About a 10 minute walk from Shinjuku station in the Kabukicho district is a really cute coffee store called Coffee Seibu (珈琲西武). If you’re coming for lunch or dinner, their speciality is omurice, and the portion size was really decent for only 1300 yen. Otherwise you can enjoy a cup of coffee or one of their parfait desserts.
On my most recent visit, we had a slice of chocolate cake, plus coffee jelly (which is apparently originally a western invention but is now mostly found in Japan).
I do like reviewing coffee on this blog, but I’m not going to recommend you come here for the coffee. The highlight of this cafe really is the stained glass ceilings, so I would recommend coming here for the cute interior rather than the food itself (which is fine, don’t get me wrong, but nothing amazing).
On a previous visit, I had their omurice and parfait set, which comes with a little mini parfait along with your meal.
The store has a long history, having been in operation since 1964. However it was originally in a separate building that was since demolished, and was moved to its current location in Kabukicho in 2023. Kabukicho has a reputation for being a bit of a seedy nightlife district, but I wouldn’t let that deter you - you may have to sidestep the odd drunk person or two, but overall with how many people are around, I would say it’s still pretty safe. It’s also a bit of a tourist spot now too, especially for fans of the Yakuza video games.
Looking at Google reviews, it looks like the store can get quite crowded if you try and go in the morning when it opens at 11am and/or around lunchtime - which is to be expected, since it is a cafe. I’ve visited twice now, and both times were coicidentally around 7pm on a weeknight, and we had no problems getting a table.
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