See The Forest — Restaurant in Ito

My wife and I were touring the Izu peninsula and wanted a coffee before exploring the Jogasaki coast. This place was near our hotel, and looked good from reviews and photos. We drove following Google Maps to the main road but struggled to find the actual cafe at first - my scouted the area and discovered it was down a series of small backroads, the first of which was more like a driveway. Once you get round, there is parking in front of the cafe.

The exterior was nice and we were met by a black cat who didn't want to move for us to open the door. It was very cute.

The interior of the shop is very stylish and clearly a lot of effort has gone into creating the concept. As you can see from photos, there is a lot of wood used, soft lighting, but there are some lovely flourishes and attention to detail. They clearly love music too. There was a collection of vinyl and lots of CDs stored on a beam above the seating area. The BGM that day was perfectly relaxed.

We saw a bookshelf in the corner of the room, full of books on various topics such as interior design, food, coffee and so on. It appears the owner has studied hard, and the work has paid off in my opinion.

But why am I telling you about the interior when you want to know about the produce? Sadly, my wife and I had recently eaten a massive breakfast at our hotel and couldn't manage any of the food, but it looked and smelled fantastic. I ordered a hot hand drip coffee, an extended fermentation Brazilian crop, which as you'd expect from a natural process coffee, was packed with flavour. The roast profile was spot on and one of the better coffees I've had over the last year in Japan. The quality puts some of the more famous roasters to shame, and the price was reasonable.

My wife ordered a herbal tea (Life Aquatic), made from guricha (a local green tea) and mint. She had it iced and it was incredibly refreshing on such a warm day.

We enjoyed our drinks and the ambience, and when it came time for us to leave I couldn't resist buying a bag of the Brazilian coffee beans. You get a complimentary coffee when you buy beans, so I ordered an iced washed Ethiopian coffee to take away. It was incredibly juicy and put a spring in my step for the hike ahead.

We are hoping to return some day to...

30min later, still waiting for my coffee... I usually leave nice reviews, comments and hate negativity but I really don’t like the waiter’s attitude when we arrived. There is a porch at the entrance of the coffee shop where it is incredibly hot today. My wife 8 months pregnant wife was feeling too hot so I opened the sliding door of the shop but that waiter asked me to close it. I said it was too hot here, he basically said “go outside” which I felt offended and sorry for my wife. Some clients who were lining up for ordering even offer her to get inside instead of them. Just got my coffee, not...

Truly a hidden gem. Set back in the corner of a neighborhood, this is the perfect place to stop for lunch or just a snack / coffee during your travels. The place is very cozy and has a very inviting, relaxing atmosphere. Everything we had was fresh, homemade, high quality, and absolutely delicious. Definitely recommend the bahn mi, pour over cover, iced matcha, and banana bread.

The staff are incredibly friendly and there are beautiful, unique succulents, hanging / air plants, and other home / kitchen items for sale.

We will most...