I took my wife out for lunch back in September just before I left Japan. She had wanted to try out a wagyu burger place I often told her about. It turned into much more than a good time at a burger shop though.
The place we ended spending most of the time at is called Shibuya Stream. It's a skyscraper complex with a hotel, offices and several restaurants. On the first floor is the burger shop called The Great Burger Stand and that is where we started.
I've written about The Great Burger Stand a couple of times, but I've never taken the time to talk about the interior as well as the delicious burgers.
It's full Americana done better than America! It's really like walking into a diner you would see in a movie. It's interior is just incredibly well designed and executed. I'd describe it as Montana Lodge Gastro.
I told my wife she had to have the wagyu burger and she went all in adding bacon, avacado & cheese! That is what I usually order too and this time was no exception.
It's difficult to explain the flavor of a wagyu burger. Lean with more flavor maybe. It's definitely different from a normal, delicious hamburger though and you notice it immediately. The two burgers and two beers cost about $65.
After the burger we stepped outside to reminisce about the times we used to come down here clubbing & DJing when this area was still a kind of backwater of Shibuya. The only original feature is the stream that runs through the area. Hence the name Shibuya Stream.
As we looked around we saw a coffee shop called "The Room" just feet away from the burger joint so we decided to stop in for a coffee.
The initial selling point was the ability to sit outside along the walkway, near the stream, almost like a romantic cafe in Paris! We can dream.
Inside we found the interior was decked out with vinyl records on the walls and a DJ booth. Ah, familiar stylings for me. I've come to find out The Room is an old nightclub in Japan on the other side of the JR Yamanote Line from this location. It's a famous club started by Mondo Grosso and this is a cafe he opened when Stream was finished. Here is a link to The Room's club site https://theroom.jp/ and the cafe
We ordered some desert, tiramisu, she got a coffee and I got a stress relaxer.
It was sad to destroy their wonderful design, but we dug in and the tiramisu was delicious. Add in a bit of their chocolate sauce on the side and it was even better! I let her have the last bite and we exited to find the bathrooms. A coffee, beer and desert were just under $20.
The bathrooms are on the second floor and they are public. Something very important to remember when running around Tokyo, where the public bathrooms are!
When we got to the second floor we were both telling each other about different restaurants on that floor when I noticed something I hadn't before, train tracks.
There was an elevated train line right here 20 years ago. It ran from Shibuya South West to Daikanyama and Nakameguro. Both places we would often go back in the days. Now the train line is a subway underground from Shibuya until Daikanyama.
If you follow the train tracks outside you'll see something else cool that the designers did. Look closely at the patio cover in the center of this photo. You might need to zoom in.
There are rails on top of the patio! I was totally geeking out on this. Like I'm cool because not only do I remember the old line, but I used to ride it too. Such great memories of Tokyo!
And with that we headed home, bellies full, minds reeling with nostalgia and looking forward to finding more easter eggs around Tokyo. I'm heading home in 2 weeks so I'm really looking forward to running around the city seeing what there is to see, enjoying amazing food and posting about it on Pinmapple.com & HIVE.
Thanks for reading!