Café ApéroNakameguro

This offer, too, came out of the blue.

The voice belonged to Mr. Sato of the real estate company that had brokered the lease for Café Apéro Nishi-Azabu. Would we open a Café Apéro in Naka-Meguro?

It was a complete bolt from the blue. But abruptly cutting off a hard-won connection is not the GRAPES way. First, we went to take a look. What we found was an empty, bare space in a very old building.

There was a reason behind the offer. The building's owner had been visiting Café Apéro in Nishi-Azabu. I want a place like that here — that wish traveled from the owner to Mr. Sato, and then to GRAPES.

Someone had fallen for our Nishi-Azabu café, the only one of its kind in the world. That, quite simply, made us happy.

We wanted somehow to make this wish real. We had to bring it down to earth as a place that both the person who asked and we ourselves would be glad we made. Our souls as producers caught fire.

Still, simply bringing Nishi-Azabu over as it was would surely not work.

We began by understanding Naka-Meguro as a neighborhood. A place that is a café, a bar, and at night a late-night café. And to be chosen in this neighborhood, we wanted one sweet that would truly capture hearts.

What came of that was a Basque-style cheesecake. And then, parfaits. Trial after trial, we created the dishes that would become the face of this café.

In early summer 2026, a one-minute walk from the station, on a street one block in from the tracks, the second Café Apéro opened its doors. Coffee in the morning, sandwiches and quiche at noon, drinks and small plates at night. Some relax on the sofas with their dogs; others plug in and get to work.

Little by little, the neighborhood is getting to know us. The café has gradually filled with life.

Even for the same café, a different place surely calls for different things.

Nishi-Azabu and Naka-Meguro. Two Café Apéros with the same name. They brew coffee with the same aroma, yet the food and the spaces are entirely different. Each a home in its own neighborhood.