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Special Features
A search for vintage: Nagoya's retro cafes and mouth-watering morning combos
As self-serve cafes blaze new trails in our current age, there's something undeniable about retro cafes and the boom in popularity they're again experiencing. And Nagoya is full of them. From those where the clock has stopped to cafes renovated with retro yet modern interiors, we've compiled some of the spots which define the city's cafe culture.
Note:
• Check official sites, etc. for the latest information.
Nagoya Station area: The front door to Nagoya tourism
Coffee house KAKO, Hanakuruma Main Location
A cafe with lines forming for mouthwatering homemade jam and coffee roasted in-house
Beautiful stained glass KAKO's Hanakuruma Main Location is a long-standing cafe and the first in Nagoya to roast its coffee in-house. The owner's dark-roast coffee is a popular item with many coming for its flavors from far and wide. One of the cafe's specialties, the Shanty Rouge Special, is recommended. Enjoy this charming all-in-one treat with ogura adzuki bean paste and cream cheese as well as four different homemade jams on bread.
Address: First floor of Hanakuruma South Building, 5-16-17 Meieki, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi
Endoji Shopping Street: A vintage shopping arcade
NAGONOYA
NAGONOYA took over the beloved Nishi-Asahi cafe after 80 years of business on bustling Endoji Shopping Street after renovations to become a restaurant and guesthouse. One item which continues to receive orders from the days of NAGONOYA's predecessor is Nishi-Asahi's famous egg salad sandwiches. Take a bite of the double-layered sandwich with fluffy fried eggs and sliced cucumbers, and you'll not soon forget the savory flavor! Try it with NAGONOYA's Original Blend coffee brewed with three types of beans all roasted through different methods.
Address: 1-6-13 Nagono, Nishi-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi
Matsuba Cafe
The only cafe where you can have the original ogura toast—THE famous food of Nagoya
Matsuba Cafe is located on the Endoji Shopping Street and offers a taste of Japan's Showa period. Nagoya is known for its specialty of ogura toast—toast with ogura adzuki bean paste—and the former, now closed Matsuba Main Location, which began the culinary trend, opened the current Matsuba Cafe as a goodwill venture. It goes without saying that ogura toast is something you have to order. It's a toast sandwich with ogura adzuki bean paste in the middle, and Matsuba Cafe is the only place to offer the historic and original version from the time it was first invented. The Mild Blend clear, unassuming and home-roasted coffee is another popular menu item. Matsuba Cafe purchases unprocessed beans hailed by coffee connoisseurs and roasts them itself.
Address: 1-35-14 Nagono, Nishi-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi
Shikemichi: A protected townscape offering the scenes of yesteryear
New Poppy Cafe
Reminiscent and trendy with a mix of both new and old
New Poppy Cafe opened in the Shikemichi area's traditional townscape with Japanese-style townhouses, white-walled storehouses, and other sights reminiscent of yesteryear. The cafe fits in seamlessly with this atmosphere while blending a little modern in with the retro. You have a choice of both dark- and light-roast coffee and can enjoy freshly roasted beans in a hand drip style. As for recommendations, the Griddle-Fried Ogura Toast is a great place to start. Savor the ogura adzuki bean paste and vanilla ice cream atop sesame toast with home-roasted rich coffee syrup to top it off. The warmth of the toast and chilled ice cream as well as the ogura adzuki bean paste's sweetness and bitter coffee come together in a mouthwatering harmony.
Address: 1-36-52 Nagono, Nishi-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi
Nakamura: The depth of the downtown area
Tsuzuki Cafe
You must see this unique cafe's special Cafe au Lait Ceiling Pour!
Just as this cafe's sign implies, Tsuzuki Cafe has been around for 70 years researching day and night unique coffees and has the shocking menu to prove it. Its Cafe au Lait Ceiling Pour—where the owner stands on a step ladder to pour milk and coffee into your cup—has been covered by numerous TV channels and gained due notoriety. The owner also offers tried-and-true advice on the best angles to take pictures or videos, such as right beneath the ladder as the best position. And while this may be the most talked about item on the menu, there are loads more of delicious treats with impeccable service to go with them for a sense of hospitality any native Nagoyan would vouch for.
Address: Second floor of the Tsuzuki Building, 6-1 Taiko-dori, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi
Cultural Path: Famous architecture of the Taisho and Showa periods one after another
Shirakabe Cafe Hanagoyomi
Rice ball relief to your hunger in an appetizing Japanese-style morning combo
Next to Cultural Path Futaba Museum is a popular Japanese-style cafe. Experience Nagoya's famous morning combos here with your choice of toast, rice balls, or cold green tea rice porridge and, for an additional charge, salad and chawanmushi steamed egg custard. The Rice Cake Japanese Parfait is another popular item on the sweets menu. If the weather permits, sit out on the terrace for a relaxing teatime. Use the Taiko, Main Location parking space, available to Shirakabe Cafe Hanagoyomi customers.
Address: First floor of Urbania Chikara-machi, 4-72 Chikara-machi, Higashi-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi
Bonbon Western Sweets and Cafe
Irresistible cake at this long-standing Nagoya cafe
If you're looking for a good old representative of Nagoya cafes, this is the place. The Bonbon Western Sweets and Cafe of today that Nagoya citizens know and love was originally a wholesaler of confections. It was one step ahead of the rest when it began making cakes using heavy cream, which became a popular item. Around the 1950s, the company transformed into a cafe offering patrons coffee and cakes. The display window had 30 varieties of cakes at all times available for customers to choose from. Most popular of all is the Chestnut Cake with heavy cream and sponge cake creating a perfect harmony. If you want a confection from the retro Showa period, go for the Pudding Royale.
Address: 2-1-22 Izumi, Higashi-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi
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