foodie sunday

Since there was talk of rain due to the typhoon in Okinawa, we decided to hang around our area, even though the day was hot and beautiful. For lunch, we went to Makiochi which is about 2 stations from Ishibashi (our station). There is a little Italian restaurant called Italian Kitchen Tatsuhiro.

The website that I found this restaurant on, had mentioned a resonably priced lunch. I guess some time had passed since their post--the prices went up and menu had changed. They only had 2 prix fixe menus, one for 1400 yen (US $12.50) and one for 2600 yen (US $22.60). Since we were standing in front of the restaurant with our jaws dropping on the ground while looking at the menu prices, we decided to have the cheaper of the two menus and went inside anyway. Our menu started with an assortment of appetizers. Each was very tasty. Next came the pasta. Satoshi had the berkshire pork simmered in tomato sauce and I had the pasta with ham and nut paste. Both were very different but delicious. Dessert was an almond caramel pannacotta. We were both disappointed with the coffee, it was served in an demi-tasse, but it was super watered down. The first thing that Satoshi said after he sipped it was, "usui" (too weak).
We are going into the 2nd week of October and the daytimes still feel like summer! After lunch, we rode the train to Ikeda and checked out their cosmos. This field of cosmos is located right along side of the Inagawa river. I couldn't believe how tall they were.
And as if we didn't have a big enough lunch, we still wanted something sweet. I remembered there was a cake shop in one of Satoshi's books, so I quickly surfed the internet on my cell phone and found Yogashi no Okada. This place is take-out only, so we bought our treats and went home to make some cappucinos. Satoshi had the mori no kiri kabu (literally stump in the forest...I think I like the Japanese name better) a sponge cake filled with cream made to look like a stump of a tree that had been cut down in the forest.

I chose the fig tart. Inside the crust was a layer of sponge cake, cream and fresh figs, more cream on top and topped with fresh figs. I was disappointed with this. The crust seemed more like a savory crust than a sweet one and the sponge cake didn't have any taste. The figs and cream's sweetness was really subtle too. I guess it looked better than it actually was. I also had a bite of Satoshi and thought that it was kind of dry and bland too. Oh well, I don't think we'll be going back there anytime soon.

Here's the info for both places, just in case you'd like to give them a shot.
Italian Kitchen Tatsuhiro (2021: moved to another location)
4-1-1 Nishishoji
Minoo
Phone: 072.725.8110 Closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays

Yogashi no Okada
1-12 Muromachi
Ikeda
Phone: 072.752.4822 Closed on Tuesdays

Have a nice week.