A L'etage: gallery cafes are nice places to rest

Area:  a few min walk south of Kokusai Center station 国際センター駅
Shop:  A L'etage  アレタージュ
Website and info:  http://www.utsuwahase.jp/

Cafe Hours:  Thurs, Fri, Sat 1-6pm

I've been searching for gallery cafés recently because I've found that there are many in the Nagoya area, and they are usually not only nice quiet places to rest, they also have interesting things to look at, in a stylish designed space.

This gallery cafe's 1st floor gallery was unfortunately closed today but normally they showcase different pottery.  Around the back and on the 2nd floor, there were some works on display in the cafe.  It had a lofty feeling with concrete walls and floors.  There were some high end clothes on display and a few dishes that were available for purchase.  

The menu is small, with coffee (¥450), and a few different teas (¥500 each). As for the sweets, I asked what was popular.  It seems that the toast is made from a well known bakery in Tokyo.  The cakes are what they can get their hands on (perhaps rare to find in the area), so they are always changing. 

I wanted to try the toast since I was told it was popular and the shop keeper made it seem like it was different than the regular.  In fact , it did have a nice density and crust to it, but I'm not sure I'd say it's noticeably different than what one may find in the grocery stores.  The topping, butter and honey, was thinly spread.  It was tasty but I'm not sure it's worth the ¥450 for one slice.  

The chai tea, was a nice cup of spice with a good amount of bitterness.  

The background music was a soothing modern instrumental.  Take notice of the plates and cups as they are hand-made.

Osteria loko: cold pasta works on a hot day

Area:  about a 5 min walk northwest of Hisayaodori station 久屋大通駅
Restaurant:  Osteria Loko  オステリアロコ
Map and Info:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230103/23049180/dtlmap/?lid=tocoupon2

Hours:  Lunch 11am-2:30pm (LO 2pm), Dinner 5:30-11:30pm


All lunches come with the salad and drink bar.  The carrot salad was juicy with a light, sweet cream dressing.  The arugula was seasoned with sea salt and a bit of Italian dressing that seemed house-made.  The renkon (lotus root) had a basil flavor (a nice change for this Japanese veggie), the quiche was buttery and smooth (it was actually a squash quiche).

I went for the chilled carbonara pasta since this seemed a bit different to me.  The pasta was really cold almost as if ice cubes were added just before serving.  This added a nice bite to the fresh pasta.  The sauce was milky and light, and used freshly grated parmesan cheese.  The runny egg was a nice addition to contrast the saltiness of the cheese and prosciutto.

The coffee was surprisingly fresh tasting, even though it appeared to be sitting out a while.  With the lounge music, it feels like a hotel lobby restaurant/bar.

Il punto: Fresh pasta done well and you can enjoy it at lunchtime

Area:  about a 3 min walk northeast of Fushimi station 伏見
Restaurant:  Osteria Il Punto   オステリアイルプント
Website and Info:  http://osteriailpunto.com/map.html

Hours:  Lunch 11:30am-2pm (LO 1:30pm),  Dinner 6-10:30pm


Lunch comes with a salad, bread and dessert (\950-\1050).  Today's salad had an onion and olive oil vinaigrette.  The grated onion helped coat the lettuce well with flavor.  The chicken thigh on the side was simmered with fresh tomatoes, and was slightly sweet.

I always jump on the chance to eat fresh pasta, so I paid a little more for the nama pasta lunch (I find that a lot of places that make their own pasta only serve the fresh type during dinner).  The fresh house-made pasta of the day was a prosciutto, cream sauce.  The prosciutto was only mildly salty, and went well with the skinny green beans.  The sauce was light and milky with a simple seasoning.  The pasta was indeed fresh and was cooked to a perfect al dente.

Dessert was a silky pudding, with a refreshing tang, perhaps lemon.

The wooden counters and tables give this Italian bar a modern but natural feel.  It's a small space but intimate and might be a good place to bring a date.

3+: A great shop to pass the time

Area:  about a 2 min walk west of Kurumamichi Station 車道駅
Shop:  3+ (Trois Plus)  トロワプリュス
Website and Info:  http://www.junk-plus.com/info.html
Map:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230106/23031414/

Hours:  12-7pm,  closed Tues and every third Wed



This cafe's menu consists of only sweets, coffee and tea, but it's the atmosphere that's the draw point.  Surrounded by art and antiques (not only on the same floor, but above and below), quietness, calm jazz vocal music and on this day, the pitter patter of rain, it was a great place to take a rest.  The coffee was mild, but not watery, with a bit of acidity.  The accompanying cookie was peanut butter.  The lemon rare cheese cake was light with just the right amount of sweetness.  Being rare cheese cake (why this type of cheese cake is called rare is a mystery to me), it was closer to the texture of a custard.  The sweet lemon flavor was a perfect match with the gingerbread cookie crust on the bottom.

Nossa: I still don't know what Romanian food is like

Area:  about 5 min south of Fushimi Station, exit 6  伏見駅
Restaurant:  Nossa Gallery Cafe  ノッサ
Website:  http://nossagallery.on.omisenomikata.jp/

Hours:  6pm-1am, closed Sundays and holidays


According to the website it seems they are only open in the evenings now.  However when I visited, it was for lunch.  The nicely seasoned soup had carrots, red and green peppers, onion, celery and parsley in it.  The soft meatball had rice mixed in with the ground meat.  The pickled peppers on the side (meant to be added to the soup), turned the soup into a hot and sour soup.  It was hot enough to make my nose run and my lips go tingly.  The bread had a dry texture like corn bread, but it was nice flavor-wise.

Since I had never had Romanian food before, I asked which lunch was the most Romania-like.  The recommendation was a simple sauteed pork seasoned with salt and cracked black pepper.  It was served with plain steamed rice and a sesame dressed salad.  I was recommended the pork when I asked which was most Romania like.  It was a simple sauté with salt and cracked black pepper.  Served with plain steamed rice and a sesame dressed salad.  It was nothing too special, the soup was probably the best part.  

Half the restaurant, the front part, was all white and half was black giving a very modern feel.  The music was techno.  Although it's called a gallery restaurant, most of the works were in book form.

Vege Bar Mitsubashi: Needs a bit of work on seasoning

Area:  about 100m south of Kokusai Center Station 国際センター駅
Restaurant:  Vege Bar Mitsubachi  ミツバチ
Website and Info:  http://www.a-round1995.com/mitsubachi/access.html

Hours:  Weekdays and Sat  5pm-1am, Sundays and Holidays 5pm-12am



Although I made it in time for lunch, it was close to the end, so the salad bar was a bit scarce.  Luckily I could still take a bit of everything, except for the steamed bagna cauda veggie area (only renkon, or lotus root left).  The renkon was nice and soft but not mushy.  I dressed my salad with a bit of yuzu kosho dressing (Japanese citrus and pepper) and with plain olive oil with herbed salt.  The salt went nicely with the  olive oil, and even though yuzu kosho itself is usually very high in sodium, as a dressing (mixed with oil), it was nice.  The French dressing was like a creamy caesar, mislabeled perhaps.  I preferred the milder herbed salt to the too salty rose salt.

For the main, the paella had a thin layer of crispy tomato flavored rice. The crispiness (from being placed on a hot plate) was the best part.  It was topped with daikon, carrots, zucchini, and peppers, all of which were all kind of dried out due to the oven baking. It probably could have used some oil and salt seasoning.  The seafood, mussels, clams, shrimp were meaty and moist  They imparted their seafood flavor nicely on to the rice.  The clams baked into the rice so somehow they had a nice chewiness to them.  This paella was a bit too under seasoned though. 

I decided to give this restaurant another try. First I ordered a vegetable tapas plate.  You get to choose 3 (\480) from a list.  First, the tako (octopus) and celery; the orange peel added a nice touch to the light marination.  The spinach with cream cheese was basically just cream cheese mixed with mayo; where was the spinach?  The cauliflower mousse at first was nice because I thought it was a puréed cauliflower but then I realized it was just a tiny bit of cauliflower mixed with whipped cream.  I guess I ordered 4 tapas', but I don't remember how much it was.  The broccoli and shrimp had a typical ebi-mayo sauce (a dish found in most Chinese food restaurants here, the sauce consisting of mostly mayo and a bit of ketchup).  

The smoked tuna (\580) was so salty that I asked them if that's the way it's supposed to be.  They took away the plate and offered to do it again, but when they brought it back out again it was missing all the veggies that I was looking forward to eating!  This time it was seasoned with olive oil, and was slighty better, but still was pretty salty.

With the patio feel, this restaurant could be a nice place to sit and relax and enjoy the food, but only if the food was done a tad better.  

Cucina Wada: Good for a special occasion, well worth the price

Area:  a couple of blocks south of Fushimi station 伏見駅
Restaurant:  Cucina Wada  クチーナワダ
Map and Info:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230102/23038494/

Hours:  Lunch 12-2pm, Dinner 6-10pm


This is a slightly more expensive, fine dining restaurant, but the lunch is only \2000.  It currently is receiving a score of 3.7 out of 5 on Tabeblog.  Straight to the food;  the appetizer indo-maguro carpaccio was seasoned with an olive oil basil sauce which matched with the plump shrimp and arugula.  The tuna was very soft and slightly seared with pepper.  There was also a nice sea salt crunch to the sauce.  The raw daikon was not hot, but the pepper sort of overpowered the maguro at first bite.  However the tastes buds may become accustomed to the pepper, and afterwards, the flavour of the tuna comes through.

The whole wheat bread had a yeasty flavor and was light.  The focaccia was denser, with a crispy olive oil brushed and rosemary sprinkled crust.

Next, the sardine pasta was covered with a simple olive oil sauce, but this one didn't taste like canned sardines, so that was good.
       

The sawara (king mackerel) sauté, was not only cooked in the pan, but was oven roasted, giving it a toasty skin. It used the same basil sauce as the starter, but matched well.  The tomato sauce was a cream base, so the tomato flavor was mild.  The carrot was also roasted and it was the sweetest carrot I've ever had (a bit dry, but I guess that's expected for oven roasting). 

I was seated at the counter on the first floor, right in from of the kitchen so it was interesting to watch everything they were doing, as if I were in the kitchen.  

The music plaing was instrumental jazz.

For dessert, I was brought a housemade tiramisu. It was not too sweet and I could really taste the liquor.  The meal-ending espresso was fresh and good crema