Rainbow; for wine lovers, or those looking for something different

Area:  A couple of blocks south of Kokusai Center (International Center) 国際センター駅
Restaurant:  Rainbow  レインボー
Map and Info:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230101/23052254/dtlmap/

Hours:  10:30am - 8:30pm, closed Sundays



As I was walking towards a different cafe, I came across people handing out pamphlets for this new shop.  It's a take out store only, but their concept is to sell foods that are good with wine.  This caught my eye because I love wine, and because they had bento boxes that were different than the usual.

So on another occasion, I stopped by and bought a quiche box (500円).  I had a choice of salad; bagna cauda or strawberry and prosciutto.  I picked the bagna cauda and then had to choose between black garlic sauce or potato gratin.  The gratin doesn't seem so authentic somehow, so I went with the black garlic.  The anchovy flavor was strong so the garlic wasn't overpowering at all.  I liked the variety of vegetables; red carrot (although it was a bit dried out), red daikon, cooked zucchini, a french fry (yes, only one), turnip, cabbage and cooked onions.  The pink stuff which I thought was sugar for the dessert was actually Sakura salt, and also went well with the veggies. 

There were two types of half sized slices of quiche. One had layers of bacon and onion, while the other was a bit of a mystery, but deliciously sweet and creamy.  It definitely had squash and perhaps some al dente arborio rice (if it was, a tad undercooked and still hard).  The crust was flaky and buttery, slight soggy but what can you expect from a boxed quiche. 

The dessert was almost like a cherry bread pudding.  A bit to much vanilla extract and eggy flavor, I think they could have done better on the dessert.  The berries turned the what's supposed to be golden yellow dough to an ugly puke green colour.  

The menu in the store has a wine guide that tells you if white, red or rose will go with the dish, but in my opinion that's a little difficult to rank given the variety of wines out there.  However it's a good start. What's important for this store is that although I didn't have wine, I indeed could have enjoyed this box if I had a glass!

On a separate occasion, I made another visit because there was a sandwich I was dying try; a katsu (panko crusted and fried meat) sandwich.  This however was not just any katsu though.  It's bad enough that it's deep fried, but to add more unhealthiness to that, I ordered a...prepare yourself...a foie gras katsu sando! Now you can understand my need to come back I hope.  Here's the breakdown of the sandwich, which is kind of what I did.  I tried eating it as a sandwich but I thought I'd enjoy and savor it more if I separated it.  The bread was toasted nicely, but my pet peeve, the crust was cut off.  The store apparently uses bread from a nearby bakery, so it is fresh.  The bread is what is used as the slathering board for a slightly sweet Worcestershire sauce (commonly eaten with regular katsu).  On each slice were also a shiso leaf stuck to the sauce.  The flavor of shiso matches nicely with the sauce, giving it a more Japanese style to it.  The foie gras was coated in a crispy outer layer and was oozing oil from it's own fat and from the deep frying.  If you are not a fan of oily, this sandwich is not for you! The wonderful flavor of foie gras is preserved in the pocket of crispness, and is not overpowered by any sauce. There is a slice of tsukudani vegetable in this sandwich, but it more enhances the sauce more than anything else.

What makes this store interesting is the variety of different menu items to try, and if you can find a place to sit and eat, it's a nice lunch option.