Marunouchi Cafe: Come with a big appetite

Area:  about a 1 min walk southeast of Marunouchi Station Exit 4 丸の内駅
Restaurant:  Marunouchi Cafe  丸の内カフェ
Map and Info:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230102/23006324/dtlmap/

Hours: 10am-7pm


This cafe's lunch is slightly different than your regular cafe.  It's an all you can eat fare (¥1480).  You can choose between the curry and rice set or the curry and bread set.  If you want both rice and bread, you can do so for an extra ¥300.  It seems that this place prides itself on the homemade bread so I ordered that set, sans rice.

The salad bar has a number of different dressings such as strawberry, carrot, onion, two different extra virgin olive oils, and Himalayan as well as Mongolian salt. The strawberry was the most interesting, slightly sweet but went well with the salad (you can choose what vegetable you want in your salad as well). The olive oils were also nice as a dip for the bread.    You could also do as you please with the all-you-can-eat bread; toast it, spread jam or sprinkle with salt, dip in the curry etc.  I especially fancied the bread made with cream (first from the left in the photo).  It had a flaky texture almost like a Danish but had some density to it.

The curry was a vegetable purée curry.  It was difficult to tell what kind of vegetables were included but it had a bit of sweetness mixed with the spiciness of the curry.  This cafe's premise seems to be healthy fare, serving up rye bread, walnut bread, multi grain rice, and they even handed out an ao jiru (green veggie drink, perhaps made from kale, with some seaweed) on the house.  It is often bitter, but this one was not.

The coffee was a strong espresso, but had a nice crema, indicating it was made with the proper grind and water pressure.

The plain yogurt was flavored with a slight sweet syrup poured over, a nice and healthy dessert.

Although a bit pricey just for a quick lunch, if you can eat a lot and you like bread and curry, or if you're lacking in veggies, this is a great place.  It helps that the regulars and the owner are kind and chatty as well.