Café de Paris (Ikebukuro)

Ikebukuro always sounded like a huge amusement park for me with a bunch of kissaten and junkissa. I went all over those places, craving for the excitation of finding new places. Among all of them, Café de Paris, a real showa treasure, flamboyant and warm.
Café de Paris has 3 branch in Tokyo: Roppongi, Nerima and Ikebukuro. I’m more used to the Ikebukuro one so I’ll introduce you this one. I’m going there often and honestly, I’m crazy about the decoration.

Café de Paris Ikebukuro (カフェ・ド・巴里 池袋西口店)  
Smoking & Non-smoking area 
No WI-FI & No Power outlets 
 Bustling and lively  
Recommendation: pizza toast and Toraja blend  
Japanese & English Menu  
Couple, alone or with friends
We love : huge choice of drinks and food 
 Special points : decoration, atmosphere and big bouquets of flowers 
Drinks prices : 500-750 yen

The café has everything I love about outrageously stylish late-showa kissaten : kitschy rococo interior, mirrors, big bouquets of flowers, ceiling lights, red velvet…And the place is obviously serving delicious coffee and tasty food ! No wonder why it’s still so popular and always crowded…

Kissaten Overview

    • The kissaten has an English menu which is really good for people who can’t speak Japanese but still want to enjoy a kissaten to its fullest. (You can’t imagine how many times I missed great food and coffee when I started my kissaten hunt and couldn’t speak Japanese years ago…)
    • The Vienna coffee (650 yen) is made with real thick and rich cream on the top
    • Traditional roasting coffee lovers will fall for the charcoal roasted coffee” (650 yen). The café is using a roasting method with charcoal instead of doing it directly over fire.
    • It’s hard to pick-up something from the menu, the choice is really HUGE: pasta, toasts, sandwiches, cakes etc…
    • The place is quite affordable compared to few other kissaten (700 yen for a cake set, 550 yen for a regular coffee « Blend de Paris » etc… )
    • The music may be bothering… It’s too bad to hear international mainstream pop music surrounded by all this mirrors, red velvet and fine china cups. I wish it was classical music or jazz.
    • The place tend to be crowded even if it’s quite big so it’s common to wait a little for a seat…

Tips

  • If you’re looking for a strong coffee, give a try to the « Torja Blend » (650 yen).
  • Go for the “Tuna Pizza Toast” (470 yen or 750 yen in a set), which is one of my favorite toasts in Tokyo. You’ll easily find pizza toast with ham or just tomato sauce and cheese, but the tuna one is quite rare among kissaten.
  • There is a Rakugo theater just next door so a lot of people are usually coming here to relax after a performance. If you can speak Japanese, you should definitely give it a try. It’s really nice.

I have something for ceiling lights…


Can you see how rich is the cream on the coffee?

I feel like the smoking area has a greater decoration…


The escalator is quite surprising and you can’t see it from outside.

Café de Paris Ikebukuro (カフェ・ド・巴里池袋西口店)
Address: 1-23-1 Nishi-ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo
(東京都豊島区西池袋1-23-1)
Phone: 03-3982-3533
7:00～23:30
Café de Paris has a Blog (no updates since 2012)

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