KAIDO books&coffee

KAIDO books&coffee is a delightful little coffee shop in Kita-Shinagawa that specialises in hot dogs and fresh cream scones. It’s also home to over 10,000 books that you can peruse while you sip on your coffee.

The shop takes its name from the Tokaido, which was a major route connecting Kyoto and Tokyo during the Edo period. Shinagawa was once one of the 53 post towns that ran along the Tokaido - and this cafe apparently sits along what was once that road. It seems the owner specifically wanted to make this part of Shinagawa’s history better known, as today it’s best known for being a major train hub, especially for the airport or shinkansen lines.

There was a small number of tables on the first floor, but there is also a second floor that contains many more books - it was quite crowded though so I didn’t take a photo as I didn’t want to put anyone’s face in it.

The books that you can peruse are also mostly related to the “kaido” - the Edo-era roads and the journeys you might take along them. The Japanese article I linked above mentions that the shop owner spent 30 years collecting these books as he walked the kaido himself, which is quite the feat. Unfortunately for those that cannot read Japanese, there isn’t much to choose from - unless you want an encyclopaedia on ship terminology. Also oddly, there was a small selection of Japanese books on Star Wars as well.

The latte was very smooth (and they had soy milk available), plus the hot dogs are made with home-made sausages and are quite tasty.

My husband got the hot dog and I had to try a scone for myself. They’re made with fresh cream, and it was quite fluffy on the inside, not hard like your typical scone.

You can pay extra for some sort of jam or topping on the side, but I found it was quite nice just together with the coffee.

Overall, the food was good, but the prices were a little high - the scone was 620 yen, which made me wince a little. (I did try making regular scones at home after this and they tasted pretty boring in comparison so hey, maybe they are worth the price, especially if they are home-made). I get though that they are offering a “books and coffee” service so there is a little bit of a premium that comes with that.

Also note there is also a one drink rule, so you must purchase a drink, even if you get the hot dog. They had a 60-minute max time if you get a drink, and 90 minutes if you get both a drink and food. Although it wasn’t too busy when we went (we had no problem getting a seat downstairs) I assume at times they must get quite busy, and so need to kick lingering customers out.