Pot Luck @ Opening Ceremony, Tokyo

Update Jan 13, 2012: A reader in the comments writes that this cafe is now closed, replaced by an Italian restaurant. Enjoy the post below for historical purposes :)

Here’s the first in a series of reviews I’ll be posting from my trip to Japan last August. I was only there for five days so it was a bit of a whirlwind, but I was lucky to have my friend Tug, a fellow coffee connoisseur who is working on his PhD in Tokyo, as a guide for most of the trip. We were also aided by the affable Masa Onishi, barista at Pot Luck, and latte art competitor (check him out at Vancouver’s Barista Thing & Int’l Latte Art Competition), who has created a great map to many different specialty cafes in Tokyo.

So, first up is Pot Luck, the basement level restaurant and cafe at Opening Ceremony, an eight floor designer clothing boutique in Shibuya. They serve a variety of food, including simple, enjoyable bánh mì sandwiches. But the real reason we were there was for the coffee, which they source from Blue Bottle in San Francisco, and apparently receive shipments twice weekly to ensure freshness.

I had a great double ristretto espresso (which is how they prepare all their shots), and an equally tasty, beautifully poured cappuccino. For the first stop on our Tokyo coffee tour, we were off to a good start! Enjoy the rest of the photos below and look forward to five more Tokyo cafes coming up!

Click here for a map to Pot Luck @ Opening Ceremony.

Go to Shibuya station. I can’t recall exact directions from there, but what I did at the time was use Google Street View to look for landmarks and found the cafe quite easily that way.

View FRSHGRND – Global Cafe Guide in a larger map