Jack Cafe!, Yokohama ジャックカフェ!、横浜

A café bar, instantly recognisable for its giant Heineken bottle façade, in Yokohama’s Chuo-ku, at the far end of Yamashita Park if heading along it toward Sakuragicho, Jack Cafe! is not what it could be. The interior, stuffed with vintage pinball machines, Pepsi vending machines, and Star Wars statuettes, as well as tins of Campbell’s soup, mayonnaise, Hershey’s chocolate sauce and numerous other Western imports is inviting enough. So too was the 1950s jazz and the freshly baked brownie that happened to be waiting on the counter when I walked in.

This quirky décor and the good selection of drinks on offer is let down by service that is not only painfully slow – 10 minutes to pour a beer? – but also disinterested, if not outright unfriendly. Pretty much empty, save for a giggly young couple and a small group of Chinese tourists in early 80s fashions, I got the impression the place is a tourist bar just gearing up for the holiday season. Or perhaps Jack Cafe! has seen better times?

Tel: 045-664-0822