Best 12 Places to Go and Eat in Gagukeidaigaku

There are two main streets in front of Gakugeidaigaku Station: the East and the West shopping street. While both the shopping streets are filled with cafes, restaurants, record stores, banks, fast food restaurant chains, grocery stores and more, each side has its own uniqueness.
The West shopping street has been going through changes for the past few years with more “new” shops and are more lively. Once getting off the few hundred meters of this shopping streets are mostly residential areas and are very quiet at night. And the Himonya Park, very popular among families in the area, has a petting zoo where they can get nose to nose with guinea pigs, rabbits and dogs, a 200 yen pony ride, boat rides in the enclosed lake, and the playground.It`s beautiful for short strolls around the lake, and is especially beautiful in Spring when the Sakura (cherry blossom) are in full bloom.

West Shopping Street

While the East shopping street is more quiet with good old local Japanese sweet shops to greengrocers that have been in the area for a long time. Although this street has fewer shops, it maintains an old retro feeling of how a local shopping street may look liked back in the latter half of the Showa era.

East Shopping Street

Stand Bánh Mi is a small Vietnamese restaurant with only 5 seats, that focuses on organic vegetables and other ingredients with no additives. There are a wide selection of colourful Vietnamese dishes with a Japanese twist. Its specialty is dishes such as Oyama chicken pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) and Vietnamese chicken rice using duck meat but all using Stand Bánh Mi’s chicken broth, which took more than 10 hours in the making.

Access: 3minutes walk from East exit

Chicken rice using duck meat

Stand Banh Mi

東京都目黒区鷹番2-16-23 M&K鷹番1階

0364510827

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Zakkaya is a cafe near the East exit of Gakugeidaigaku Station. It's a very cozy shop and easily spotted with its iconic retro blue door. The Japanese word “zakka” is sometimes translated into English as “miscellaneous goods'' and as the cafe’s name implies, the interior is filled with many “miscellaneous” goods ranging from books to CD’s to even an old clock that stopped working. It's a very retro yet exotic atmosphere. The cafe’s recommendation is the Little Cheesecake with a rich rum flavor. It's not too sweet, and the subtle saltiness and richness go perfectly with the coffee.

Access: 1minute from East exit

Ice Coffee and Little Cheescake

Humming Birds’s coffee has a complex flavor from using different drippers that matches well with each bean where those beans are carefully monitored for the temperature of the water, the amount of beans, and the brewing speed to create a unique blend of coffee that can only be tasted here.
There are two blends offered, the bitter blend from Cafe Toutou in Hokkaido and roasted beans from Hammock Cafe in Hyogo. Each of these blends are made especially for this Hummingbird Cafe after a careful exchange of opinions between the cafes.
The other blend is the single-origin coffees ranging from Mandarin to Guatemala to few more others. These single-origin coffees are often less well-rounded than blends and can taste the distinct flavors and detect subtle aromatic elements that result in a brew with noticeable character.

Hummingbird Coffee Exterior

Aside from coffee, its “au lait glacé”, a menu of espresso with sweetened milk and fresh milk where it features a beautiful visual distinction between the layers of fresh milk, coffee and cream is very popular at the cafe. And it is very Instagram worthy coffee too. The cafe offers two types of cakes but its carrot cake filled with walnuts and cream cheese goes well with their coffee and drink with espresso.

Access: 5 minutes walk from East exit

Au lait glacé with carrot cake

Carrot Cake

HummingbirdCoffee

Tokyo Meguro-ku Takaban 2-15-22 Kamakura So 102

0364510455

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A Japanese retail company that specializes in coffee roasting and coffee shop franchising, Doutor Coffee has opened their first cafe, Factory & Labo Kanno Coffee in Gakugeidaigaku. Located about a 12 minute walk from the station, this cafe has all the stylings of a factory but without the grim and its inside with the street-facing glass lets in ample natural light creating the space with warm, comfortable atmosphere with wooden furniture. The cafe offers different sweets ranging from fruit sandwiches, standard cheesecakes and mille crepes, and Swedish "semla" which are rare to find in other cafes. Aside from the cafe area, the Factory & Labo Kanno Coffee also houses a coffee research lab, an academy offering coffee workshops, and a coffee retail corner.

Access: 12 minutes walk from East exit

Factory&Labo KANNO COFFEE (Factory&Lab Kannno Coffee)

4.0

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Tokyo Meguro-ku Chuocho 1-4-15

0364512823

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Che is a Vietnamese dessert which combines tropical fruit, nuts and jellies with plenty of coconut milk in colorful, refreshing blends. For the first time in Japan, Che speciality store has opened just a few minutes walk from Gakugeidaigaku station West exit. Between May to October, cold che is offered while during winter (between October and May), warm che are offered. Because CHE 333 is located just a short stroll away from Stand Banh Mi, if you are feeling like having Vietnamese, getting lunch there first, followed by che might be good.

Coconut Milk Che (offered during winter time)

Coconut Milk Che (offered during winter time)

CHE 333 exterior

Meguro Hiiragi, located on the west side of Gakugeidaigaku Station, is a take out only sweet shop that offers “Taiyaki” (Japanese fish shaped sweets) and shaved ice. Aside from the typical flavors like Uji Kintoki (green tea) and Strawberry Milk, there are unique flavors like Sake Kasu (sake lees) and Azuki Milk offered for their shaved ice. On the other, Meguro Hiiragi’s Taiyaki takes more than 30 minutes to bake, but their unique blend of several types of flour and sugar makes the perfect crunchy surface and the sticky dough that can not be tasted anywhere else.

Access: 5 minutes walk from West exit

Strawberry Milk flavored shaved ice

Taiyaki on top of shaved ice

Meguro Hiiragi Exterior

Meguro Hiiragi

4.5

11 Reviews

Tokyo Meguro-ku Takaban 3-18-3

0364127945

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YOLO TOKYO Cafe & Desserts is a shop that serves Korean style macarons called “fatfatcarons”. The pink-themed cute exterior and the fatfatcarons in the shape of a bear and fruits are very appealing. The most popular items are the “Bear” that comes in milk chocolate flavor, while the “Polar Bear (white bear)” comes in plain buttercream flavor. Each fatfatcarons are individually wrapped, so you can buy from one piece. Aside from the regular flavors, there are also seasonal flavors too.

Access: 5 minutes walk from East Exit

"Bear" fatfatcarons (left) summer limited watermelon fatfatcarons (right)

YOLO TOKYO Cafe & Desserts Exterior

YOLOTOKYOCafe&Desserts

Tokyo Meguro-ku Chuocho 1-18-141F

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MATTERHORN is a long-established confectionery shop established in 1952, that sells a wide variety of cakes, baked goods, chocolates and other western sweets of all kinds, as well as "Damier", a checkered chocolate cake which has been its popular item since its establishment.
The store also has a spacious coffee room where you can enjoy Matterhorn’s cakes and parfaits on the spot.
In particular, the seasonal Mocha Soft, available from April to the end of August, is so popular that on weekends and on holidays, there is a long queue.

Access: 3 minutes walk from West exit along the traintracks

Matterhorn

Tokyo Meguro-ku Takaban 3-5-1

0337163311

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BOOK AND SONS is a little-known secondhand bookstore tucked away in a residential area that specializes in typography and other graphic design books.
The owner carefully selects books in both European and Japanese languages, and the store also hosts events such as photo exhibitions by photographers. In hope for visitors to stay long, there is a coffee stand, “Book and Stand” next to the bookstore.

Access: 3minutes walk from East exit

BOOKandSONS

Tokyo Meguro-ku Takaban 2-13-3 Quatre Takaban

0364510845

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SUNNY BOY BOOKS is a small bookstore with only 16.5m² of floor space but has a wide range of second hand books, a few new books, and original goods covering topics from cooking to lifestyle, foreign literature and art. Aside from just being a bookstore, the owner regularly hosts events and author talks on book-related topics such as original illustrations, typography and publishing.

Access: 5 minutes walk from East exit

SUNNYBOYBOOKS

Tokyo Meguro-ku Takaban 2-14-15

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Romi Uni Confiture is famous for its cute containers of jams. There are about 30 different types of homemade jams that look like candy, made with exclusively selected ingredients.
The shop's best sellers include the "bread set (2 jam sets for 1,450 yen excluding tax)". Since they are all popular products, you'll have no trouble deciding what to buy.

Access: 4minutes walk from West exit

Food & Company is a grocery store that sells fresh organic vegetables and specialty food along with everyday necessities. There are a wide variety of items on display in a very clean store that look more like an apparel shop than a typical grocery store. The fresh vegetables especially selected and gathered from all over Japan are something recommended to try.

Fresh vegetables gathered from all over Japan

Look for iconic wooden framed window at the entrance of Food & Company

FOOD&COMPANY

Tokyo Meguro-ku Takaban 3-14-15

0363034216

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