It's a lazy Monday afternoon in Tokyo's Sendagi district, and locals and overseas tourists drop in to Cibi — housed in a former Yamato Transport warehouse — for coffee, homemade muffins or a light meal while checking out the colorfully patterned tenugui hand towels and other Japanese craft goods on display.
Meg and Zenta Tanaka, the owners of the venue, are in town for a few weeks before flying back to Melbourne, where they opened a new flagship food and concept store last October. The nearly 800-square-meter space in Collingwood, Victoria is located next to where the first Cibi shop opened back in 2008. It's the culmination of the couple's efforts over the past decade to create a community hub offering nourishing food and beverages, Japanese craft design products and locally sourced organic groceries, all in a spacious setting.
