les petites papillotes

Yesterday, Satoshi had the day off, so we went to check out a place we had been wanting to try for lunch...boo! They now only do dinner service...sigh.

We ended up eating at a place nearby, but it really wasn't worth talking about because they had terrible service.

So on to dessert.

We went back to try Les Petites Papillotes' desserts.

Satoshi went with their financier and a matcha chocolat chaud (green tea hot chocolate).

He liked the financier but the drink was way too sweet for his liking. I didn't try his drink but have a feeling they may have used milk chocolate to compensate the bitterness of matcha (green tea).

I chose their Levant and a cafe chocolat chaud (coffee hot chocolate).

The Levant was rich. A flaky crust topped with hazelnut praline, topped with a rich chocolate mousse glazed with a dark chocolate.

It was a bit messy to eat.

The cafe chocolat chaud wasn't sweet, but after such a rich dessert I would have preferred having black coffee or tea instead.

While I love chocolat chaud (hot chocolate), we were a bit disappointed that their drink menu only offered chocolate drinks.

I hope they add coffee and tea to their drink menu soon.

Until they do, I probably would just take out their desserts.

hands cafe

The other day, I was on my way to Umeda for an appointment.

As I was on the train, the person I was supposed to meet, left a message on my cell to cancel...boo!

I hate when that happens, especially when it is snowing and I could have stayed at home...

Oh well, things happen and appointments get cancelled.

Since I was already out and on my way to Umeda, I had lunch at Hands Cafe located in the Tokyu Hands.

If you've visited Japan before and visited Tokyu Hands, you'll know that they sell, pretty much everything from DIY stuff to beauty products.

Anyway, it was my first time trying their cafe, which is run by Wired Cafe. (I thought I posted about Wired Cafe, but realized I hadn't, guess we'll have to go back so I can post about them.)

I tried their "mexican" chicken salad...880 yen. This came with consomme soup, pretzel bread and a drink of choice, which I chose ginger ale.

I put mexican in quotes because what Japan considers "mexican" cuisine is usually pretty interesting...the chicken, while moist, had a lot of curry powder and cumin as seasoning, and while delicious, I would not say it was "mexican".

Still, I wouldn't mind trying some of their other dishes...I'll be back.

Hands Cafe
Daimaru Umeda Department Store 10F
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6347.7188
Hours: 10:00-20:00

p.s. it's Friday here, hope you have a nice weekend!

canelé du japon

Have you ever tried canelé? It is a tiny French sweet from the Bordeaux area with a custard-y center and a dark caramelized outer crust.

To tell you the truth, the first time I tried canelé was from another shop and it was bad...dry no flavor...boo!

And then I heard about Canelé du Japon's canelé and was a bit leery to try them but....

The insides were moist and the outside had a nice crust like when you break the caramel topping of a crème brûlée...delicious!

They have 6 regular flavors (shiro, black sugar walnut, black bean kinako, anzu, matcha anko, hojicha). And 2 flavors that change with the seasons, which for winter was (yuzu, chocolate). Too bad I hadn't tried them earlier, autumn's flavors were kabocha (pumpkin) and kuri (chestnut).

Top row: black bean kinako (soy bean powder), black sugar walnut, yuzu (citron), shiro (rum) Bottom row: anzu (apricot), hojicha (roasted green tea), matcha anko (green tea with sweet bean paste), chocolate

My favorites were black sugar walnut, yuzu, anzu and hojicha. Satoshi's favorites were all except the black sugar walnut and hojicha.

I'm glad I gave canelé another try...We'll be back.

Canelé du Japon
1-6-24 Sakuragawa
Naniwa-ku, Osaka
Phone: 070.6920.8880
Hours: 12:00-19:00, Closed Tuesdays

cafe ata

The other day, I stopped in for lunch at Cafe Ata, which I briefly wrote about before here.

I had the keema curry...700 yen.

This came with a couple of slices of potato fritatta.

The curry is spicy, be prepared to cough and your nose to run.

It was perfect for the cold rain we had that day. (Though I've heard that spicy foods are not proper for warming up, they in fact make you perspire and cool down....anyway...)

I'll be back.

Cafe Ata
1-7-3 Ishibashi
Ikeda, Osaka
Phone: 072.763.3326
Closed Wednesdays
Hours: Sunday Monday Tuesday Thursday 11:00-18:30
Friday Saturday 11:00-22:00

kissa stove

We recently checked out Kissa Stove.

Kissa is the Japanese word for "tea house".

This cozy shop is about 10 minutes from the JR Fukushima station.

We tried their Stove blend coffee which was a city roast and their Mamedake blend which was a French roast. Both were delicious.

There was a bit of confusion when we ordered the cheesecake, the way the waitress mentioned it, it sounded like there were 2 kinds, chocolate and caramel, so we ordered one of each.

When it arrived at our table, we realized that she meant caramel chocolate cheesecake...it was delicious though.

And how is this cute dachshund bench in front of another shop?!

We'll be back whenever we are in this area.

Kissa Stove
2-10-3 Sagisu
Fukushima, Osaka
Phone: 06.4981.0875
Closed Mondays
Hours: 10:00-20:00 (weekdays) 10:00-19:30 (weekends)

white

I recently came across white maitake at the market.

I don't think it tastes any different from maitake and I'm glad we got to try this.

leai

Leai (loo-eye) is a tiny bakery and cafe in the Tanimachi area of Osaka.

We recently tried some of their baked goods...their chicken & kinoko (mushroom) quiche was nice and flaky, and there was lots of shredded chicken and pieces of mushroom in it.

The kouign amann was buttery and had slices of apple in it too.

And the almond croissant was flaky with a nice ratio of almond custard in there too.

I wouldn't mind trying their lunch, I'll be back.

Leai
6-2-27 Tanimachi
Chuo-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.6191.0551
Closed Wednesdays & the 3rd Tuesday
Hours: 9:00-21:30