Friday, the rain came down in sheets at lunch time and didn't really let up. Saturday, we awoke to a light drizzle, which picked up and poured.
Satoshi had to go to Umeda for his German class, so I tagged along so that we could eat lunch together.
We decided to pick somewhere that wasn't too far from the station and not too far from his class.
The restaurant we chose for lunch served assorted Asian cuisine...Baku, in the Yodobashi Camera building.
Satoshi chose the Baku Ramen which came with gyoza...870 yen (about US$8.70). Satoshi really enjoyed this, though his gyoza looked a little overdone.
I chose the chilled Pho which came with summer roll...1030 yen (about US$10.30). This caught my eye because usually Pho is served hot. I gotta admit though this wasn't Pho...more like hiyashi chuuka (a Japanese cold noodle dish), which had rice noodles instead.
Even though it wasn't authentic Pho, it was still delicious, I loved the sesame sauce/soup.
The summer roll was also not authentic, it had avocado, some ham and veggies in there...different, but still hit the spot.
After lunch, we wanted some coffee, so we went down a floor to the Sweets Museum, this is a food area with some restaurants and sweet shops.After being seated at Dear Cafe, we looked at their menu and realized a cup of coffee would be 500 yen! (about US$5)....or we could get the cake set and pay 800 yen (about US$8), this would be 500 yen for coffee and 300 yen for cake.
We checked with the girl behind the counter and you could choose from whatever was in their showcase...So, we each chose the most expensive ones...worth about 480 yen (about US$4.80) each! (I guess we could look at it like we made about 180 yen (about US$1.80?? from the set)
Satoshi chose the waguri (Japanese chestnut) tart which was like the Mont Blanc. Sweetened chestnut puree, cake, chestnut cream and crust.
I chose the Blueberry tart...blueberries, cake, cream cheese and crust.
Their crust was good, crisp and flaky because they coat it with a layer of dark chocolate!
Our only gripe is that if you are going to charge 500 yen for coffee, don't use a machine to make it!
Hope your weekend is sunny!
Baku : UPDATE as of 2012, this restaurant has closed
1-1 Oofuka-cho
Yodobashi Camera 8F
Phone: 06.6486.2240
Hours: 11:00-22:00
Dear Cafe : UPDATE as of 12/2011 this restaurant has closed
1-1 Oofuka-cho
Yodobashi Camera 7F
Phone: 06.6371.8078
Hours: 11:00-22:00
Is Comme Ca du Mode cafe still open in the Yodobashi building? I love their fromage blanc cherry tart. It's packed with beautiful cherries, and it's about the season for it now!
ReplyDeleteinteresting way to eat pho and summer-rolls ^_^ It looks very delicious I wish I could to eat these cakes, top <3
ReplyDeleteMmm, chilled Pho sounds really interesting!
ReplyDeleteYum- that looks delicious! Interesting, I would be curious enough to order a chilled Pho also, haha.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy reading your blog because you go to a variety of different places and you are an adventurous, experimental (well, to me) cook. I have a feeling you wouldn't be interested, but dare I say an English dining guide for the Osaka area might be a good idea? Is there one that you know of?
ReplyDeleteI like your new blog template, Kat! Very nice!
ReplyDeleteAnd your post made me miss crispy gyoza and hiyashi chuuka. Yum.
Yes they are still there Rona, in fact I just saw their mango tart with LOTS of mangoes on it, it looked like roses!
ReplyDeleteThanks Token :)
Thanks Dennis, it was!
Thanks K!
You mean as a book Anon? I don't know of any. If you do, let me know what it is called :)
Thanks Abigail, I just used the Blogger Template designer :) so easy!
Take care everyone!
I like the reasoning on getting coffee and dessert! ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe cold "pho" sounds really good too.
he he I knew you would Debinhawaii :)
ReplyDeletetake care.
Kat
500Y coffee better taste good! ;) we had a $6.50 matcha latte from the Pacific Tea place today. It wasn't worth it... :(
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty decent Rick, sorry to hear about your matcha latte :(
ReplyDeleteTake care.
Kat
you made a good choice and saved some money! sorry about the coffee- Love your new look
ReplyDeleteThanks Jann :) I love the new look of your blog also!
ReplyDeleteTake care.
Kat
Kat, most of the Vietnamese restaurants in our area that serve pho also served cold vermicelli noodle bowls -- I wonder if that's what you had? They come with an assortment of grilled meats and crunchy fried spring rolls (cut into bit sized pieces) and crunchy veggies such as bean sprouts and julienned carrots. There is a bowl of cold "broth" on the side that contains fish sauce and other light ingredients, which you pour over the noodles. It's one of my favorites during the hot summer months, and my husband orders it during winter, too!
ReplyDeleteI think it was hiyashi chuuka using the rice noodles Jenster, they just called it "pho". I think I like the sounding of the noodles you have!
ReplyDeleteTake care.
Kat
Vold Pho??? I picture rice noodles in a beef aspic for some reason.....
ReplyDeleteThe food looks very good. Avocado? Why not? Dear Cafe is perhaps clever in pricing the coffee. Maybe it get a lot of folks looking at desert. It would me.
ReplyDeleteAll the heavy showers passed to our south and Sunday was actually partly sunny up here. Humid though. Cheers.
I wished it had been more like Pho Kirk.
ReplyDeleteThey are clever indeed PB :)
Take care you two.
Kat
We could probably use a few rainstorms here and there, but I'm happy for the heat since it'll only mean tomatoes! Both your meals look so delicious....I feel myself going on another dumpling fixation...I saw goldfish-shaped dim sum in an asian food article and now I'm trying to figure out how to shape them!
ReplyDeleteFishes? very interesting shape! My goya is looking pretty good this year, Rowena, hope to have something to harvest!
ReplyDeleteTake care.
Kat
Sounds interesting, and looks good...
ReplyDeleteThanks Magic of Spice!
ReplyDeleteTake care.
Kat