Tokyo is lacking a few things – two of them are quiet, leafy suburbs and pleasant outdoor cafes. There just aren’t enough of these, and in fact could there ever be?
Shiroganedai is one of the places coming closest to the description of ‘quiet, leafy’, and this cafe stands out like a sore thumb about 3/4 of the way down Platinum Street away from the station. Not in a bad way – just in a “Wow, a cafe with a nice outdoor patio!” way. Coffee comes from a machine, snacks are made elsewhere and pre-wrapped (though still trying to be natural and healthy, for example ‘non-fried donuts’), but it doesn’t really matter because you can wander down here on a Saturday morning and just watch the bikes and walkers go by amid some genuine greenery. It’s a good place to, er, put your boots up and sit for a spell. とっても禅です。
Incidentally, the real reason I went to Shirogane was to check out this nutty Spanish chocolate boutique that I’d heard of…and there are two other chocolatiers on Plachina Dori, so you’ll get an exhaustive writeup on this. Sometime. Soon.