Trois Bagues

Just off an exit from Jimbocho Station, down in the basement of a building, トロワバグ opens onto a softly lit, unhurried café. In a neighbourhood long shaped by books and café culture, people settle in with a book or take their time over a cup of coffee.

The signature gratin toast, loved since the café first opened, is a natural place to start. It is layered with plenty of homemade white sauce, ham and Gouda, then toasted until golden. The sauce’s savoury aroma, the cheese’s richness and its saltiness make for a substantial, satisfying bite. Other distinctive bread options include a curry-flavoured mackerel and vegetable curry bun, and a vegetable sandwich filled with carrot râpée sharpened with Dijon mustard.

The coffee is worth lingering over alongside the food: aged beans, rested for around five to ten years, are carefully brewed through a cloth filter. Options include the Trois Blend, with a pleasing balance of acidity and bitterness; the more assertively bitter, full-bodied High Blend; and iced coffee, served in a chilled glass with a crisp bitterness.

Homemade desserts are also well regarded, including the Coffee Shop Tiramisu, where rich mascarpone and bitter coffee aromas meet the texture of chocolate and raisins, and a pumpkin mousse that lets the ingredient’s flavour come through plainly. With table service, freshly toasted bread and fragrant drip coffee, it is an inviting place to spend a leisurely afternoon.