Healthy bento box makes a fine lunch

Area: About 600m from Honjin station 本陣駅 or Nakamura Nisseki station 中村日赤駅 (Higashiyama Line)
Restaurant: Mame no Machi 豆の街
Map and info: http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230101/23007347/dtlmap/

Hours: Morning time 9am-11am, Lunch 11am-2pm, Cafe time 2pm-5pm, Dinner (reservations only) 5pm-9pm, Closed Sundays

I feel like lately I've been splurging a bit.  Today's lunch was a Japanese bento that came with a salad, dessert and drink, all for 1500円.  Considering it's still under the 2000円 range, I guess it's not that bad, especially looking at the volume and prettiness of this lunch.

This cafe is suited for Japanese obasans and ojichans (grandmothers and grandfathers) OR for young woman to meet and chat over a meal.  There were both these types of customers in the store today.  Although the lighting is dim, it adds a bit of romance.  The wooden furniture and counter, and the tatami mat room in the back add a Japanese touch.

In the box were spinach with a sesame dressing, daikon+carrot vinegar salad, tamagoyaki, cucumber+turnip+hakusai pickles, hijiki+beans, vegetables cooked in a soy sauce based broth, potato with a miso sauce,  a sweet (possibly white miso) white fish, and chikuwa.  The salad was a mix of mizuna and potato salad, accompanied by vegetable tempura and renkon+ground meat tempura.  All were familiar flavours typical of Japanese food, but nonetheless nicely done.  And where else can you find such variety in a lunch box?  This is one thing I like about Japan's bento.  The renkon (lotus root) tempura was delicious; it had ground meat sandwiched between two slices of renkon, covered in batter and then fried.  This tempura needed no dipping sauce, it was flavorful just as is.

Dessert was matcha ice cream with a soft silky pudding.  The pudding was very mild in flavour so it's best to eat it after or before the sweet ice cream in order to really enjoy it (otherwise the matcha flavour and sweetness of the ice cream dominate).

The coffee was a bit weak, it looked like tea when it came, but I commend the restaurant for grinding the beans upon order and making a fresh cup just for you.

The other menu item for lunch is a gratin 1000円; I'm excited to go back and try that someday.