“Kotori Café” created under the theme of “a café where you can enjoy drinking coffee while watching birds,” collaborated with “Kanahei no Shodobutsu” created by the illustrator/manga artist, “Kanahei”and opened a collaborative café at each of their stores (Omotesando/Kichichoji/Sugamo/Shinsaibashi) starting from the 3^rd of February 2018 (Sat.) until the 31^st of March (Sat.). (the café will open from the 8^th of February at the Kichijoji Store.)

Each Kotori Café has about 25 popular small birds including a poll parrot, a canary, a hook bill and a paddy bird. The space where the small birds are kept is separate from the interior of the café so the café is very clean. I am sure that those of you who love small birds will love this café.

The illustrator/manga artist,“Kanahei”has been producing LINE stamps, creates serialized mangas, sells original goods and produces adds for companies. “Kotori Café” which is collaborating with “Kanahei” will offer original menu itmes using the motifs of Pisuke and Usagi.

Original products including product using the motif of the parrot of “Kotori Café,” desserts and Kanahei’s small animal goods are being sold in the sundry section of the cafes.

Collaborative café – Omotesando & Sugamo limited menu

・Pisuke Cake & Drink Set 1,600 yen (Sugamo store is opened only on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays)

・Usagi Cake & Drink Set 1,600 yen (Sugamo store is opened only on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays)

Many other collaborative menu items and goods are available. Let’s check their original menu items and goods!

A rooftop beer garden “Tokyo Kosora” which was created under the theme of “Japan (Tokyo)” will release an autumn season-limited “hot dishe” menu called “Oden to Wine.” A hot “Oden” (Japanese broth with many kinds of ingredients) was included in the all-you-can-eat menu of Tokyo Kosora in this comfortable yet becoming chilly season after the hot summer.

The ingredients of this new menu (oden) includes the standard ingredients such as radish and egg. In addition however, they offer colorful ball cake, melty ox tongue and sweet and sour tomato. There are many other ingredients available such as vegetables and the menu will surely warm up your cold body.

As a matter of course, you can also order their usual menu items. “Tokyo Obanzai” (prepared dishes), Chirashizushi (scattered sushi) and yaki onigiri (grilled rice balls) are also included in the all-you-can-eat menu lineup. The main dishes include chicken plate and sirloin steak plate. ※the sirloin steak is not included in the course and it has to be ordered separately.

About 50 kinds of drinks created under the theme of “Tokyo” which use Japanese liquors and ager sours are offered on the all-you-can-drink menu. The Japanese style beer garden “Rooftop Beer Garden Tokyo Kosora”will be open until October 9^th (Mon.), 2017.

Let’s enjoy autumn at the rooftop beer garden,“Tokyo Kosora!”

There are some popular sightseeing spots for tourists from other countries in Tokyo such as Asakusa, Ginza, and Harajuku. Recently, the area along on the Chuou line has been becoming popular among men and women of all ages. There are so many enchanting towns for Japanese in this area such as Kichijoji which always ranks as the town where people want to live, Koenji, Nakano which is said to be the “Holy place” for sub-culture fans, and Nishi-Ogikubo which has a lot of high-quality casual restaurants.  This place is full of unique restaurants and bars. I would like to introduce two authentic restaurants that even foreign customers say they are better than the one in their countries.

The first one is Russian and Georgia restaurant called “café Russia” in Kichijoji. Their popular menus are Borscht which has vivid beets color and Piroshki that they bake after they get an order. There are special food that you can enjoy authentic Russian food’s taste such as grilled chicken that is marinated with the fermented herb for one to three days called Tabaka, and Ukha the fish food which has a lot of salmon and onions. The Japanese chef who learned how to cook in Russia and other fluent Japanese speaker staffs who are from Ukraine and Russia will welcome you with great hospitality. You can enjoy their foods even if you are here by yourself.

The second one is “BiaHoi chop” which is located behind the Nakano Broadway. BiaHoi means popular and cheap bar in Vietnam, and the chef who learned recipes in Vietnam cook so many foods. There is same distribution’s Japanese branches of popular grilled chicken restaurant from Hanoi called “BINH MINH,” so Vietnamese style grilled chicken with special sauce is great.  It is good that you can try familiar menus such as lemon glass hotpot and Banh mi. There are authentic tastes that even people from other countries can enjoy in the area along on the Chuou line. It is fun to find the favorite store while you are strolling.

■Information

café Russia

Address: Nine Bldg. B1F, 1-4-10 Kichijojihoncho, Musashino-shi, Tokyo

BiaHoi chop

Address: Kurihara Bldg. 1F, 5-53-1 Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo

Keiko Kodera(Writer)

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It is good to go to the bar that is ran by a strict male chef, but the bar that is ran by a female with genuine hospitality is good as well.

This little bar is owned by the lady who wears a coverall apron with a kimono. You can drink at the counter table chatting with this lady. The food coming with sake is clear broth soup, local fish sashimi, and Japanese steamed egg custard. These foods made me feel so comfortable. This bar that you can enjoy drinking by yourself is called “Yushima Yamaguchi” located in the drinking district in Yushima. The lady from Yamaguchi prefecture will welcome you with great hospitality and food cooked with ingredients sent back from Yamaguchi.

The bar, which is primarily a wine bar, owned by the lady who also wears coverall apron with kimono where you can enjoy drinking by yourself called “Banzai Panda” in the site of the Japanese geisha district, Mitaka. Home-made thick omelet, potato salad, beef tataki and so on are lined up on the plain wood counter table. And there is a low dining table in the raised tatami-floored seating area. You can enjoy the Japanese wine in the Japanese style space. This is absolutely great.

■Information

Yushima Yamaguchi

Address: TS twin Bldg. 2F, 3-37-11 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo

Banzaipanda

Address: 1-19-11 Nakacho, Musashino-shi, Tokyo

Kiwako Kurashima (“The Classic Bar” Editor in Chief)

■Related article：There’s a food genre that “the restaurants which is hard to make reservations” in Tokyo

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There is food genre that “the restaurant which is hard to make reservations” along with “French” or “Soba noodles” or other kinds of restaurants in Tokyo. The fans who love this type of restaurants tend to put most priority on making reservations. First of all, they make reservations as fast as they can, and look for participants on SNS. That’s why the things like all people who got together are first time to see each other frequently happen. The harder these groups of people try to make reservation for those restaurants, the more those restaurants popularities rise. Nobody knows this cycle will end.

Being specific, firstly, there are restaurants that only accept people who are introduced by regular customers. The restaurant called “Takajo Kotobuki” serve the best duck in Japan, but you can even enter the store without being introduced. The steak restaurant in Ginza called “Kawamura” which is said to be the one that sparked the meat boom in Japan is currently impossible to enter for first-time customers. You should just wait for the luck to enter these restaurants.

Sushi restaurants have become a synonym for the restaurant which is hard to make reservations. They tend to have few seats, and people who come to these restaurants often make a reservation for their next visit, so instead of the fact that is easy for anyone to make reservations, but it is hard to get there. For example, the last time I went to the famous restaurant called “Mitani” was July, 2014, and even though I tried to make the next reservation at that day, they said it is going to be three years ahead.

Recently, the restaurant which opened in last summer called “Higashi-Azabu Amamoto” has full reservation for this year. Even they are going to cost more than three million yen for sure. Seems Japan’s economy is strong.

And there is one other kind of restaurant that you can make reservation if you try. That is the restaurant which already decided the date that we can make reservation. The old famous chicken pod restaurant, “Toriei”, which has more than one hundred years history only accepts the phone calls to make reservations on the first odd numbered months from eight o’clock in the morning.

The restaurant which is far from the center of Tokyo, and has to walk about 20 minutes from the closest train station called “Trattoria La Margherita” accept phone calls for the reservation at 1:00PM on June 18^th, 2017. The next available reservations are from January to June in 2018. Luckily, I could go to that restaurant the other day, thanks to a friend of mine that tried hard to call them for six hours to make a reservation. I could drink the expensive high-quality wine for about half price at that restaurant. The foods were amazing that the chef said he commit to cook great foods, and went to great lengths to choose their ingredients. And it only cost about eight thousand yen for each person. There are so many reasons why those restaurants are hard to make reservations. Good luck for everyone!

Atsuo Ohki（”The Best Tokyo Restaurant” Editor in Chief）

Kagurazaka is famous as a city that many French people live in. “la lakagu” which opened in front of Tozai line Kagurazaka train station attract public attention as a good spot.

“la kagu” is a commercial facility that renovated the building used as storage for books from Shincho company. This wide wood stairs and rusty looking building are supervised by Kuma Kengo who is famous for the aesthetic designer of the new national Olympic stadium which is going to be the main place for Tokyo Olympic in 2020. There are many fashion stores and variety stores inside the building which was renovated last summer. It is good that you can get good souvenirs. The food court that established together with this building has the café called “LA MADRAGUE” which is the first branch in Tokyo.

The main store of “LA MADRAGUE” in Kyoto is the café which passed down three traditions. This café was built in the site of a café called “Jun-kissa Seven” which closed and is being missed by many people, and their furniture is given by “Meikyoku Kissa MUSE.” They also took over the egg sandwich recipe from western style restaurant called “Corona.” This place which has both of retro and modern atmospheres is being loved by people in Kyoto for a long time. The owner, Yamazaki Sanshiro Hirotaka, opened this “Kissa MADRAGUE” with a wish of “protecting the traditional old-established caffe in the town.” The town in Kagurazaka which has stone pavements, red-light district, so many foreigners, and long history is similar to Kyoto somehow. The reason why the owner who loves traditional café cultures chose this place as the next branches is obvious if you walk around the town in Kagurazaka.

The popular menu called “Corona’s egg sandwich (850yen)”which many people wait in long lines for will definitely make you smile.   

The surprisingly thick egg is about 7centimeters, and it will be about 10centimeters tall when you add the bread. The eggs are so wobbly when you try to open up your mouth to eat. It has soft sweetness, smooth texture like you are eating clouds, and great flavor of dashi soup spread in your mouth. It is the traditional taste that has been passed down by the owner of “Corona”, and Mr. Yamazaki who made the sandwich the specialty of this restaurant. The sweet taste and soft texture of the eggs makes me nostalgic somehow. They also do take-out, so it is good for sharing with your friends.

The unique menus that you only can eat at “La MADRAGUE” includes limited special menu for Kagurazaka store called “kagu rice (980yen)” which has curry sauce and runny egg on the top of ketchup rice, “MAD rice (980yen)”that you can choose the toppings as you like, and “spaghetti Neapolitan (900yen) ”which has omelet under the spaghetti.  Each menu contains sweet and soft eggs.

It is good to sit down on the sofa inside, but you also can spend time at the terrace when it is good weather. I want you to enjoy the traditional café in Kagurazaka being away from the bustle of big cities.

*Prices do not include taxes.

■Information

LA MADRAGUE

Address: La Kagu 1F, 67 Yaraicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo

Kissa Madrague

Address: 706-5 Kami Matsuyacho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto

Yuriko Ueki（Writer）

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