Tiger Cafe: Bonjour! Bonjour!

Area:  about 300m northeast of Fushimi station 伏見
Restaurant:  Tiger cafe タイガーカフェ
Website and Info:  http://tiger-cafe-fushimi.com/map_coupon/

Hours:  Mon.-Sat 11am-3am, Sun 11am-11pm, closed Thursdays

I've been to the Tiger cafe near Nagoya Station, but it seems like this one is a totally different shop. The menu, for one, is different, with hors d'oeuvres, sandwiches, salads, steak frites, etc.  After a quick internet search, it seems like it is the same chain, but all the Tiger Cafe's in Nagoya have different items on their menu.  This one in Fushimi prides itself on its authentic French cuisine.  Even though it's not exclusively French, and the music was Latino, it did have a European feel to it, like a brasserie.  Lunch ends at 2pm, but they still serve an omuraisu and a doria lunch after these hours.  There is also the option of ordering from the regular menu as well.

I had the smoked salmon sandwich (700円).  It's apparently house smoked, and comes on a choice of ciabatta or focaccia.  The waiter recommended the focaccia, so that's how I had it.  It normally comes with potato chips, but I asked for a salad substitution.  They had no problems with this!  The salad was just romaine lettuce dressed with a mild oil and vinegar.  The same salad was in the sandwich along with tomato wedges and sour cream.  I'm just guessing but there was tomato mixed into the bread dough giving it the red hue.  Rosemary and bits of black olives made it an authentic focaccia.  The crunch of the sea salt sprinkled on top was a nice addition.  It wasn't as oily as some focaccia can be, but inside was moist and had a nice balance of all those flavours together.  I usually like my sandwich bread toasted, but in this case I think it worked better as is.  The salmon was nice with a good level of salt curing and smokiness.

I came back to try the pate after a the disappointment of ordering so-called pate from a Miami Patio.  This is a French restaurant so I was expecting the pate here to be authentic.  The menu lists it as a charcuterie plate (¥950), although it only comes with one type of pate (I always thought charcuterie plates usually came with a variety of cured meats).  Volume wise it was larger than I thought it would be, so I was a little skeptical.  But when I cut into it, I could feel that it was indeed soft enough to be a spread (unlike Miami Patio's chunk).  The flavor of liver was also prominent.  It had a texture like soft cheese; but there was crunch from the cartilage of the meat.  The salt level was well controlled.  The accompanying pickles were house-made I believe, and not only included the cornichons, but there was also carrot, red and yellow peppers, cauliflower, pearl onion, and burdock root were also pickled. They had a mild vinegar accent, so the flavor of the vegetable could also be enjoyed.  

The accompanying bread, white French baguette had a nice crispy crust and was still soft in the middle and went well with a spread of pate.  The purple colored bread was a moist and soft walnut and caraway seed bread.  A nice texture, but the flavor of pate takes over so it's best eaten alone.