喫茶店・カフェ
Retro coffee houses with velvet seats, thick toast, pudding and the best breakfasts in Japan.
A kissaten is a Showa-era coffee house: wood panelling, velvet banquettes, siphon or hand-drip coffee, and a food menu of thick-cut toast, egg sandwiches, Napolitan spaghetti and hard-set pudding. They are where Japan does breakfast and where older locals spend hours. Tabelog's cafe category also covers the modern specialty coffee scene, and the scores do a good job separating atmosphere-only places from ones with real coffee.
Tokyo's kissaten survive in Jimbocho, Ginza, Asakusa and Shimokitazawa: siphon coffee, pudding and Napolitan in rooms unchanged since the 1960s. The specialty coffee scene is in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa and Nakameguro.
Jimbocho · Ginza · Asakusa · Shimokitazawa · Kiyosumi-Shirakawa
Kyoto's kissaten are the oldest in Japan: coffee houses founded in the 1930s and 40s still serving egg sandwiches and hand-drip blends in rooms with lace curtains. The classics are around Sanjo and Kawaramachi; the specialty coffee scene is along the Kamo river and in Higashiyama.
Sanjo · Kawaramachi · Higashiyama · Gion
Nagoya's kissaten culture is the strongest in Japan because of 'morning service': order a coffee before 11:00 and toast, a boiled egg and often a salad come free. The city also invented ogura toast (sweet red bean on buttered toast).
Osu · Sakae · Nagoya Station
Naramachi's machiya have been turned into some of the most atmospheric cafes in Kansai, serving kuzu-mochi, matcha and lunch sets in old merchant houses with courtyard gardens. The retro kissaten on Sanjo-dori date from the 1960s..
Naramachi · Sanjo-dori
The best coffee shops in Osaka by Tabelog: a bank-vault counter, a 1951 kissaten, new roaster Odoriba Coffee and more, with prices and payment.
Five Shinjuku hideaway restaurants in back alleys and basements: ¥200 yakitori, clam-broth ramen, a ¥1,280 tendon lunch, aged sushi and weekend-only coffee.
Order a blend coffee and the morning set (toast, egg, salad) before 11:00 for the best value. Napolitan, pudding (purin) and cream soda are the classic kissaten orders. Many allow long stays; some older ones still allow smoking, so check the listing.
Point at the morning set on the photo menu. Coffee vocabulary is nearly all loanwords.
Cafe scores are compressed; 3.4 and above is a notable kissaten and 3.6+ is a nationally known one worth planning around.
Order a blend coffee and the morning set (toast, egg, salad) before 11:00 for the best value. Napolitan, pudding (purin) and cream soda are the classic kissaten orders. Many allow long stays; some older ones still allow smoking, so check the listing.
Lunch: ¥500 to ¥1,200 for coffee and a set. Dinner: Most close by evening.
Cafe scores are compressed; 3.4 and above is a notable kissaten and 3.6+ is a nationally known one worth planning around.
Walk-in. Famous kissaten have morning queues on weekends.
Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya, Nara each have a dedicated page. Tokyo: Tokyo's kissaten survive in Jimbocho, Ginza, Asakusa and Shimokitazawa: siphon coffee, pudding and Napolitan in rooms unchanged since the 1960s.
Open TabeDog, pick kissaten & cafes, and see Tabelog's top-rated shops around you with hours, prices and payment methods in English.
Find kissaten & cafes on the map
