[Tokyo] A stone throw away from Shibuya, Shimokitazawa is home to second-hand vintage clothing stores, bookstores, music shops, indie cafés and bars.
The laid-back district sees many new additions over the pandemic years, with new buildings such as reload, Mikan Shimokitazawa and Bonus Track to this area.
Located within reload which opened in June 2021, the buildings here are a stark contrast from the surrounding vintage shopping streets.
The white-washed building is divided into 24 sections connected by zig-zag corridors, and a total of both first and second storeys.
Focusing on their open-faced sandwiches, Stable 下北沢 カフェr has quickly gained attention among the youngsters, and expanded to 2 outlets just 500 metres away from one another.
Their signature item is their Shimokitazawa Meat Sandwich that comes in 2 sizes (150g meat for JPY 1350, SGD 13.50; 300g of meat for JPY 1850, SGD 18.50).
Other selections include Hot Chili Meat Sandwich (JPY 1450/1950, SGD 14.50/19.50), Ground Meat Cutlet Sandwich (JPY 1200, SGD 12), Cajun Meat Sandwich (JPY 1450, SGD 14.50), Egg Sandwich (JPY 900, SGD 9) and Vegetable Sandwich (JPY 900, SGD 9).
Each sandwich is freshly made a la minute upon order and requires a bout 10-15 minutes waiting time.
Diners can choose to seat indoors or outdoors along the many benches in the reload building.
I had the Shimokitazawa Meat Sandwich (JPY 1850, SGD 18.50) that comes with 300g of meat stuffed between 2 slices of Shokupan (Japanese milk bread).
I must say that the portion is pretty huge, good for sharing between 2 people, with generous amount of sliced medium rare steak.
The edges of the steak are nicely charred, whereas the textures are on point, tender and chewy at the same time.
Mustard sauce is slathered onto the milk bread which cuts through the meaty flavours, giving it nice balance.
I enjoyed the Egg Sandwich (JPY 900, SGD 9) too, with 2 full soft-boiled eggs nicely sliced into halves, resulting in a flowy egg yolk.
Instead of the mayonnaise that we are familiar with, tartar sauce is used, with a nice citrusy pickled taste that elevates the otherwise bland egg sandwich.
The overall taste is light and refreshing, without feeling too heavy or “jelak”.
Stabler 下北沢 カフェ
3 Chome-19-20 Kitazawa, Setagaya City, Tokyo 155-0031, Japan
〒155-0031 東京都世田谷区北沢3丁目19-20 reload2-8
Opening Hours: 11am – 8pm (Mon – Sun)
Google Maps – Stabler
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* Written by Nicholas Tan @stormscape who loves all things [NEW]. DFD paid for food reviewed unless otherwise stated.
