Tag Archives: 自由が丘

{  Wara Cafe 和良自由が丘工房  }

Wara Cafe
Wara Cafe
Wara Cafe
Wara Cafe

Located in Jiyugaoka, this bakery cafe has a soup or salad and all you can eat bread lunch set that women especially seem to love, so I had to go check it out. Their all you can eat bread is made from rice, komeko bread (米粉パン), which is currently a trend in Japan and they recommend heating it in the microwave for 10 to 20 seconds before you eat to have a very mochi mochi texture and I have to say the bread was delicious!

I got the B set which came with the simple veggie soup with lots of fresh veggies (surprisingly filling), quiche (which was nothing special), all you can eat bread (so good!), and a drink of your choice for 1200yen. The other soup in this photo is the A set which was pretty much the same as B set except it had the potage soup instead of the veggie soup which was also yummy for 1200yen.

The cafe is located on the 2nd floor and there’s a small bakery on the first floor right when you walk in so if you want to just buy the breads instead of dinning here, you can do that too. Check it out if you are close by.

Closed // Mondays
Lunch Hours // 11am-4:30pm (weekends and holidays closes at 3:30pm)
Dinner Hours // 6pm-10pm

Address // 1-26-9 Jiyugaoka, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-5731-1147
Website // http://www.waratokyo.jp/shop.html

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{  Cafe One  }

Cafe One
Cafe One
Cafe One
Cafe One

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DISCLAIMER: This cafe has unfortunately closed in August, 2014.
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Only 16 seats, this tiny cafe in my favorite town of Jiyugaoka is famous for their latte art. It’s another one of those cafes where you can stay for hours just chit chatting, read a book, or chill. The food is actually pretty good too. The menu changes daily but shown above are pumpkin soup with potato foccaccia plate with a drink of your choice for 950yen and the other one is chicken and renkon bowl with a drink of your choice for 950yen as well.

It’s awesome that a cafe latte is included as most places only include coffee or tea. This place also has a booklet that all the guests can sign and oh my, some people are really creative and go all out. It’s nice to see that the cafe also responds to your notes so you can look forward to coming back and checking if you got a response back :)

Hours // Monday-Friday: 12 – 11pm (lunch served till 4pm), Sunday: 12 – 5pm

Address // 2F, 1-31-8, Jiyugaoka, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // n/a
Website // n/a

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{  ZEN ROOM  }

ZEN ROOM
ZEN ROOM
ZEN ROOM
ZEN ROOM
ZEN ROOM

Our friends and I went to get Taiwanese-style hot pot in Jiyugaoka and had a delicious meal. They call this “Yakuzen-nabe” in Japanese which literally translates to herb-style hot pot. It uses all sorts of herbs and minerals that are supposed to be good for your skin and body and is very popular amongst women.

We were a party of four so we got two hot pots which cost 1780yen each. You choose two flavors for your soup base: “chicken broth soup/疲労回復 烏骨鶏スープ”, “soy soup/美肌豆乳スープ”, or “spicy detox soup/デトックス火鍋スープ”. Not sure if you can tell from the photos above but we both selected “soy soup” for our first choice, and chose “chicken broth soup” for one of the pots and “spicy detox soup” for the other so we could try all flavors. They all tasted completely different and we really enjoyed all of the soup bases.

The Hot pot set comes with 18 different kinds of ingredients and the server explains what each one is as as they place them in the pot to cook. We had never heard of most of the ingredients before but everything was good and we really enjoyed our lunch. We ended our meal by adding noodles for an extra 220yen. (You can add brown rice for an extra 330yen or add more soup for 300yen as well). Although it’s in Japanese, they explain all the ingredients and health benefits of this hot pot here if you are interested.

It may seem like a lot of food but all of us weren’t quite FULL after our meal so we were able to fit in some dessert afterwards. Luckily for us this awesome town of Jiyugaoka had so many cute cafes and treats to choose from ;)

Weekday Hours:
Lunch // 11:30 – 16:00 (L.O15:30)
Tea Time // 14:00 – 16:00 (L.O15:30)
Dinner // 17:00 – 23:00 (L.O22:00)

Weekend Hours:
Lunch // 11:30 – 17:00 (L.O16:30)
Tea Time // 15:00 – 17:00 (L.O16:30)
Dinner // 17:00 – 23:00 (L.O22:00)

Address // 2-25-17, Midorigaoka, Meguroku-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-3717-2566
Website // http://www.zen-room.com

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{  Yocco’s French Toast Cafe  }

Yocco's French Toast Cafe
Yocco's French Toast Cafe
Yocco's French Toast Cafe
Yocco's French Toast Cafe

Yocco’s French Toast Cafe, a new place inside Trainichi (a cute little plaza in Jiyugaoka), opened last month (March 2013) with a concept of serving the best french toast in Japan. The place has a cute decor and it felt like it was going to be a promising experience.

We ordered the “French toast with poached egg and cheddar cheese” for 1400yen and the “Yocco’s Special French toast ~Scrambled Egg with Coquette Gratin of Seafood~” for 1400yen. Both came with maple syrup, red wine vinegar syrup, and pepper. We were so excited to try our plates but I have to say it was just OK. Our food sadly came served cold and the french toast wasn’t a stand out. Perhaps it’s because they are new so they may need a little more time to iron out the kinks. Their dessert french toasts looked good though so it might be worth a shot for dessert instead.

Address // Trainchi A101, 5-42-3, Okusawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-5483-4600
Website // http://www.lobros.co.jp/cafe2?shop=jiyugaoka

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{  Patisserie Paris S’eveille  }

Patisserie Paris S'eveille
Patisserie Paris S'eveille
Patisserie Paris S'eveille
Patisserie Paris S'eveille

Valentines Day is coming up and in Japan it’s hard to miss it since all the shops are filled with all kinds of chocolate-related gift boxes. In case you’re not familiar with Japanese Vday, it’s a big day for the ladies to gather up their courage and give some chocolate to that special someone. There’s “Honmei chocolate” – for their true love and also “Giri choco” – obligatory chocolate for co-workers and friends. It can also be a nerve-wracking day for men to see how many chocolates they get on vday, but it’s always interesting to see how many Honmei chocolates you get VS Giri Chocos. How can you tell the difference? They say if it’s homemade or an expensive chocolate gift, it could be Honmei ;)

Anyhow, in honor of Vday today’s post is a sweet one. Pastry Chef Yoshiaki Kaneko, the owner of Patisserie Paris S’eveille, has trained in Paris for a few years at prestigious places such as ‘Ladurée’, ‘Alain Ducasse’, ‘Arnaud Larher’, and ‘Le Daniel’. He opened his own store in Jiyugaoka in 2003 and it’s a very popular patisserie which is always crowded with couples and ladies of all ages. I’ve previously purchased some pastries from here but never had the opportunity to dine-in and try their beautiful cakes so I was excited. I wanted to try everything, but ended up ordering the ‘Gâteau Basque’ and the ‘Isabella’ after going back and forth between many options. The Isabella was executed to perfection but I wasn’t a huge fan of this walnut-based cake even though I usually love walnuts. On the other hand, the gâteau basque was delicious and we liked that both of the desserts we had were not too sweet. It seems that they are famous for their chocolate cakes so I plan to try that next time.

Address // 2-14-5, Jiyugaoka, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-5731-3230
Website // n/a

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