Parlour Ekoda, Tokyo

Renee's mouthwatering vegetable sandwich 

Iced Latte and flat white 

Delicious selection of bread 

Pecan tart - yum!

Destination: Tōkyō! We have arrived, but not first without filling up on kaya toast at Singapore Airport (kaya is this weird green spread with a flavour that is indescribable, but sort of alluring; read more about it on Wikipedia).

Our only guide to Tokyo is Hello Sandwich, which takes us to places that you will not find in any other guide book. On this day it took us to the suburb of Ekoda, which is just outside the Yamanote rail line which loops around central Tokyo. And are we glad that we found Parlour Ekoda! (パーラー江古田, map)

A good coffee can be hard to find in Tokyo, but not as hard as finding a good breakfast. The traditional breakfast usually includes rice and dried fish; and the breakfast that you can find in one of the numerous American coffee chains is often an average sandwich or worse. The coffee is, on occasions, barely drinkable (the rest of the time it is left behind).

But this is not like us, talking all negative and stuff about such a great city, and so onto the good stuff! Being on the lookout for the best, we eagerly grabbed seats at the small table inside Parlour Ekoda (the other 4 seats are at the bar). We ordered a flat white (which is only possible as the owner trained in Melbourne) and an iced latte. We then settled into the menu, which is basically a choice of 4 or 5 fillings inside any of the Parlour's bread. And this is not just any bread, this is all out French-style bread which looked phenomenal! Renee had her vegetable roll on a rye sourdough roll, and I chose a walnut loaf with a mushroom and chicken filling. The owner warned me that mine would be difficult to eat due to the shape of the loaf (it was - all my filling fell out before I could take one bite)! But we both agreed, these rolls were reaaaaaally good - the bread was fresh and the fillings delicious!

Our coffees (iced latte and flat white) were both reaaaaaally good as well, and we both had to have more. I ordered a short macc, and Renee had another ice latte. And unlike many Perth establishments where the second round falls short of the standard set by the first round, the short macc and second iced latte were delicious!

We finished off with a pecan tart, which like the rest of the food was good. We left feeling very positive about Tokyo!

The Verdict


Coffee 4.5/5
The eggs (the meal!) 4/5
Service 4/5
Atmosphere 4/5
Overall 16.5/20


Would we go again? 
Yes, we would!


Website http://blogs.dion.ne.jp/parlour/ (maybe, maybe not!)