Awesome but pricey coffeeshop in Hiro-o

Name: Macchinesti
Style: Western-style coffeeshop
Neighborhood: Hiro-o / 広尾
Website: http://www.macchinesti.com/

Macchinesti is a chain of three aggressively western-style coffeeshops, which has a branch in Hiro-o near my office. They are absolutely the most westernized place I've been into, clearly targeting an international clientele. Not only are the menus bilingual, they have this week's copy of the Economist sitting out on the counter!

In keeping with that theme, they have awesome coffee. Besides a variety of espresso drinks, you can get French Press coffee by the individual pot -- definitely the best way to brew coffee. As a fairly new place, the staff wasn't really familiar with the procedures so it took time to get my coffee, but it was as yummy as expected afterwards.

The atmosphere is remarkably western; since you can't see outside very well, once you're indoors you could easily be in a cafe on the US West Coast. Tasteful wooden appointments, light-color walls and ceiling, the advertised WiFi (didn't try it out), and various decoration all make this a great place to while away a couple hours.

Baked goods selection (the other primary criteria I use for picking breakfast spots) wasn't so great. I was late for work on a weekday so I didn't sample, but they had a couple good-looking options in the muffin vein. Overall a cut below their coffee selection. The light lunch options a couple of western women picked out right behind me in line looked more compelling, quantities were in line with Japanese rather than Western expectations of course.

The downside to Maccinesti is cost; it's just an expensive coffee place no matter how you look at it. My French Press pot (kind of small at that) set me back 500 yen and was appreciably smaller than the Starbuck's grande around the corner. From what I've seen the place is usually pretty thinly populated, so they're clearly having a hard time competing with the social-center coffeeshop a few doors towards National Azabu.