There are so many good coffee specialty places these days we are getting way too spoilt for choice. Most of these coffee specialists boast swank interior design, top-of-the-range equipment and most certainly all sorts of single origin arabica royalty. But every once in a while, you stumble upon one which has all of the above…and more. Continue reading
If the kitchen is your favourite room in the house, then you will be right at home at Kappabashi Dori in Tokyo. Every time I visit, I spend hours eagerly trawling the entire stretch of the street, fascinated by the myriad of kitchenware displayed in the shops Kappabashi is so famous for. From the sharpest Japanese knives, to realistic plastic food-lookalikes, to exquisite ceramic ware; if you need it, I’m sure Kappabashi has it. But for a street that has everything to do with preparing food, there is nary a spot for weary shoppers to rest and grab a drink to recharge. I am in for a pleasant surprise this time. Continue reading
Happy 2012 everyone! I do realise that my previous post was on coffee, so I really shouldn’t be posting yet another so soon. But I am so excited about this one I couldn’t wait to share it with you. I am a lover of good coffee and a sucker for beautiful spaces and this one takes the cake on both counts. Have a look. Continue reading
“There are, broadly speaking, two types of drinkers. There is the man whom we all know, stupid, unimaginative, whose brain is bitten numbly by numb maggots; who walks generously with wide-spread, tentative legs, falls frequently in the gutter, and who sees, in the extremity of his ecstasy, blue mice and pink elephants. He is the type that gives rise to the jokes in the funny papers.”
London, Jack. John Barleycorn New York: Oxford University Press. 1989
Hmm…no blue mice, thankfully, but we did see pink elephants. That belonging to what was once elected the Best Beer in the World – Delirium Tremens. Continue reading
Yes, literally. Tokyo never fails to amaze me with her eclectic mix of cafes and today I was pleased to discover yet another hidden gem. I spent a wonderful half hour at Hapineko in Dogenzaka, Shibuya, a cafe where guests chill out in the company of cats. Continue reading
Flying red-eye into Tokyo is not much fun, especially when you arrive groggy, water-retained and not able to check into your hotel just yet. Such was my predicament last Sunday morning; I figured there was perhaps one thing that could solve all these problems for me.
Coffee.coffee.coffee
Gogorama.
A squiggle of a name…electrifying with the suggestion of scintillating ladies in high heels and red lips. The Gogorama art.design.illustration café shares its name with an infamous American strip-joint, but the only wanton displays of seduction are its moist desserts that warrant adultery. Continue reading
A recent trip to China Square one Sunday afternoon left us very hungry after trawling through two floors of the Sunday vintage flea market. On the way out to hunt down some food, we stumbled upon Eden Sanctuary Floral Cafe located on the ground floor of China Square. Continue reading
Fancy stepping back in time to some good old fashioned hospitality? Captains of Industry has just the answer for you. Operating out of a space on the second floor along Somerset Place (off Little Bourke St), Captains of Industry is a lifestyle concept store which amalgamates retail, made-to-measure menswear and a cafe which serves a small selection of drinks, coffee and cakes. Housed in separate rooms side-by-side are the made-to-measure travelling suit shop ‘Statler and Waldorf’, bespoke footwear and leather accessories specialists ‘Roberst & Hassett’ and ‘Herr Blick’, a traditional barber shop run by the very talented Steven Blick. Continue reading
Apart from the St. Ali group, the cult coffee scene in Melbourne is heavily dominated by the Seven Seeds group and Market Lane Coffee, both of which were our next pit stops on our whirlwind coffee crawl during our short visit down under.
Seven Seeds was our first stop and not straightforward to find, which can be a good thing in our opinion. Located inconspicuously in a row of industrial warehouses with only “prison-like” iron bar windows to allow outsiders a peek into their secret world, Seven Seeds was certainly a hidden oasis that was enchanting and seductive. Entering through their large wooden doors, we immediately felt like part of an exclusive club – it was certainly a treat worth any trek down to! Continue reading
jackisnotdull 