DaikanyamaNotes

This is a place that the staff recommend wholeheartedly. The first floor has a café and a shop, and the second floor is a gallery. The tables and chairs lined up in the spacious space are Danish vintage furniture from the 1930s to 1940s, and above are PH lamps from the 1920s. It is rare to find a place where you can actually sit on such furniture, relax, and enjoy coffee.

You can purchase the exhibited art, and there are also easy-to-take-home items such as T-shirts with prints of the works and art books. During the pop-up period, it overlaps with the first half (BLUE) of the group exhibition “WAVE 2026,” so please enjoy both. The first half runs until October 12, and the last day the venue closes at 5:00 p.m.

Hillside Terrace—the place where today’s Daikanyama was first created—this is an imported grocery shop located in the basement of its Building G. A bakery, prepared foods, and a café counter are all housed in one shop, and you can eat what you buy right inside the store.

The shelves are lined with imported ingredients, mainly from Europe. Simply looking at the displays is enjoyable, and the additive-free, naturally leavened croissants that have been served since the store opened in 1993 are a must whenever you visit.

A French specialty shop for frozen foods. In Japan, you do not often come across the dishes you can find here, lined up neatly in the frozen displays—just browsing is fun on its own. The Daikanyama store also has an eat-in area, where you can have your chosen items warmed up and enjoyed on the spot. There is also coffee and bread.

Located on the second floor of the Daikanyama Address right by the station, the eat-in area is often available, making it a great hidden gem when you want to take a short break.

A café that has stood on the Old Yamate-dori since 1997, representing Daikanyama. Under a zelkova tree with a 300-year history, the bright, glass-enclosed space and terrace make you feel as if you are strolling through a European street corner.

Because it is a popular shop, you will often end up waiting on a weekday afternoon. I think it will be easier to visit during the early hours right after opening, or at night when people are more likely to get in. If you see a line, we recommend not pushing it and instead stopping by the cafés we introduced above.

The name “hacienda” refers to a grand residence on a large estate in Mexico. It is modeled after a colonial-style mansion with a ceiling designed high so that the heat escapes upward—an impressive 8 meters to the ceiling. It is a height you don’t often encounter in the city. A chandelier shaped like the feathered serpent Kukulkan from Mayan mythology hangs overhead, and the moment you open the door, you are carried off to a foreign land.

All the dishes are delicious, but goméli—avocado dip—is a must. There is also a terrace seating area where you can look out over Tokyo.

Although it is a calm space with a distinctly Daikanyama feel, you can dine without feeling uptight—this is a convenient fish-dish restaurant. It is the second location of “Kappore,” a favorite in Shibuya’s residential neighborhoods.

I once ordered a five-piece sashimi platter and ended up receiving nine varieties—I was so happy. I don’t know if it always happens, but it is a restaurant with delightful surprises like that. They also have an excellent selection of naturel wine.

This is a place where one of the staff who loves yakiniku says, “It might be the yaki­n­iku restaurant I like the most.” It has the quiet, understated atmosphere you’d expect in Daikanyama, yet the meat and dishes are all about straightforward, sturdy quality. It is a restaurant that takes on the challenge head-on with the deliciousness of its meat.

The owner trained for eight years at the renowned yakiniku restaurant “Yakiniku Kunimoto” in Hamamatsucho. The sauce continues that lineage. You can also feel the shop’s commitment in the way the meat menu is essentially limited to an assorted platter served as a set.

A sister restaurant to the long-established French “Passion” at Hillside Terrace. Here, you can enjoy a more casual bistro experience. Chef’s hometown cuisine from Occitanie in the south of France, along with wine you pour yourself from a barrel. Somewhere inside the restaurant, you can feel the air of the south of France.

There was once a time when I found myself dropping by during the break in the middle of the day. In the back of the shop, I saw a person who seemed to be Mr. André Passion, the owner-chef, pouring a glass of wine from a barrel—paired with the food they were serving. I heard that in the south of France long ago, it was customary to enjoy a glass of wine at lunchtime. It was a scene that felt like everyday life from old, good France—something I still have not forgotten.