THE CITY BAKERY Ikebukuro IT tower TOKYO on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
People of Ikebukuro, thank you for waiting. It is Hangover Meshi time.
This time, a cafe. Purely a coffee break. THE CITY BAKERY, on the ground floor of IT tower TOKYO — the twenty-seven-storey mixed-use tower built on the site long known as Ikebukuro Marui. It opens at 08:00, and I dropped in around ten; it is a pleasure to have somewhere open at that hour. It began as a bakery in Union Square, New York, in 1990, and in Japan it has spread nationwide since first arriving in Osaka in 2013. I do not think I see it much in the Kanto area — perhaps it is centred on Kansai.
In any case, the shop I was actually waiting for did not open until about 11:00, so I killed time here over a coffee. Rather busy.
And the bread looks far too good — I could not decide whether to have something.
But eating bread here would certainly tell on lunch, so: restraint. I am hungry.
So, a coffee for now.
The glass is properly chilled, and the iced coffee poured into it is sharpened by the ice and washes the heat outside straight away. The aroma is gentle, the drinking light. A coffee that sits alongside the bread without getting in its way.
That is all it is, really — but the building is new and handsome, and simply sitting in it feels bracing, or at any rate rather stylish.
So: good to know one more cafe that opens early. If you want a coffee break near IT Tower, it is worth a look. There is terrace seating outside as well, and there seems to be plenty of room. (Though it may get hot from here on.)
May you meet something good to eat today too.
THE CITY BAKERY Ikebukuro IT tower TOKYO (bakery / Ikebukuro Station, Kanamecho Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.3
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.