Cafe A. Bloom: Kissaten and Cafe Hybrid

Area:  about 200m northwest of Marunouchi station 丸の内駅
Restaurant:  Cafe A. Bloom  カフェ　アブルーム
Map and Info:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230102/23044765/dtlmap/

Hours:  Weekends 7am-9pm, Saturdays 8am-6pm, Sundays & Holidays 8am-5pm



This cafe's menu sounds almost like a typical kissaten, but something about the face of this restaurant caught my eye, so I decided to try it one day.  They do serve the typical Japanese-style cafe omuraisu, curry rice and hamburger patty, but on the day's special menu the lunch choices were tonteki (pork steak), fried sardine and salmon, or a salmon meuniere  Salmon meuniere sounded a bit different than the regular stuff, so that's what I ordered (¥800).  I was glad to see the variety if vegetables on this plate.  First was a purple and green cabbage salad with a sesame dressing.  There was also stewed daikon and carrot, juicy and not soggy, infused nicely with dashi and soy sauce flavors.  The komatsuna (a green vegetable with crunchy stems and broad leaves), was mildy flavored with a contrasting mustard dressing.  The slice of tamago-yaki was also lightly seasoned as to let the taste of egg reign.  The meuniere, which is a lightly floured fish sauté was a bit dry, but went nice with the shiso leaf topping and ponzu dip (there was also a choice of teriyaki and tartar sauce).

The clientele are business-men and women dining alone.  There is a computer room that is free for anyone to use, but this was probably more useful in the days before the smart phone.  Although smoking is allowed, these salary-men were not the smoking type, so the air was clean.  The piano music playing in the background with the sounds of plates and the espresso maker made for a quiet cafe-like  (not kissaten) experience.

I hear they serve a big value morning, so I wouldn't mind coming back to try that.