Sitting beside a large body of water in the Iidabashi area of Tokyo or also known as the “French Quarter”, this cafe is the perfect place to spend a glorious spring afternoon. Not too many places in Tokyo boast views like this one, and during sakura season, the view is just heavenly.

During the day, Canal cafe serves simple dishes but at dinner time it becomes a real restaurant serving Italian food. I have yet to try their dinner menu.

However, if you are visiting during the day, grab a seat at one of their table or bar stools and secretly giggle at the couples who attempt to have a romantic afternoon in a row boat and then discover that rowing is not as easy at it looks. Very entertaining. Also watch the huge goldfishes drive to frenzy as you try to feed them some fish food.

The only downside of the cafe (a major one in my book) is that they don’t serve any latte. The only coffee on their menu is the Original Coffee and the American Coffee which is the Original Coffee with a lot more water in it. It tastes a bit stale. The muffin we tried were very dry, it was almost a cookie. If you really need to munch on something sweet then go for the cinnamon danish. And you’d probably be better off drinking some tea with it.

All that said, the atmosphere of the cafe definitely beats whatever stale coffee and mediocre food they serve. For one afternoon, I can survive on just tea and dry muffins. Its all good.

Price : $