merci kitchen

Love social media, so much info out there on new places to try!

I went to check out Merci Kitchen recently.

Got there just as they were opening up and the waitress asked how many were in my party.

I said "just me".

Boy, was she disappointed and sour after I said that...

She said take a seat in the far corner of the restaurant...but I went for a table away from the direct sunlight.

"That" didn't sit with her too well either as she said, "if you aren't planning to take too long, you can sit there"...

And then she added..."when it gets busy, we'll have to breakup your table for the other party"...

GADS!

They have two types of lunches...two or three entrees...

I chose two from their 7 or so entrees...pork cutlet with raclette cheese and hamburger.

Juicy juicy hamburger and the pork cutlet was cooked perfectly with raclette cheese in the middle.

The salad was a nice portion, there was also a tiny dollop of potato salad and some carrot salad.

Lunch also comes with their soup of the day which was a minestrone.

To end you can also order tea or coffee, I had coffee.

So was there hordes of people just waiting to get in? Nope, in fact, I had the place all to myself.

Not sure if I would return, especially with that snarkiness.

But the food was delicious.

Merci Kitchen
2-21-16 Nishijuku
Minoo, Osaka
Phone: 072.727.2032
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 11:30-15:00, 17:30-21:30

il paradosso

We stumbled upon Il Parradosso when we were looking for lunch one weekend...

They have an all-you-can-eat salad & bread area...all you need to do is order a pasta, pizza or meat dish.

I was impressed that they had veggies like watermelon radish.

The breads that I tried were so-so.

I ordered their beef tongue ragout which was good, but I think they put more proscuitto than beef tongue in their sauce though.

It was the first time someone put plastic gloves on to shave cheese over my pasta...

There was more sauce than pasta, so I gave it to Satoshi so he could mop it up with bread.

In fact, when he went to get some more bread, I was instructed to keep an eye on the plate so that the waitstaff wouldn't clear it...

The restaurant changes to a la carte for dinner, still, we want to check them out.

We'll be back!

Il Paradosso
Aste Kawanishi 3F
Kawanishi, Hyogo
Phone: 072.744.2631
Closed when the mall is
Hours: 11:00-22:00

frozen konnyaku

Awhile back I posted about using konnyaku in my cooking...here.

In that post, I mentioned that by freezing konnyaku, it is supposed to have the texture of meat.

Well, I tried freezing some.

Doesn't it look like meatballs?!

Well, I cooked it in the shogayaki sauce I posted about recently.

NOTES: Funky texture...like eating gristle...maybe if you use sliced konnyaku it would be more "meat-like".

It was an interesting experiment though.

Might give frozen sliced konnyaku a try...maybe.

mikan rice

Interested in recreating the mikan onigiri that we tried in Matsuyama, I looked online to see if there was a recipe online.

There were many...

I chose one that would be simple and that probably everyone could replicate too.

This one is adapted from the one on the Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries site...

Makes 1/2 cup of rice

1/2 cup rice, washed
1/2 cup mikan juice, fresh squeezed or your fave
about 1 teaspoon of mikan peel, diced

Put everything into the rice cooker, let everything sit for about 30 minutes then cook.

NOTES: super easy and the mikan flavor isn't too overpowering.

The first couple of tries I had put in some maitake in, but feel it turned the rice a brownish color.

I served this with chicken, but you can serve with your favorite main dish.

If you up the amount of rice & juice, keep the peel to the 1 teaspoon.

I think this would look nice in bento for Spring/Winter.

I'm making this again.

cafe jiji

After lunch, Hiromi and I went to Cafe Jiji.

We both had their chocolate parfait...super chocolatey and I loved that semi-dried orange that was dipped in chocolate (hidden behind the parfait).

I ordered coffee while Hiromi had tea.

This tiny cafe was super quiet.

I'm glad Hiromi invited me to lunch with her. It was nice chatting, laughing and eating.

I definitely want to come back to try their lunch menu.

I'll be back.

Cafe Jiji
2-17-10 Ishibashi
Ikeda, Osaka
Phone: 090.8829.5816
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 9:00-18:30

the loaf cafe & bakery

Earlier in February a new cafe/bakery opened up...The Loaf Cafe & Bakery.

When I walked past on opening day, the line was krazy, so a week later, I went past again and there wasn't any line, so I picked up some breads for us to have for dinner with some wine.

Gorgonzola with honey & a bacon epi.

Then last week, I met up with Hiromi for lunch there.

Luckily she had made reservations...boy, was the line long to get in for lunch!

I ordered the pot-au-feu..which came with a huge salad and all-you-can-eat bread.

The portions are so huge though that we didn't get any refills on bread.

This past Saturday, Satoshi and I went for breakfast.

You can choose from their baked items and order coffee.

Loved the pain au chocolat croissant (chocolate in every bite!) and tuna danish.

Since we ate there for breakfast and most items had just come out of the oven, so everything was still warm!

I know we'll be back and hope this place will be able to make a go of things (the past establishments weren't too lucky)

The Loaf Cafe & Bakery
2-4-23 Seifuso
Toyonaka, Osaka
Phone: 06.6842.2217
Open everyday
Hours: Bakery 8:00-20:00, Cafe 11:00-23:00

good cacao 33.8

While in Matsuyama, we stopped into Good Cacao 33.8, the first bean to bar chocolate maker for this area.

Apparently 33.8 degrees is the temperature (in Celsius) that chocolate melts at and 33.8 is also the north latitude of where Dogo Onsen is located in Matsuyama.

We picked up two bars to try.

The crushed almond is 70% cacao with crushed almonds. The cacao comes from Haiti.

I thought the almonds had no flavor, but I liked the chocolate...a little bitter and fruity

The second bar was a 70% cacao from Vietnam.

This one had slices of iyokan peel (the citrus of the area).

I think this chocolate was fruity also.

I'm glad we got to try these and it made a nice souvenir from the area.

I hope more bean to bar places will catch on in the years to come.

Good Cacao 33.8
20-14 Dogo-yunomachi
Matsuyama, Ehime
Phone: 089.934.4833