In Azabu-juban I ran into a cafe I genuinely loved, for the first time in ages. It is places like this where the Tabelog score means nothing.

This is the place.

From the outside it looks like nothing more than a slightly old coffee shop..

Roughly like this..

Every single item in here is wonderfully old-fashioned. The master has quite a presence about him too, and the customers all look like they are somebody. The antique tones of the smoke-filled room come through in the photos not at all, so I doubt you can know what the place feels like without going yourself.

Cocoa

This is honestly the first place I have had cocoa this good. Not too sweet, not too thin, the ideal cocoa I picture in my head made real. This must be what people mean by a taste that warms your heart. It is a place I want to go back to for the cocoa alone.

Coffee

I did not get to taste it myself, but it smelled lovely. The saucer and the spoon are old-fashioned too. It felt like the flow of time had stopped in here.

Sugar

Baked cheesecake

The cheesecake is better than merely decent, too.

Rare cheesecake

Since I was here anyway I ordered one of each kind, and I liked them all.

The telephone

I just want to know where on earth they got props like that telephone.

It was a really wonderful experience. I have no idea when I will next get to go, but I think I will remember it for a long, long time.

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