Rajakivi: A bit of Denmark in Nagoya

Area:  about 400m northeast of Kanayama Station 金山駅

Restaurant:  Rajakivi  ラヤキブィ

Website and Map:  http://www.rajakivi.com/access.html

Hours: 8am-6:30pm (LO 6pm)

I've never been to a Nordic cafe before, so since I was in the Kanayama area I thought I'd try it out.  I wanted to try something more authentic, so instead of the rice bowl lunch menu, I chose from the smorrebrod section.  These are open-faced sandwiches, and all came with egg salad, broad lettuce leaves,  crispy fried onions, pickles, 2 pieces of buttered bread and basil leaves for garnish.  The soup accompanying it was a cabbage, carrot and onion soup.  There were bits of ground meat in it as well.  The flavors were natural and light, leading me to believe there were no additives, just the vegetables and meat with a bit of salt in this soup.

The sandwich itself is fun to eat because you can mix and match the different ingredients.  The fried onion gave a nice punch, not to mention crunch.  The roast beef was thinly sliced and had a nice juicy marination.  It was not at all like cold cuts, so it was not so salty (a light black pepper sprinkling and salt seasoning) and the flavor of the meat was predominant.   The two slices of rye bread looked like end pieces which I love; I wonder if this is how this bread is made, and if everyone gets a crusty portion  Only one slice is buttered, so again you can mix and match.  It had a sourdough-like texture (a bit heavier than regular white bread).  The egg salad was also lightly seasoned and matched with all the components of this plate.

The coffee, Roberts Coffee, also seems to be specialized from the Nordic area.  It was a mild blend with slight maple syrup aftertaste.  For the smorrebrod drink set you just add ¥650 to the price of drink of choice.

Something else also caught my eye and I thought since it's a morning  item at this shop, it might go well with coffee.  There were 2 pirakkas (¥150) to choose from, one was a potato filled and the other okayu or rice pudding.  It was an interesting flavor, not sweet as I thought it would be. The dough seemed like it was whole wheat.  The rice and milk solidified filling was just slightly seasoned with salt and was topped with egg salad.

The white wooden board walls, the light wooden chairs, floor and table, and  the instrumental traditional music with birds chirping made for a relaxing space.