Café Pierrot is open every day from 8:30 PM to midnight. No phone, no CC, no nothing, only a Map.

Going downhill from Shimo Kitazawa station's south exit, after some hundred meters the road widens to form a small square where, after having had dinner somewhere else, I usually stop for a beer at Pierrot. I have never reviewed it before, although I mentioned it once, because it's not really a restaurant, but since in a sense it represents everything I like about Shimo Kitazawa, and because the Japanese magazine Hanako is as usual spreading lies about it, I have decided to include it in my list.

Pierrot is just a tent on the street that until seven PM or so sells the usual Shimo Kitazawa semi-hippie trinkets and after that, thanks to some tables, metamorphoses into a bar. Few things beat drinking a Corona after a copious meal while watching people pass by in the heat of a summer evening, but unfortunately this habit of having chairs on the sidewalk, although not unknown, has never really taken root here in Tokyo. The place is unpretentious and refreshing, like the rest of Shimo, but like it has true vitality to offer. I enjoy the simplicity of the whole thing, and the rickety and improvised furniture because they contribute to what is Pierrot's main asset: the atmosphere. Forget the food (French fries, nachos and cheese, and the like) and the drinks (mainly beer). They are OK, but nothing more than that. One goes to Pierrot for the atmosphere. I am always contrary to live music in bars and restaurants because one has no choice but hear, whether one wants to or not, but live concerts at Pierrot are usually mediocre but not loud, and therefore bearable.