Aux Bacchanales Ginza

Open front Parisian style coffee and people watching

Too expensive to be that place for a regular caffeine fix, but this branch of French cafe/bistro Aux Bacchanales is a great option for a classy treat. The highlight of a visit here, is a chance to take a table looking out onto the street so that you can see and be seen. It's a really nice experience on a fine day, and the cafe fronts a pleasant street in a well-to-do area on the edge of Ginza. The cafe always seems to have a good number of people, too; not so crowded that it's difficult to get table, but not so quiet that you feel conspicuous about being there. If there is a downside to this street side experience, it's that for some reason, from time to time you get blokes come here simply to park up their super expensive motors across the street, and then take a table and a coffee so that they can sit down and stare at them (the motors), and the passers by that stop to take pictures (again, of the motors). If you can get past that, and the prices, this is a really nice place to come and relax. I've never eaten here (can't afford to) so I couldn't comment on the food. They have the usual range of coffees on offer (although not as many as, say, a Starbucks) that come in at around 500 - 700 yen. Service comes with an authentic French brusqueness, and bills are received and paid for at tables. I think you need to wait to be seated, but I've never been quite sure about this. It's a fairly big place, so if you can't get a table by the street you'll surely be able to get one further inside. That said, you really come here for the tables out front, and the interior is a little dark. I've given Aux Bacchanales Ginza 4 stars because of the really nice street-side experience.