Azione: a quiet and complete lunch at an Italian eatery

Area:  about 2 blocks north of Fushimi station 伏見駅
Restaurant:  Azione  アジオーネ
Map and Info:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230102/23051720/dtlmap/

Hours:  Lunch 11am-3pm (LO 2pm), Dinner 5-10pm (LO 9:30pm), closed Sun



I never considered coming here because I thought it was just another mediocre Italian restaurant, but upon looking at tabeblog, and seeing that it received 3.5 stars, I wanted to try it.  The chef and owner was there all by himself, serving and cooking. I read that he started out working in an expensive Italian restaurant around Nagoya's Chikusa area, and that he puts his own original ideas into the menu.  

First, the appetizer plate; the carrot salad had a mild vinaigrette, sweetened by raisins, and had a nice olive oil flavor.  The eggplant was refreshingly chilled and was a bit more vinegary than salad.  The gobo (burdock root) salad, dressed with a simple mayo, a typical dressing for this type of salad in Japan.  The corn soup was puréed fresh corn which gave it a prominent corn flavor (not a cream or milky flavor that corn soup often has in Japan).  This corn soup almost reminded me of movie theatre popcorn.  The Prosciutto was of good quality.  The fritatta was interesting as it had noodles embedded in it, which gave this egg bite.  Its flavor also reflected the ground beef and vegetables that were added.

The housemade focaccia was moist and dense with a soft crust.  The crunch came from the sea salt sprinkled on top.  It was softer than the focaccia I'm used to but with the density and the toasty flavored crust, I quite enjoyed it.  

There were two pastas to choose from, a tomato meat sauce, or a cream sauce.  The cream seemed more interesting to me.  It was a mushroom and shrimp sauce.  The button mushrooms (not used as much as other types of mushrooms in Japan), gave this sauce a cream of mushroom flavor (kind of nice that it reminded me of one of my childhood favorite cambell's soup).  The shrimps were not overcooked and the sauce was perfectly seasoned. 

Coffee was a good-sized americano (I'd call it large for Japanese standards).

Overall, a quiet and spacious restaurant.  The sax music sort of sounded like elevator music, but gave this place a relaxing atmosphere.