ESPRESSO D WORKS ココノススキノ店 — Restaurant in Sapporo

I looked up places to get Japanese pancakes in Sapporo, and found Espresso D’Works. The first time I came, I completely lost track of time and ended up here for dinner. While I was not trying to eat Italian food while here in Japan, I was impressed! The pizza was fantastic (I say this as an Italian-American with high standards for crust/dough) as was the sweet chili oil they provided to put on top. Additionally, I had the pudding (when in Hokkaido, eat dairy) and my goodness, it was the best I have ever had.

So of course, I came back the next day to have a latte and pancakes and it was busy with locals (always a great sign) as well as some tourists like myself. I had my latte, which was delicious - great, strong coffee and not overwhelmed by the milk which was perfectly creamy. I got to try my pancakes. I got Tiramisu, since those pair well with espresso and oh my goodness, they were so good! They were fluffy, not too sweet, and not too eggy - perfect in my book! And the portions were huge - I would call them American-sized!

On both occasions, the staff was kind, accommodating, and friendly. I think the young man who sat me was named Ren, though I could not see his name tag well when I went to look. I apologize if I misread the hiragana! Ren was great. He asked me if he could explain the menu in Japanese and I said yes because, although I don’t understand everything, I want to improve my Japanese, so I said yes. He spoke slowly, but not too slowly, which I found helpful and kind. When it is noisy or when I am tired, I have trouble processing quickly even in English. So this along with his hand gestures helped me understand and feel welcome.

I felt as if the staff here were very welcoming to me and other foreigners both times I was here, but especially in the morning. I appreciated that their name tags often had hiragana so that children just learning to read and foreigners just learning the language could feel as though we could communicate with them. I especially appreciate that they did not force themselves to speak English for my sake, but were still kind enough to ask.

Since I have been in Japan as a tourist, I have tried to do my best to be respectful and mindful of my behavior, volume, and the space I take up. I know many tourists (probably myself at times) and foreigners have behaved badly while in Japan and have given us a bad reputation. I am nervous that I will come across the same way, despite my good intentions and research before this trip. Even so, I think this reaction is understandable for a country not used to this influx of tourism. But I am glad that not everyone acts like Sanseito or those who wish to blame foreigners for all their problems; I am glad the average Japanese person is usually quite accommodating. As someone who comes from the United States where politicians have been blaming immigrants for our problems for hundreds of years, I know that this is never true. I am glad that the staff here at Espresso D’Works treat us with the same professionalism ans others. All I ask of other foreigners is that you do your best to be...

I highly recommend the boss to personally experience the confusing service in this cafe: 1. Ordered 2 cups of latte, and brought 2 cups of Americano; 2. It's ok, we didn't blame the staff, just asked them to bring some milk so we can add it ourselves, but they only gave us two small pieces, not even enough for one person; 3. To avoid being sold out, I specifically ordered a dessert that was on sale, and a minute later the waiter came over and said it was out, all sold out; cancel the order, it's ok; 4. The waitress who helped to point the way to the restroom watched the excitement on the side, and waited for ten seconds, until we were embarrassed enough, before she said, it's behind the bookshelf. ? Is it wrong for customers to be too polite? It's not appropriate to push the bookshelf randomly without knowing that it is movable, right? Are your directions really to help customers solve problems? 5. When checking out, she didn't ask the guest to confirm the order and just asked me to pay, but she got the table number wrong and asked me to pay almost three times the price of other tables. After I questioned it, she was reminded by other waiters to change the bill, but there was no apology and no one came to explain the order details. Ridiculous service with extra charge...

Stumbled on the grand opening of Cucuno Susukino and saw this shop with pancakes and shokupan. Decided to give it a try on their first day, definitely some first day service pains, but will likely smooth out over time.

Had the grape juice, tiramisu pancake and 100 shokupan. Pancake was very light and fluffy, nice afternoon snack.

But for us, the 100 shokupan was easily the best piece of bread I’ve eaten. Period. Crazy fluffy, moist, absolutely delicious. It was a bit difficult to order because you can’t just order it separately, only in a set according to the menu, but we managed to ask and they gave us some bread luckily.

They also have croissants which we can’t eat in, so will have to try that on our way out as it’s take away only.

Washroom was an interesting surprise although a bit cramped and tripping hazard. Almost fell asleep there’s a small step to get in. Just be careful.

All in all, I’d come back, and probably just try and steal all their loaves of shokupan....