Kiyosumi-Shirakawa: iki ESPRESSO

Started in 2015 by a husband and wife team, iki ESPRESSO serves NZ and Australian-style food and drinks

Teru Harase and his wife Kim met while Teru went to New Zealand after graduating from university to develop his rugby skills and to learn English. There, he discovered espresso coffee and trained as a barista, learning from one of NZ's best coffee experts. He worked as a barista and manager in several local cafes in Auckland, before starting to develop cafes for clients and opening his first cafe in 2007.

In late 2012, he returned to Japan to assist allpress espresso on their expansion into the Japanese market as a business partner and general manager.

Since then, besides consulting for other cafes, he opened iki ESPRESSO and is now a key player in bringing kiwi coffee culture into East Tokyo.

Besides great coffee, they also offer Kiwi-style picnic services, a pop-up art gallery and kiwi cuisine events.

Staff was very friendly – I brought a book to read while waiting for my food to come, and the staff came up to me to ask about my book. (I was reading an English book)

The staff seemed to genuinely enjoy working at the café – he was smiling the entire time while prepping our orders.

I ordered a flat white –they use allpress coffee here – and as expected, the coffee was fantastic. I am not a latte art snob, but I really wish they put it a little more effort on presentation for my flat white.

Food menu here has a lot more variety compared to other cafes around this area.

Besides café staples like baked goods and toast, iki espresso also serves a wide variety of food dishes, from savory options like salads, omelets, eggs benedict, pastas and burgers to sweeter options like hotcakes and french toasts.

To be honest, I found the food to be only so-so. 

iki mixed plate 1250yen

Their mixed plate is exactly the same as the one served at allpress (not surprising because owner Teru is also involved in allpress Japan)

Unfortunately, I felt their mixed plate was a letdown, which is a shame, because I really liked the mixed plate at allpress.

The food wasn’t terrible, but the egg was hardboiled – I prefer allpress’s oozy half boiled eggs to these.

In fact, I would say that their egg was over cooked - it had that nasty gray rim around its yolk.

The avocado was also unripe and hard. Few things are more devastating that looking forward to eating your avocado on toast, only to realise that is is too hard. 

ricotta hotcakes 1300yen

Their ricotta hotcakes were not bad, but knowing that I can find better ricotta hotcakes at bills, I doubt I will be ordering these again. It is cheaper than the ones served at bills, but the hotcakes at bills win by a far margin in terms of taste and serving size.

Overall, iki espresso was not a bad experience, but they are underwhelmed by other café options in Tokyo. Nonetheess, I feel that iki espresso is a definitely a good option for those looking for a wider variety of breakfast items at Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, while enjoying good coffee served by their passionate service team.

Address:  2-2-12, Tokiwa, Koto-Ku, Tokyo, Japan

東京都江東区常盤2-2-12

Phone: 03-6659-4654

Hours: Mon – Sun 8am – 8pm

Website: http://www.ikiespresso.com/