Did you know that there is a book café in Chuo-ku, Niigata City?

It is called Blue Cafe.

Located halfway between Bandai-bashi and Furumachi, this shop is on the second floor of a building, so be careful not to miss it. The simple but stylishly cute sign is a landmark.

Once you take the stairs outside the building to the second floor, open the wooden door and step inside, the atmosphere instantly changes from the outside world: you immediately understand what Blue Cafe is all about. The overwhelming number of books, the warmth of the wooden interior decoration and the eerie background music .......

Seating is basically free and you sit wherever you like, but there are various types of seating, including comfortable sofas for one, spacious seats where everyone can get together, and counter seats that are perfect for chatting with the staff, making it hard to decide where to sit.

There is a large window on the wall facing the street, through which plenty of natural light enters the restaurant, which is very pleasant. The window seats are popular, and when I visited there were several groups of customers sitting near the window in turn.

The menu is quite extensive. There is a food menu (curry, quiche, etc.) for lunch and dinner, an alcoholic menu (beer, wine, cocktails, etc.) and, as the word Café is in the name of the restaurant, a wide range of café dishes. There are five or six different kinds of cakes, which change daily! Sweets lovers will be satisfied with this.

I ordered the cake set (one cake of my choice + set drink). The cake was cheesecake. It tastes delicious, of course. Coffee, cheesecake and reading is a great combination.

Of course you are free to pick up and read the books in the shop, but the repertoire of books is amazing. I expected to find only novels and magazines. But I was surprised in a good way. There are of course novels and magazines (including many back issues of magazines), but there are also essays and manga, and although I am not familiar with manga, there are many titles that I have seen before. There is also a Kojien dictionary and a professional baseball player's directory, and I never get tired of looking at the bookshelves.

The books are not arranged in an orderly fashion like in a bookshop, but rather just somewhat grouped together of similar types, and furthermore, books are stacked horizontally on the lower shelves of the bookshelves. To be honest, it's messy, but that's a good thing. It makes it more fun to explore the bookshelves, and above all, it gives me a sense of security, as if I were in my own room.

What's more, the shop is a great place to do simple tasks, with power sockets freely available and Wi-Fi available free of charge if you register.

Is there any other café that is so cosy already? It is definitely one of the best in Niigata. Anyway, try it once. And immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the Blue Cafe. You'll be so relaxed that you'll lose track of time.

Shop information

Blue Cafe.

• Address: 2F Sunshine Shin Iidaya Building, 1237-1, Kami-Ookawa-mae-dori 7-bancho, Chuo-ku, Niigata City.
• Opening hours: [Tue-Fri] 11:30-21:00 [Sat] 9:00-21:00 [Sun & holidays] 9:00-18:00
• tel: 025-201-7885