Mascarpone cheese and basil, a great match

Area: 2 blocks from Nagoya station on the Bic Camera side

Restaurant: Tsubaki ツバキ　

Map and info:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230101/23009229/

I was too late to make it in time for the lunch set (until 2 or 2:30pm), but I'm glad I missed it.  Instead, I had a delicious basil and mascarpone cheese panini sandwich (～700円).  The olive oil basil paste married well with the other ingredients, and the toasted, pressed bread was sturdy enough to stand up to the juiciness without becoming soggy.  I was happy to find an actual sandwich (if  you know what I mean) in Japan.  

It's a small quaint restaurant in the back of an area filled with izakayas and bigger name eateries, so it may be difficult to find, but if you do you may be pleasantly eating.  The first floor just consists of a small counter, but if you asked to be seated on the 2nd floor, you can also comfortably dine at a table.  

If your body is lacking veggies, but don't feel like salad...

Area: Chikamichi チカミチラウンジ (Crosscourt Tower B1), about a 3 min walk from Nagoya Station
Restaurant:  Beer Bar Ma Maison
Website and Map: http://www.ma-maison.co.jp/beerbar.html

Having my break from work after lunch hours, it's difficult to find places that are still serving food (not just sweets and drinks).  This bar however serves food from open til close.  You can choose from lunch sets such as curry, omelette rice, hamburger patties, croquettes, etc or there is also the option of ordering dishes a la carte.

Today, I chose the seasonal vegetable curry (980円).  The vegetables are cooked in an iron pot (cabbage, lotus root, sweet potato, onion, bamboo) so you can use the curry like a dip.  I'm a fan of grilled veggies, so I quite enjoyed the flavour.  They aren't seasoned but curry is pretty heavy on the flavour side, so they match well together.   I'm not so keen on the match of miso soup and curry (something salty with yet an even saltier side), but this combo is often found around city.

Next time, I'd like to try a cheese plate and order a beer! Seems like they have REAL cheese, and not just the processed stuff.

If there's a next time, I'll skip the pasta and order pizza

Area: Nagoya Station JR Towers 13F
Restaurant: Mano Magio マーノマッジョ
Website: http://www.mj-sangyo.co.jp/r/manomagio/nagoya/

It was a good thing I didn't pay full price for this pasta lunch (usually 1500円, but with a coupon, 1000円).  The pasta was a shrimp, zucchini and mushroom white wine sauce dish.  Sounds good, right?  Didn't taste as good as it sounds though.  There wasn't much flavour or seasoning in the sauce, nor did I get any sense that it was cooked with white wine.  The smell of shrimp (or the sea) was all that stood out.  What was interesting, were the noodles themselves.  It wasn't the usual spaghetti, but more like ramen egg noodles.  The problem with this is that the noodles clump together when not in soup.  The accompanying bread was bland, which may be good for sopping up pasta sauce, but there wasn't much sauce for that.

The nice part about the lunch was sitting out on the terrace.  From the 13th floor you can look out onto busy Nagoya in peace.  Even on a hot day, the breeze made it a nice place to take a break.

You call yourself of burger?

Area: Winc Aichi Building (Exit 7 of Unimall) B1 Level
Restaurant: Layer's Hamburger and Cafe レイヤーズ　
Website and Map: http://www.layers7.com/access.html

There's a lot of hype about this place, maybe because it's an actual burger and not just a burger patty.  Or maybe it's because the pictures make it look so big and juicy.  Keep in mind, this is the opinion of a Canadian, but I don't understand this hype.  It was rather a disappointment.  I ordered the most simple burger on the menu, the so-called hamburger (850円).

The one thing that is good about this burger is that the meat is 100% beef.  However, there are more things gone wrong with it.  The flavour of the beef is such that you can tell it's of good quality, but it's overpowered by the layer of cracked black pepper.  Also, why ruin that wonderful beef flavour with a smothering of worcestershire-like or demi-glace sauce? A juicy burger is usually a good thing, but like the Japanese hamburger patty dishes, it falls apart almost too easily, and the running juices along with the sauce make the bun soon turn soggy.  So soggy that turns to mush.

The fried chicken and onion rings at Layer's was more to my liking, but being a burger specialty restaurant, isn't that a little sad?  I'm sorry for being so harsh, but I was really craving a good ol' homestyle burger!  

Dublin Room Cafe: A place you can relax and take a deep breath

Area: Kokusai International Center (About 100m from exit 1 of Kokusai Center Station)
Restaurant: Dublin Room Cafe ダブリンルームカフェ
Map and Info: http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230101/23006453/

This little hidden cafe has a slow food atmosphere.  It's a place where you can take your time.  The lighting is pretty dim, so you may find yourself getting sleepy if you try to read a book, but it's probably not a problem if you get a seat by the window.

The lunches (900円) available might change every day, but today there was a pasta, curry and omelette rice lunch to choose from.  I had the tuna and tomato pasta lunch.  It was a simple tomato sauce that could have used more tuna in my opinion and a little more oomph.  But the texture of the spaghetti was a nice al dente.  The salad and soup were pretty standard.  Coffee and dessert are also included in the lunch.  The coffee cake (or could have been a banana cake) was light on the sweetness level and a bit dry, but some might prefer this (I do sometimes).

You don't have to be a highschool girl to enter

Area: Hisayaodori station (about 200m North of the station)

Restaurant: Panda Cafe パンだ　カフェ

Map and info:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230103/23040712/

So the decor and atmosphere is a little high school girlish, but the food can be enjoyed by any adult (there were salary men here).  Lunch here is served until 4pm, so it's good for people who eat lunch outside Japan's frequent 2pm limitation.  

At this cafe, the lunches to choose from are pasta, curry, salad or burger patty.  I chose the pork shabu-shabu salad lunch (900円).  Look at that volume!  It's rare to see a salad this big served in a restaurant in Japan.  It was a good mix of veggies and leaves and all went well with the creamy sesame dressing.  The soup was nothing special, and the quiche was a regular ham quiche.  The bread was delicious though; danish-like bread smothered in butter.  The egg tofu was very silky and the cold dashi broth made it so pleasant and refreshing.  

If I were in this area more often I'd visit again, if not for the food, to see them make the panda face cappuccino.

Kind of bland, but rare in this city

Area: Close to Winc Aichi building, Exit 7 of Unimall, 4th floor above `Ciao'
Restaurant: Rogoski ロゴスキー　(Russian food)
Website and Info: http://r.gnavi.co.jp/n064400/

I'm no expert in Russian food, but I have had it before, cooked by Russians in Toronto.  Today was a light snack with Pirozhiki (200円) and some sort of baked mushroom soup with a bead topping (800円).  The pirozhiki could have used a bit more meat, and more juiciness.  The soup had a nice, very light flavour of mushrooms, and the bread had a delicious crispy outer layer and soft centre.  

It was a bit difficult for me to read the menu because the names of the dishes were in katakana, but sounding like the Russian names.  I just noticed that the website says they have English menus and English speaking staff so maybe next time, I'd ask for that (if there is a next time!).