Sora Library Café and Dining (Hiroo | Tokyo)

Sora Library Cafe and Dining
Originally uploaded by bloompy.

Not too far from the Hiro-o station, the place that calls itself the Sora Library Café and Dining offers many coffee table books and magazines to read, but none of them can leave the premises. Be that as it may, this dog-friendly place serves eclectic food: Japanese curry, Italian pasta, and Mediterranean salad to name a few. It has a yummy shiso pizza; all the pizzas here have very thin crust, but the simple combination of that ultra thin crust, great tomato sauce and shiso leaves provides a new taste to the palate. In the mood for salad? There is the chicken salad with roasted pine nuts and soy-sesame dressing. Weekend set menu includes soup, salad, main entrée, drink and dessert (or wine), all for the price of ¥1000. Like in many places, the non-alcoholic drinks here are less expensive during the daytime.

The staff will immediately serve water for your pooch upon entering. A menu for Fido and Fifi are also available for the price of ¥500. There is no separate area for non-smokers. Weekday lunchtime is usually crowd, with patrons coming from the nearby Sacred Heart Catholic School. Between 3-6, there is a cake set menu.

[UPDATED REVIEW: April 17, 2005]
Since the departure of the former manager Satoru and the delightful wait staff Asako, the service and accomodation have been rather lacking. Before the soup and salad were even consumed, the main entrée was already taken out, resulting in the main dish being not too hot by the time one tended to it; the dessert was given while we were still in the middle of finishing the entree. In traditional Japanese meal, these elements can indeed be sent out at the same time, but that was a totally different context. This also never happened in our experience with Sora before. As there is no manager hired at this point (only a sub-manager available), maybe the recently hired staff were not told about the proper way to serve.

Food quality was good, although food presentation was definitely lacking: the ingredients of a salad was thrown in together without any care. It was then that we realized what an artist Satoru-san had been, for he was also responsible for the cooking in addition to managing the place.]

[UPDATED NEWS: December 29, 2005]
Sora has closed and been replaced by "B Café." I have not yet tried the place, so no review yet on that one.


Sora
5-1-18 Hiro-o
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0012
Tel: +81 (03) 5423-7511
Fax: +81 (03) 5423-7512
Mon-Fri: 7:30-10:00, 11:00-24:00
Sat-Sun: 11:00-24:00

Kua'Aina (Minami-Aoyama | Tokyo)

A view from Kua'Aina Aoyama
Originally uploaded by bloompy.

During my visits to the LA and Hawaii, I have never heard of a burger place called Kua'Aina, a Hawaiian Burger place; but it was here in Tokyo, at the mouth of Kotto-dori in Omotesando that I was first introduced to their burger. The burger, made to order, comes with different options of weight (1/3 or ½ lb) and of toppings (different cheese, pineapple, and avocado). Set menus during lunch include a bowl of salad, a burger and fries, and drinks (dinner set menu excludes the salad.) The burger and fries are very burgelicious! If I were you, I would avoid the boba tea (for those who had boba tea elsewhere in the world, like in California, this boba tea here has little taste.)

Eating in? You have the option of a second-floor non-smoking area, or a third-floor smoking place. The place is like a Hard Rock Café for surfers: surfing paraphernalia, including an autographed board, decorates the interior. Eating out? The place hands your burger in a very well constructed and fully functional box, complete with condiments and plastic-ware (try ordering out and you'll see what I mean!)

Other Kua'Aina places include the one inside the Marunouchi building and another one in Shibuya. More information can be found in their island-themed website.

Kua'Aina
5-10-21 Minami Aoyama
Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0062
Tel: +81(03) 3407-8001
http://www.kua-aina.com/main.html

Mon-Sat: 11:00-23:30 (LO 23:00)
Sun & Holidays: 11:00-22:30 (LO 22:00)

E'Angelo (San Francisco | California)

Go away from the touristy side of the North Beach (San Francisco's Little Italy) and head to the Marina/Cow Hollow area for an old world ambience of an Italian restaurant. E'Angelo is a small and narrow but soaked in the Old World flavor: small tables, checkered tablecloths, small vases of flowers, mostly Italian-born wait staff and cook, and tasty Italian food.

The menu offered the usual fare, but for a long time I never bothered opening it up. Instead, I listen to what Renzo, Eddy, or Guy (the only Lyonais in the bunch) has to say about the specials. The radicchio salad with asparagus whets your appetite, as will the prosciutto with fresh melon. When the special is linguine with seafood, I opt for that immediately. The former cook Miguelito who died a couple of years ago prepared this dish the best, but the replacement did not do a terrible job either. If Ezio, the owner, happens to prepare it, then it is all the better. Sometimes two of the entrées in the specials sound so good that my partner and I have to order all, but split them: have the first entrée shared in two plates as our primi, and then order two of the other one as our secondi.

The tiramisu is unlike the ones in other places; the portion is so generous that I have to share it with someone else. Carlos, the supporting wait staff, is just as friendly as the other ones. In fact, aside from the great food, it is the people who have made this place a joy to visit.

And like Old World places, this restaurant knows how to enjoy their fruit of labor. Every year they would close for the Christmas holiday for 10 days or more. I usually would attend the very last night before they go on their short hiatus, enjoyed a fine meal there, and brought home 2 portions to be stored for later consumption.


E'Angelo
2234 Chestnut Street
San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) 567-6164

Dinner 5 to 11pm, closed Mondays
Sundays 5 to 10:30pm