apparently one of their signature things is that they put a lop of sugar on the bottom of the cup.

I'm not sure how secret their method is, but it sure seems secret. The whole process is hidden behind this big barrier, so you really can't see what they are doing at all.

If you want to feel like a local, stand at the counter and drink your coffee. It costs less this way, and seems to be the way most Romans enjoy their coffee.

We tried both the signature "Gran Cafe" (a larger espresso) and "Gran Cappuccino" (larger, creamier cappuccino).

Both drinks were excellent, though I couldn't get past the sugar at the bottom. I realize I had a choice when ordering, but there was a part of me that wanted to try the coffee the special way in which they made it. I soon realized I prefer my espresso basically black, and my cappuccino only barely sweetened.

For a souvenir, we purchased a sealed can of Sant Eustachio beans to take back to the US with us. It would be one of the few souvenirs we brought back. 

I definitely plan on grinding these beans and trying to make some espresso at home, sans sugar. 

Can't wait. If nothing else, it will temporarily bring me back to Rome.

Sant’Eustachio Il Caffé
Piazza Sant’Eustachio 
82 00186, Rome, Italy.