Nishihara Coffee: They seem to KNOW coffee

Area:  about 300m west of Fushimi station 伏見駅
Restaurant:  Nishihara Coffee Shop  西原珈琲店
Website and Map:  http://nishiharacoffee.com/about/nishihara/fushimi/

Hours: 10am-7pm (Lunch served until 2pm)

This cafe is a little bit hidden.  From the outside it looks like a small, old building, housing only an office.  But upon entering and walking down one level, all the way to the back, there is Nishihara Coffee.  It has a feel of an old European cafe with dim lighting, black wooden walls and furniture.  Orchestral music from The Nutcracker and piano music were playing over the speakers.   Seating was booth seating, but you can also choose to sit at the counter, where the shelves behind it have various china cups and plates on display.

I was first given the drink and sandwich menu because I came at 2:30pm (after lunch).  But upon asking, they brought the lunch menu.  Lunch includes a sandwich, soup, salad and a drink.  This cafe features a different coffee bean every month, so this is what I wanted to try.  They brought the coffee out first.  This variety was a nice medium blend, and it tasted fresh.  

The sandwiches choices were a ham, ham & cheese, or the Nishihara recommended.  Today's recommended was a meat omelette.  It was on toasted bread (with the crusts included, yay!).  The bread was around an 5-slice loaf (fairly thick).  In Japan, the loaves are about half the size of a regular loaf and the thickness of one slice is described by the number of slices it's cut in.  I'm glad the crusts were left on because the crust on this loaf added a nice toasty flavor.  The cucumber gave it a nice crunch and the onions in the ground meat omelette was a nice addition.  The sandwich benefited from the spread of ketchup. The salad was combination of lettuce, cucumber and a cherry tomato dressed with a Japanese shiso dressing.  The soup was a cream corn soup, but this one had depth compared to other corn soups that seem like corn flavored sweet milk  This one started with a good broth, and was cooked with onions, bacon and mushrooms, and seasoned with a dash of pepper.  I quite enjoyed this cream corn soup.