m-hammer
After finishing work in Tokyo in the morning, on the way back to Chiba near Tama Station on the Seibu Tamagawa Line, in front of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. It's a little before 11 o'clock, but I found a shop that caught my interest the night before... "Le MyRo Cafe & Bistro"さん. It seems to have just opened on October 14th. First of all, congratulations on the opening. There don't seem to be any photos or reviews from anyone on Tabelog yet... but for some reason, my Tabelog spirit is burning inside me... I changed my original plan and entered the shop as soon as it opened at 11 o'clock. It's a French cafe. It's a world that I'm not familiar with, but the owner seems to be French, but speaks fluent Japanese. The two staff members are Japanese, so I easily passed the first hurdle. I was recommended wine, but I have work in the afternoon, so I had to decline. I focused on the food. There doesn't seem to be a lunch menu, so I chose from the a la carte menu... which seems to be mainly sandwiches, but since I was there, I decided to splurge a bit and ordered the "daily meat dish"... bread is included. I ordered soup and iced coffee separately. As soon as more customers entered, they greeted with "Bonjour!" Wow, it's French!... I thought, but it turned out to be a Japanese senior... huh? Wait a minute... this is in front of the University of Foreign Studies... which means, are these professional teachers? The atmosphere is different... other seniors are also ordering in English... everyone is enjoying their glass of wine... oh no... am I in the wrong place? "Komatalebu..." I've heard that word before... it's French... it means "good afternoon"... (I remembered a silly pun from my younger days called "Hanatalebu".) After a long introduction... I'm getting carried away. I returned to my senses and focused on the food... *Today's meat dish (braised lamb) + bread 1,450 yen *Soup 400 yen *Iced coffee 390 yen Total: 2,240 yen It's quite luxurious for me in my daily life, but well, once in a while is fine! The soup is mainly vegetable and light... with a gentle flavor. The meat dish... when I heard "braised", I imagined a stew, but it's diced lamb with sauce. The meat feels a bit tough, but it doesn't have the gaminess of lamb, so I found it easy to eat. The side dish is... ratatouille, I think?... a tomato stew with vegetables. I love this dish. I think it's best to eat it with the meat sauce and ratatouille. The salad dressing is a bit acidic, maybe balsamic-based? It has a nice tangy flavor. The bread is moist and not too crumbly, making it easy to eat politely. The iced coffee is strong in flavor. Maybe a dark roast? Well, I'm not very knowledgeable about coffee... but I think it was a good way to finish the meal. After paying the bill, the owner thanked me with a smile, saying "Merci beaucoup!"... I think this is the first time in my 50+ years of life that I've been thanked directly after eating... I was also happy about this! Despite feeling a bit overwhelmed, it was a lovely cafe with a charming atmosphere. The words that came to mind to respond were... a heartfelt "Thank you for the meal!"