foodie saturday

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day.

We headed to our favorite neighborhood cafe, Hiro, for breakfast. And were pleasantly surprised as the shop decided to go totally non-smoking.

In the past, they had "divided" the tables between smoking and non (a mere two feet difference!), but as of May 1st, this particular shop is now smoke-free (whoo hoo!)

After breakfast, we walked to the market and picked up some groceries for dinner. Then at about noon, we headed to Honmachi to try Yokoji Hamburger.

I thought we had never been here, but Satoshi reminded me that we had, probably in 2006 or 2007, though I don't have any written record of it anywhere.

(I usually write down what I eat and where I eat at, but back then my recordings were kind of sketchy. Also, when I first started blogging I didn't blog about everything I ate.)

So, we tried their burgers. (The burgers and buns are homemade.)

I got the standard with bacon and cheddar (580 (burger) + 150 (bacon) + 100 (cheese) = 830 yen about US$8.30) This also came with tomato and lettuce.

Satoshi chose the original demi-glace with bacon, cheddar & egg (680 (demi-glace burger) + 150 (bacon) + 100 (cheese) + 100 (fried egg) = 1030 yen about US$10.30) His also came with tomato and lettuce.

We also got a side of fries 350 yen (about US$3.50). The fries..meh, kinda soggy and I chose the homemade fries over the pre-made freezer fries. (Don't even know why they would put pre-made on their menu. Same price too.)

Drinks with a burger 150 yen each (about US$1.50)...ginger ale for me & orange juice for Satoshi.

Oh, and you can have tiny cups of consomme (FREE!)

Total 2510 yen (about US$25.10). Kinda expensive but very delicious, though I wish Japan would make their bacon crispy. Still the homemade bacon was bigger than the burger and thick.
After lunch, we went across to Utsubo Park to check out the roses, but they weren't in bloom yet (maybe in a week or two?).

We then decided to walk to Kitahorie to have some cake at Le Pineau. It had been a long time since I'd been to Le Pineau (pre-blog, maybe 8 years?). They have been in business since 1950 and recently renovated. They now have a separate eating area next to their shop. (I don't think this increased the amount of tables to eat at, but I do think it increased the size of their merchandising area).

Satoshi chose their pudding roll, this was delicious, flan inside of sponge cake with whipped cream and liquidy caramel...180 yen (about US$1.80)

I chose their caramel slice, caramel mousse with chocolate mousse on chocolate cake...240 yen (about US$2.40). This was rich and good.

The cakes also came with a bon-bon. We both had rum raisin bon-bons in milk and dark chocolate...delicious but kind of on the sweet side.

With coffee our bill came to 1290 yen (about US$12.90...yup, coffee was more than the cake!)
Before heading home, we stopped into Murashima, a Japanese confection shop.

I had read somewhere that their pudding was delicious, so we bought some for dessert after our dinner.

Creamy custard with a bitter caramel at the bottom...220 yen (about US$2.20) each. It was good!

Oh and with dinner (maguro & avocado) we had Primo, a Hawaiian beer, it was the first time for both Satoshi and I. Since I like darker beers, it was just okay. This was decent, not watery....321 yen (about US$3.21)

We had a lot to eat, and also did a lot of walking. It was nice to be out and about.

Yokoji Hamburger (UPDATE: 2016 no longer in business)
4-7-6 Kawaramachi Senba Takei 1F
Chuo, Osaka
Phone: 06.6204.4548
Open everyday 11:30am-5:00am

Le Pineau
2-4-12 Kitahorie
Nishi, Osaka
Phone: 0120.24.9014
Open everyday 9:00-21:00 (Salon opens a little later)

Murashima
2-7-4 Kitahorie
Nishi, Osaka
Phone: 06.6536.1514
Open 10:00-19:00, Closed Sundays