Looking for a place where time stopped when Japanese bubble economic was blooming? Well, Galant is that place. Time literally stopped there in 1977 and every time I’m going there, climbing the stairs, it’s just like I was going to enter and find women wearing shoulder pads and red skirt suit, drinking coffee with slick-backed hair men looking cool in their large purple suit and shiny satin shirt…

Galant (ギャラン)
 Since 1977 (Showa 52)   
 Smoking  
 No Wi-Fi & no power outlets
 Lively and usually crowded
 Recommendation: cream soda, chocolate parfait, blue mountain coffee
 Japanese & English Menu  
 Couple, alone, with friends
 We love: the atmosphere, the showa songs,
 Special points: staff wearing cute uniforms
 Drinks prices: 650-1500 yen  
 Kissa-meter: Fabulously sparkling and shining 

Kissaten overwiew

• • There is nothing sober about this place. Everything is about being extravagant and showy. Chandelier, leather chairs, retro tiles… Everything will remind you how bubble economy was at its fullest point here. When it’s getting darker outside the lights are giving an incredible touch to this place.

• • The café is playing popular showa songs. Great to immerge yourself in this kissaten atmosphere.

• • I really like when waiters and waitresses of Kissaten are wearing a uniform. I feel like it amplifies the retro atmosphere of the place and its nostalgic feeling. Here, the staff is wearing a very cute uniform. Women are wearing a yellow and red uniform (I think this color combination is quite rare), giving them a cute retro look. Men are in red and black with a checkered vest and it actually gives them a stylish retro look.

• • The coffee choice is pretty basic: blend coffee (650 yen), American coffee (650 yen), espresso (650 yen), caramel latte (800 yen) and so on. The drink menu has a nice choice of various typical drinks you can get in a kissaten but also fresh juice (750 yen) and a yogurt drink (750 yen).

• • There is nothing incredible about the blend coffee here, it’s balanced and not too bitter but still strong. However, they are also serving a blue mountain coffee (850 yen) which is pretty good. I strongly recommend you to try it if you’re a coffee lover.

• • The food menu is huge and typical for a kissaten: omurice, beef stew, pizza toast, pasta, sandwiches, cakes, parfaits etc… The food is good but not memorable.

• • The most popular treat on the menu is their chocolate parfait (900 yen) and their vivid green cream soda. But actually, even if I really do love kissaten so much, I’m not a parfait person… You should rather ask me about the best pancakes among Tokyo kissaten! However, my husband really loves the chocolate parfait here. He told me that the mikan (Japanese mandarin) and the chocolate sauce is an amazing match.

Tips

• • Try to get a spot near the large picture window. I really love to sit there, gazing at the city lights at night and how the streets are lively and crowded.

• • They have a black curry… Seriously it’s really black! You can try it for 1000 yen and it’s quite fun actually. Otherwise there are 2 others regular curry for the same price if you’re not feeling bold enough for the black one.

• • Try their melon soda (800 yen)! I don’t know why but I feel like the green of this drink is more vivid and brighter here… It looks great on picture and drinking one in this atmosphere is really nice.

• • They are serving a pizza toast (900 yen) slightly different from the one you can usually get in kissaten. Will you guess why when trying it ?

• • If you’re ordering an ice drink you’ll get a nice paper glass coaster, it’s super cute and it makes a nice souvenir to keep in your diary… I have to confess that I put one in my hobonichi techo…

• • You can get whisky (800 yen for a simple, 1500 for a double) and beer (800 yen) here. I usually don’t underline that but it seems really nice to have a fresh beer after a long day at work in this atmosphere while listening to old showa tunes.

• • The place feels like a perfect date spot to me… I can imagine a couple coming here for a last coffee after a nice dinner in a small izakaya near-by. After 9pm the atmosphere is getting quieter and more romantic…

I have a funny story for you about this place…. I don’t know if it’s only me or what… But this place is the perfect place if you want old salary men to hit on you… I’m not even kidding… Every time I went there, literally every time folks, some old customers tried to talk to me and asked me for my Line or my email… Someone even asked me if I wanted to do shopping with him… O_O Usually people are getting curious about me and just ask me if I’m visiting Japan or if I can speak Japanese but it’s quite rare I get hit on in a kissaten… Galant is really an exception… Which is quite fun as the name of this kissaten “galant” literally means admirer or courteous in French… My husband couldn’t stop laughing at that and making jokes about how ironic it was for a french woman to meet flirty salary men in a kissaten with this meaning in her mother tongue. He kept making references to the fact that kissaten were once (long time ago…) places where guys could meet woman for casual love affairs and was laughing by him a lot…

Galant (ギャラン)
Address: 6 −14−4, Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo) 
(東京都 台東区 上野 6丁目14-4)
Phone: 03-3836-2756
Monday 〜 Sunday 8:00 – 23:00