Nostalgic cafes in Matsumoto, a perfect place to stroll around the castle town
The cafes in Matsumoto are located in historic buildings and renovated warehouses, where you can spend a relaxing time in an emotional atmosphere. The café menu at each store is simple but never boring, with special coffee and homemade sweets, and has long been loved by the locals.
Here is a selection of cafes that are only a 10-minute walk from Matsumoto Station.
1Coffee Aesthetic Ave.
Coffee Migaku Abe is a coffee specialty store established in 1957. The interior of the store, with classical and jazz music playing, is all in antique style. The black telephone is still in use today, creating an atmosphere as if one has stepped back in time to the Showa period.
The coffee is "perfectly brewed" by flannel drip, which the master taught himself, and is a precious cup of coffee that is hard to find nowadays. It is characterized by its mild taste and moderate bitterness. The café au lait, in which milk and coffee are poured simultaneously from a pot held high into a cup on the table, is also rich in flavor. Among the many such specialties on the menu, the "mocha parfait" has long been a favorite. This sweet dish, consisting of homemade coffee jelly topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream, is an original creation from a time when coffee shops only had fruit parfaits and fruit sundaes on their menus, and they wanted to offer something new.
Morning and light meal menus are also available.
We also have a full menu of light meals that can be enjoyed with coffee. For an additional 50 or 100 yen, you can add toast, bacon, potato salad, etc. to your beverage. The morning breakfast menu offers a wide variety and a very satisfying volume. Many people visit for this breakfast.
The coffee is served in cups with traditional patterns of the country where the beans come from, and the sandwiches are served on colorful plates.
When you visit, you will be so comfortable that you will stay for a long time. This is the charm of this long-established restaurant that has been pursuing and proposing hospitality spaces for over 60 years.
- Coffee Aesthetic Ave.
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1-2-8 Fukashi, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture NOVA Building 1F MAP
3 minutes walk from Matsumoto Station
7:00-19:00
Tuesdays
0263-32-0174
None
2Coffee Marumo
Coffee Marumo began operating in 1956 as part of the Marumo Ryokan, which was established in 1868. On the exterior, there are two entrances, one for the inn and one for the coffee shop. When you open the door on the coffee shop side, you will see a space that is still the same as it was then, more than 60 years ago. The presence of Matsumoto's folk craft furniture, which has acquired a deep hue and luster over the years and exudes a certain elegance, creates a sense of quality and serenity.
Special blended coffee with homemade sweets
The "Marumo Blend Coffee," which most of the regular customers who have been coming to the shop for decades order, is the house blend with a sour taste that has remained unchanged since the establishment of the shop. In addition, because we want our customers to enjoy the taste and aroma of the coffee, we offer handmade sweets that go well with the coffee. Starting with the pudding, which is steamed and baked thoroughly, rare cheese cake and brownies are also homemade.
The toast menu, perfect for a light meal, is also abundant. A morning set of buttered toast is served until 10:00 a.m., so an early visit is recommended for breakfast as well.
- coffee marumo
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3-3-10 Chuo, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture MAP
12 minutes walk from Matsumoto Station
April-October 8:00-18:00 (L.O. 17:00)
November - March: 9:00-18:00 (L.O. 17:00)
Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays: 8:00-18:00 (L.O.O. 17:00)
No holidays
0263-32-0115
None
3kohirudo (ceramica)
Kohrnhudo is a café located inside the flagship store of Ceramica, a Polish pottery manufacturer with a history of more than 100 years. The interior of the store is an art-filled space created by a designer active in Stockholm, Sweden. The large space is furnished with comfortable designer chairs and pendant lighting, allowing customers to spend time surrounded by the tasteful interior design.
The café also has a gallery. Visitors can enjoy artworks exhibited according to themes, such as "Picture Books of the World.
Delicious coffee served in "Ceramica" cups
The store offers approximately 1,000 types of "Ceramica" items. The café uses a selection of tableware from the largest selection in Japan. The coffee served in practical and well-designed cups is made from beans produced in the village of Achamal, Peru, which has inherited pesticide-free cultivation. It has a rich, full-bodied flavor. In addition, homemade baked goods and bread lunch are also on the menu.
- OHIRUDO (Ceramica)
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4-4-2 Otte, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture MAP
12 minutes walk from Matsumoto Station
11:00-17:00 (L.O. 16:30)
Wednesdays (open if Wednesday is a national holiday)
0263-31-3177
Charged
4cafe chiann (cafe chiann)
The café is housed in a renovated Meiji-era warehouse. The interior design and construction was done by Keizo Fujimaki, a leading furniture craftsman in Shinshu. The warmth of the plaster and the handmade furniture blend together to create a space that is somehow nostalgic and relaxing. The peaceful space is so cozy that most customers stay for a long time.
The location of the restaurant, tucked away in a narrow alley like a hideout, also tickles the curiosity of customers and makes them want to drop by for a visit.
Handmade sponge cakes with a gentle taste
The most popular item is the flavorful sponge cake made with honey from Matsumoto's Utsukushi-ga-hara Mountains and high-quality local eggs and milk. The crunchy texture of the rough ingredients combined with the moist dough makes for a happy taste. It goes perfectly with aromatic black tea blended by a tea blender.
At lunch time, the restaurant offers a quiche plate, a short pasta Bolognese, and other dishes. In addition to food that incorporates vegetables from local farms and Matsumoto ingredients, the restaurant's commitment to quality is evident in its use of natural water from a nearby well for drinking.
- cafe chiann
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3-2-13 Chuo, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture MAP
11 min. walk from Matsumoto Station
11:00 - 20:00
Closed on Thursdays and irregular holidays
0263-35-7553
None
5souundo
The small used bookstore and coffee shop with 15 seats, including the counter, is filled with books. The number of books purchased for the store alone is approximately 6,000. The books include a wide range of genres such as art, movies, music, children's books, and picture books, as well as books on history, folklore, and thought, which are the master's hobbies. In the five years since its opening, the shop has been visited by many people for various purposes, including book lovers as well as tourists who wander in to look for books related to Shinshu. Books in the store can be read with an order of one drink and can also be purchased.
If you enjoy books with jazz as background music, be sure to have a cup of specialty coffee by your side. You can also order alcoholic beverages such as whiskey, Nagano Prefecture's local beer, and Shinshu wine.
Specialty coffee using local spring water to accompany your book
Specialty coffee, made with spring water from the "Dongmon-no-Ido" well located right in front of the store, is made with beans from Indonesia, Ethiopia, and Panama. Blends are available on the menu in shallow roast and deep roast. This flavorful coffee is best enjoyed slowly while reading a book.
For lunch, the restaurant offers "Japanese-style Sri Lankan curry" filled with tomatoes, a specialty of the master. The spices mixed in Sri Lanka are combined with soy sauce and milk to create a mild curry. The acidity of the tomatoes and the spices are well balanced, and the aftertaste is refreshing.
- Souundo
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4-10-15 Ote, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture MAP
10 minutes walk from Matsumoto Station
Tuesday-Friday 14:00-23:00
Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays: 12:00-23:00
Monday (If Monday is a national holiday, the following Tuesday)
0263-87-8422
None
6salon as salon
Nakamachi-dori, with its rows of "namako-wall storehouses" that seem to date back to a bygone era, is one of Matsumoto's most famous landmarks. Along the street, open the door of the beauty salon and go up the stairs to find "salon as salon" on the second floor. Since the entrance is shared with the entrance to the beauty salon, some people pass by without noticing, so you can enjoy the atmosphere of a little hideaway.
The ceiling, walls, windows, beams, and other parts of the storehouse, which was renovated from a warehouse, remain almost exactly as they were in the past. Visitors can relax in this nostalgic space while enjoying the view of the elegant street lined with warehouses.
A menu that is kind to both body and soul
Delicious sweets and snacks are available to further fill your peaceful moment. In addition to a full lineup of sweets such as crepes made from Azumino buckwheat flour, scones that do not contain eggs or butter, and seasonal tarte tatin made with red beans, sandwiches filled with vegetables are also popular. Drinks, such as "witch chai" and "Nobushina brown rice coffee," which are original products of "Peony Hall," a Chinese herbal medicine pharmacy in Azumino, are available in a variety of gentle flavors that will soak into your body and soul.
- salon as salon
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2F 3-5-10 Chuo, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture MAP
12 minutes walk from Matsumoto Station
11:30-19:30 (L.O. 19:00) *Winter hours apply.
Monday (open if Monday is a national holiday)
0263-34-1006
None
7LABORATORIO
The café was renovated from a pharmacy built in 1933. In addition to homemade breads and sweets, you can enjoy aromatic coffee brewed by hand drip using beans roasted by Yamada Coffee, a famous coffee shop in Gifu. The most popular item is the "English muffin," made of Japanese wheat kneaded with plenty of natural yeast, millet, and seeds. Baked in the restaurant's oven, they are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. We recommend having them with a cup of specialty coffee.
For lunch, the "Muffin & Soup Set" with soup and salad is a great value, and the "Ogura Toast" with butter and sweet Ogura bean paste on "Pain de Campagne" baked after two days of aging is also delicious. The homemade bread is a comforting taste that will fill your heart with a sense of relief.
A relaxing space that retains the atmosphere of those days
The building is Matsumoto's oldest mortar building. The plaster walls, high ceilings, deep candy-colored floors, wooden double-paned windows, and other details from the early Showa period still remain in the interior of the salon, which is filled with nostalgia. The furniture that blends in with the chic space was created by Masashi Ito, a woodworker who is also the owner. While simple in form, the furniture has an atmospheric texture and delicacy, and is also very practical. It is no wonder that many guests linger in this relaxing space.
The attached store sells craft works such as tableware, miscellaneous goods, and carefully selected foodstuffs gathered from all over Japan. There are many items to add color to your daily life.
- LABORATORIO
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7 minutes walk from Matsumoto station
Cafe and Shop 11:00-18:00 (L.O.17:30)
faber LABORATORIO 11:00~18:00
MARKT laboratorio 10:00~20:00
Tuesdays
faber LABORATORIO 0263-36-8217
faber laboratorio 0263-88-7706
MARKT laboratorio 0263-88-1191
Free of charge
Cafe and Shop 1-3-29-2F Ote, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture MAP
faber LABORATORIO 2F Kamiyama Bldg. 1-3-28 Ote, Matsumoto, Nagano MAP
MARKT laboratorio 2-20-2 Chuo, Matsumoto city, Nagano, Japan MAP



