City Country City (Cafe Restaurant), Shimokitazawa

I made a quick reference about "City Country City" in a previous post about the South Indian restaurant "Spice Kitchen Moona" as both joints hold business in the same building. Moona is on the 5th and "CCC" is one floor below.

This cafe/restaurant is owned and managed by Keiichi Sokabe, the leader of the 90s cult indie rock band "Sunny Day Service". The band broke up in 2000 and Keiichi has had a good solo career since, while simultaneously heading the label Rose Records and being a key figure in the indie scene.

His cafe is a hang-out place for his fans, indie kids roaming the streets of Shimokitazawa and people just wanting to chill out.

As per any musician-owned place, few signatures adorn the walls of the cafe (among which my very good buddy Alex From Tokyo's) as well as several hundred used vinyl records from Chicago House to indie Rock, which you can select from the racks and listen to before buying.

The place is overall very charming and clean, with a nice and relaxing feel. They do not blast the music, which is comforting, and a nice smell of incense floats in the air. I love the old upright piano by the window.

You can obviously go there for a cafe, but I went there for lunch the other day. The menu is very simple, with a set comprising of a limited choices of pasta, hot or cold coffee/jasmine tea or apple juice, all for little south of ¥1,000.

I chose the popular Spaghetti Carbonara (egg, grated cheese, bacon and black pepper). If you feel like it, have a quick look at the wiki article on this dish: it seems to be dating from the later half of the 20th century, making it a surprisingly very contemporary recipe. It is interesting to see that "It was first recorded after the war as a Roman dish, when many Italians were eating eggs and bacon supplied by troops from the United States".

The fettuccine used as pasti are quite firm, not to the al dente point though, and are good to chew on. The very delicately crispy bacon and the relatively thick sauce are well balanced in terms of saltiness and combine very well with the pasta.

it might be just a cafe, as well as a used record store, but they do know how to cook a good Carbonara. With a complimentary piece of quickly toasted sliced baguette bread (which I'm not sure is necessary with a plate of noodles), the whole meal cost me ¥950. Not too bad considering the nice service, the chill-out atmosphere and the taste of the food.

City Country City is open everyday from noon to 01:00am. Lunch is served from noon to 16:00pm

Setagaya-ku, Kitazawa 2-12-13, 4F

Click here for a MAP

03-3410-6080

Roxanne (Yoshoku), Shimokitazawa

Though we unfortunately see less and less of them, Japan used to be filled with Yoshokuya, those restaurants serving Western-style food with a strong Japanese touch and interpretation. Those older and older joints specialized in Omuraisu (omelette stuffed with chicken rice), Kare Raise (curry rice), Napolitan (ketchup based sauce pasta) or Korokke (Japanese savory croquettes) among a myriad of other great recipes, have slowly but surely given way to the now way more popular, classier and obviously more authentic Italians, French or Indian.

Same goes for the good-old smoky Kissaten (Japanese-style cafe) with their drip brew, Piza Tosuto (pizza style toast) or Morning Service (breakfast with butter/margarine/strawberry jam toast, eggs, ham/bacon, salad and tea/coffee) and their charmingly demode decor and feel. They have gradually lost the battle against the big and cheap coffee shop chain like "Doutor" or more recently "Starbucks", and are now on the way to sadly becoming an extincting species.

It looks "old" even in color...

What's great about "Roxanne" is that you can enjoy both what make the qualities of Yoshokuyas and Kissatens in one establishment, basically the (slightly "upscale") b-list menu from the former and the out-of-fashion look from the latter.
By the way, the name of the restaurant, which owners are neither Cyrano de Bergerac nor The Police fan, comes from the first name of the manager's now defunct father Rokusaburo, whose family and friends used to fondly call Roku-san.

From among the Napolitan, Bongole (spaghetti alle vongole, with clams in white sauce) or Lasagna in the Pasta department, the different salads, the Gyu-Tan Shichu (beef tongue stew), the Guratan (gratin) or the Piza etc, we opted for the first and last one. I went for the very popular Pizza while my wife chose the Napolitan Spaghetti.

When ordering a pizza, you need to choose between Medium (23cm and ¥750) or Large (way bigger at ¥1,300), to which you can add from about twenty toppings each at ¥80 (salami, green pepper, anchovy, corn, tuna, sausage, meatball, onion, shrimp, squid, clam, oil sardine etc...).
I went for the most uncreative Salami and Green Pepper. It was good, but nothing to really scream out loud for. It has obviously nothing to do with the Neapolitan pizza they serve you in all those classy pizzerias with wood-fired brick ovens, and is way closer to what you eat in the US. The crust is bread-like in taste and firmness, and the yellowish and little bit greasy cheese is quite salty and flavorful. It's well baked and satisfying. The brings-back-memories kind of pizza I used to eat when I was a kid.
Just remember, it is no gourmet cuisine.

As I said earlier, my wife went for the Napolitan, which contrary to our belief of what that dish looks (red-orange ish) and tastes like (ketchup based with sauteed sausages and onion), was rather soupy, lightly-tomato flavored, pale in color and oregano-spiced. Once again, nothing extraordinary. An OK dish.

During lunch, you can get a middle-sized pizza with two free toppings, a green salad and a cup of tea/coffee for ¥900. Not bad.
For your information, the "Mentaiko Supageti" ( pasta seasoned with butter, fresh cream and marinated pollock (not the painter...) roe) the two old ladies next to us were devouring looked pretty good!

Roxanne is in this quite little street, just 20 meters away from the bustling main shopping street. The trees in front of the restaurant gives an intimate hide-away quality to the place and add a nostalgic atmosphere to the whole.You might not want to try this place if you're looking to jaw-dropping delicious fares, but you will probably enjoy it if you want to experience a little bit of history...

"Roxanne" is closed on Wednesday, and opened the rest of the week from 11:30am to 16:00pm and 17:30pm to 23:00pm
03-3419-69-48
Click here for a MAP