Nagagutsu to Neko: Coffee is definitely its specialty

Area:  about 300m south west of Sakae Station 栄駅
Cafe:  Nagagutsu to Neko  長靴と猫
Map and Info:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230103/23000260/dtlmap/?lid=tocoupon2

Hours:  9am-8pm


At this coffee specialty house, there are a variety of beans to choose from.  Although pricey, they do hand drip them (ensuring its freshness).  If you sit at the counter, you even get to choose your own cup from a variety of shapes and colours.  I was caught by surprise at this, so I quickly chose the cup in front of me.

The food menu is small, with some cakes and sandwiches.  The hot sandwich (ordered by the patron beside me), looked really nice, a good toasty colour. It was a pressed sandwich, so I'm sure it had a nice crunchy crust.  

The first sip of coffee, black, had a nice roasted flavor, quite bitter but fresh.  Adding cream mellowed out the bitterness and brought out the sweetness from the roasting.  I had seen in a magazine that there was a cookie set.  For ¥210 you get 3 small cookies, German style.  It wasn't in the menu but when I asked it was available! 

One cookie was an almond, another was an only slightly buttery shortbread and the last was a sugar coated one.  All were mildly sweet, perfect with the coffee.  

Cafe Dodo: a gallery cafe with Japanese cafe comfort food

Area:  about 200m east of Yabacho Station 矢場町駅
Restaurant:  Cafe Dodo  カフェ　ドゥードゥー
Map:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230103/23010039/
Website:  http://cafe-dodo.com/

Hours:  12pm-12am (LO 11pm)



This gallery cafe is a small shop hidden on the 3rd floor of a building in the small streets around Yabacho station.  It has a lofty feel and homeyness due to the sofas and dark wooden tables.

Today's plate lunch included hijiki, very standard in flavor.  The carrot salad was a stir fry with mentaiko, which actually worked nicely.  Not too salty, it had a different flavor than usual.  The salad's dressing was like a creamy shiso and chipotle flavor.  Whatever it was, it went very nicely with the Doritos sprinkled on top.  The ginger pork was very gingery and sweet, and made me want to dig into the white rice.  The Japanese like to describe food by how well it goes with rice, so I guess this dish was high on that ranking.  The soup was a simple consommé, tasting like a bouillon cube.    

For 250 yen extra, I added the house-made chestnut pudding.  It had a buttery shortbread cookie on top, almost tasting exactly like the ones I used to make for Christmas every year, so that was nice.  I was at first a bit disappointed with the pudding because aside from the chestnut piece on top, I couldn't really taste it in the milky pudding.  Just as I was going to give up eating it, I hit the chestnut pudding in the bottom of the cup.  It was slightly sweet with a hint of chestnut flavor and had a thicker texture (real chestnut had been finely puréed).

Unicorn: a complete meal and a good opportunity for a lunchtime glass of wine

Area:  a few blocks west of Hisayaodori station 久屋大通駅
Restaurant:  Dining Bar Unicorn  ユニコーン
Website and Info:  http://www.bar-unicorn.com/cgi-bin/unicorn/siteup.cgi?category=5&page=0

Hours:  Lunch 11:30am-3pm, Dinner 6pm-5am


Upon entering, the first thing you'll see is a bar, then walking through, there are low tables and sofa seating and also regular seating.  With the piano music playing, it felt like a lounge.

I was surprised that for the lunch set drink, alcoholic beverages were a possibility.  I took the opportunity and ordered a glass of red wine since it was recommended with my choice of lunch: the Unicorn lunch ¥1000 (the chef's pride, simmered pork and cabbage).  

The cabbage salad was dressed with caesar dressing.  The accompanying veggies were pickled, possibly housemade.  They were refreshing and not too vinegary.  There was also a matching slice of salami.  

The pork was stewed in perhaps white wine, with onion, cabbage and carrot.   Although a bit stringy, it was soft enough that there was no need for a knife.  It was topped with cheese and had a strong olive oil essence.  It was lightly seasoned, so the sweetness of the vegetables and the pork flavors shined.  This went really well with the wine which was a medium body and came at room temperature (usually the Japanese like to chill all their wines, red or not).

The soup was a regular wakame soup.  Dessert was a mango mousse with pear chunks. Tasted like something you'd find in costco or m&m's (premade in large quantities).  

Kako: great for variety, a good cup of coffee and warms the heart

Area:  a 3 min walk south of Kokusai Center Station 国際センター駅
Cafe:  Kako 　カコ柳橋店
Website and info:  http://www.coffeekako.com/shop.html

Hours:  7am-7pm (Morning 7am-11am, Lunch 11am-3pm)


I finally came back to try their stew lunch ¥950 (it seems to sell out at late lunch hours, so I came on a day when I had an early break).  They feature a different stew everyday with a different mixed rice (ie, corn butter, edamame, tomato).  Every week the menu is posted on their website.  Today the stew was a vegetable and house-made salted pork (I assume it means a salt marinated pork).  The rice of the day was already sold out so I had no choice but to choose the homemade bread.

First, the salad of the day was a carrot and walnut salad.  However, I think maybe they ran out of walnuts.  The dressing was actually really tasty, I'd like to know what's in it.  There was definitely olive oil, a mild vinegar and something for sweetness.  Now that I think about it the walnut may have been ground up in the dressing!!

The stew was a tomato-base broth with squash, onions, eggplant, ham and okra. The meat was so soft and had a really nice pork flavor.  The collagen pieces were included and had a nice stickiness and/or chewiness to it.  The topping of grated cheese added the sodium seasoning. 

The bread was whole wheat and had a good density and flavor.  There were traces of oats in it giving it a hearty flavor.   

The coffee was not only a nice blend; fresh, strong and bold, it was also of a good size.