Verdure Cafe: A Garden Cafe Facing Imabari Castle (Cash Only, Opens at 9am)
For travelers: Verdure Cafe sits directly across from Imabari Castle, in the centre of Imabari, Ehime — the Shikoku gateway to the Shimanami Kaido cycling route.
It is about 1.5 km from JR Imabari Station: roughly a 20-minute walk, or about 7 minutes by bicycle.
The cafe opens at 9:00 and serves a morning set, so it works either as breakfast before you visit the castle or as a long break afterwards.
The morning is popular with local people, and French toast is on the menu.
Before you go: this cafe is cash only
Verdure Cafe does not take cards or IC cards.
Bring cash with you.
This is the single most useful thing to know about the place, because it sits in a part of town where visitors often arrive straight from the castle without stopping at a bank.
There are convenience stores with ATMs in central Imabari, near the station and along the main roads.
Why come here
The reason to choose this cafe over any other is what you see through the window.
A lawn, kept green and trimmed, with small penguin ornaments dotted around it.
The garden is looked after by the owner’s wife, and the care shows — it is tidy every time you visit, not just in season.
Beyond the lawn stand the stone walls of Imabari Castle.
Sitting with a pot of tea and that view is a genuinely restful hour, and it is not a view you can get from anywhere else in the city.
Getting there from JR Imabari Station
On foot: about 20 minutes (1.5 km) heading east from the station towards the castle.
By bus: Setouchi Bus towards Imabari Eigyosho, about 9 minutes, get off at “Imabari-jo mae” (Imabari Castle Front).
By bicycle: about 7 minutes from the station area, and easy to fit into a city loop before or after the Shimanami Kaido.
From Imabari Port: about a 10-minute walk.
There is parking in front of the cafe and it is easy to pull into.
It is often full, which tells you something about how popular the place is with local people.
What to eat
The savoury side of the menu is built around hot sandwiches.
The katsu sando lives up to its name: a thick, hot pork cutlet with real texture to it, served with thin, crisp fries.
Sandwiches can be ordered as a set, which adds a salad, a small fruit dessert and a drink.
A serious tea list
Verdure Cafe keeps a wide range of black teas — a rare thing in Imabari, where most cafes offer one or two.
The tea comes to the table in a pot, not a cup, and on our visit it was a Dimbula from Sri Lanka.
The list has run to eleven blends: Royal Afternoon, Assam, Ceylon Uva, Earl Grey, Dimbula, Darjeeling, Red Apple, Strawberry, Apricot, Caramel and royal milk tea.
Single-origin teas and flavoured ones sit side by side, so you can drink either way.
The line-up changes from time to time, so treat the list above as a guide rather than a fixed menu.
If you drink tea rather than coffee, this is the place to sit down.
A drink ordered as a set with a pancake or waffle is 50 yen cheaper.
Pancakes and waffles, baked to order
Both the pancakes and the waffles are baked when you order them.
That means a wait, so this is not the place for a five-minute stop.
The pancakes are not the tall, souffle-style ones that are fashionable elsewhere.
They are lighter than that, and generous with butter, so the flavour carries.
Pancakes come in plain, fruit, strawberry confit, chocolate banana and caramel.
There are seasonal ones alongside those.
This is the Mont Blanc pancake, piled with chestnut cream.
The waffles are baked firm, and they go particularly well with the ice cream served alongside.
Waffle flavours are chocolate banana, matcha with sweet azuki beans, berry, caramel and plain.
One item needs planning: the baked doughnuts must be ordered two days in advance.
If you want them, telephone the cafe before you arrive in Imabari.
Seats and reservations
Towards the back of the cafe there is a tucked-away corner — not a private room, but set apart from the main floor.
Table reservations are taken on weekdays only.
At weekends it is first come, first served, and the cafe is busy.
Fitting it into your day
The obvious pairing is Imabari Castle, which is directly opposite and takes one to two hours to walk around.
Castle first, then a long tea here, is a comfortable half day in the city centre.
If you are riding, the cafe is a short detour from the route between the station and the bridge — see how to get from Imabari Station to the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge.
Rental bicycles are covered in our guide to renting a bike in Imabari.
For a bath at the end of the day, Kisuke no Yu is near the station.
Another cafe with a view, this one facing the sea and the bridge, is Ondata Coffee.
More of the city is gathered in our Imabari guide for Shimanami Kaido cyclists.
Verdure Cafe: the basics
Address: 1-1-5 Misuka-cho, Imabari, Ehime
Telephone: 0898-24-1566
Open: 9:00 to 18:00
Closed: Thursdays
Payment: cash only
Parking: in front of the cafe
FAQ
Can I pay by credit card? No. Verdure Cafe is cash only.
What time does it open? 9:00, and it closes at 18:00. It is closed on Thursdays.
Do I need a reservation? Table reservations are taken on weekdays only. At weekends, come and wait for a seat.
Can I buy the baked doughnuts on the day? No. They must be ordered two days ahead.
Is there parking? Yes, in front of the cafe, though it fills up.
Can I see Imabari Castle from inside? You look out over the garden, with the castle’s stone walls rising behind it.
How far is it from the station? About 1.5 km, a 20-minute walk or 9 minutes by bus to the “Imabari-jo mae” stop.
Japanese version of this article: ヴェルデュールカフェ｜今治城前で紅茶とワッフルとパンケーキ（今治市美須賀町）
An earlier visit, when we ate the katsu sando: 『ヴェルデュールカフェ』美味しいサンドイッチと庭がきれい｜今治ランチ隊が行く！
