foodie friday and saturday

Friday met up with Tamakikat. In Kyoto　as with most areas in Kansai, the sakura (cherry blossoms) are nearing the end. On this particular day it was gloomy and cloudy.

We had lunch at Cafe Bastille, a tiny shop near Sanjo. The portions are very generous. Tamakikat had the soup set (soup, salad & bread). I chose the sandwich set...980 yen (about US$9.80). This came with what I thought was a French style hamburger (hamburger patty, dijon mustard, mayo on a baguette) and some fries. A bit hard to eat as a sandwich but very filling.

After lunch, we walked up to Chionin and Maruyama Park. There was an area above the hanami (cherry viewing) madness that was quiet and beautiful.

We then walked Shijo to Fukujuen. Awhile back, I had seen that they renovated their building and found out that they had a cafe. I chose the matcha cappuccino...700 yen (about US$7), this came with a piece of matcha cake, renkon mochi (sweet made with lotus root) & matcha cookie). Tamakikat chose the dessert set, this came with an assortment of different cakes and mochi.

It was great meeting up with Tamakikat, I had a nice time and hope she did too.
Saturday, Satoshi had his German class and then planned to meet up with a friend afterwards, so I had to figure out on what to do with my time.

I decided to head to Kobe. There was a French film, which I had found out awhile back through a report on Cannes that I'd been wanting to see called "Yuki and Nana". The film was being shown at the Kobe Art Village Center in Shinkaichi. This center shows many foreign films, films that are normally shown at film festivals.

They also have a gallery where upcoming artists can show their works. Though the film was subtitled in Japanese (which was too quick for me to read) and they spoke in French, I enjoyed the film.

After the film, I went to have lunch at Freundlieb (german for friend love and the name of the people who own the cafe/bakery), which we tried to check out on Wednesday. This cafe is located inside of a renovated church.

It is rare to find entree sized salads here, so I was happy to see some on their menu.

I ordered their chef salad 1050 yen (about US$10.50) and boy, was it huge! Everyone around me had ordered sandwiches and so all eyes were on my salad when it came out. You could hear whispers, "look at that salad!"

It was really good, there was toasted bread on the bottom (like croutons), lettuce, ham, roasted chicken, a soft boiled egg, asparagus, cheese, tomato, raw and fried onions. The salad went nicely with their creamy mustard dressing.

This cafe also gives you some cookie samples when you are seated, which you can purchase more of in their shop on the 1st floor.

I really enjoyed the salad and cookies and was very stuffed afterwards.

I stopped at their shop and I picked up some large palmiers, which I think in Germany they refer to as "ears". This was the "large ear". I bought one of each flavor, plain, chocolate & goma (sesame seed) to share with Satoshi...315 yen (about US$3.15) each (UPDATE: his favorite was chocolate, mine was plain)

I then walked to Le Dimanche on Tor Road and picked up some items for my tea time and dinner.

It was a delicious foodie two days. I hope you had a nice weekend.

Cafe Bastille
94 Aburayamachi, Sanjo Agaru
Yanagino Banbadori, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto
Phone: 075.222.1228
Closed Mondays

Fukujuen (2F)
Corner of Tominokoji and Shijo-dori
Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto
Phone: 075.221.6172
Closed New Years Day and every 3rd Wednesday

Cafe Freundlieb
4-6-15 Ikuta-cho, 2F
Chuo, Kobe
Phone: 078.231.6051
Closed Wednesdays