Thursday, November 19, 2009

[Tokyo Fall 2008] macchinesti

"Tokyo Fall 2008!" Yes I know it's been almost a year, but I'm still blogging about our trip to Tokyo. Since I've been staying at home because of my lower back, I figure it would be nice to blog about something new and/or old.

Anyhow.

One of the shops John and I wanted to go and visit while in Tokyo last year was Macchinesti. It started off being the "Espresso Vivace in Japan" where Mr. Schomer trained all the baristas and the shop uses exclusively Espresso Vivace. I'm not sure if they are still affiliated these days.

We arrived at Akabanebashi station. It was not easy finding the place. John and I tried to look for the address on our paper, but with no luck.

akabanebashi
We did see Akabanebashi (bridge).


tokyo tower
And the Tokyo Tower from a distance.


We walked around for a while and asked a few passersby but no one knew where exactly Macchinesti was. We eventually saw a phone booth... I never thought I had to do it, but I figured out how to read the Japanese phone book and eventually figured out at what direction Macchinesti should be!

We found the address but it was not Macchinesti. It was a small grocery store whose specialty was to sell Costco merchandise. Interesting. The store clerk was kind enough to find the new address for Macchinesti and even printed out a map for us.

We walked for another while.

And there it was!

macchinesti
Macchinesti!


The store was beautifully lit and quiet, which was pretty unusual for a cafe in Tokyo. I think it had a more different clientale than many of the other shops.

macchinesti counter
The counter area.


macchinesti
Very casual and pleasant.


coffees
The first round (I belive) we had a cappuccino and a latte. Some of the best we had in Tokyo.


macchinesti
I loved the store.


coffees
And the second round (I believe) we got a Romano (their signature drink, I think,) and a French Press coffee.


Mmm. I was happy.

macchinesti
If I remember correctly, the baristas gave us a really good deal on the drinks. Awww. That was so nice of them.


We had our drinks and we were really happy.

doggies
As we were leaving we saw these little guys with their owner on the patio.


doggies
The Frenchie boy even ate a treat from John's hand.


Ahhh. Nice people.

macchinesti sign
It was totally worth the time and effort.

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