Okayama Table Terra Take Two

Remember this?  My lovely Japanese parents took me to Terra one last time, seeing as I’d previously enjoyed it so much. We had a seven course (yes SEVEN) course meal where only the Pizza pictured was shared. Everything else, is portioned for one. To say that I was full is an underestimate. The first time we visited Terra, we joked that we had gate-crashed a zucchini party because it seemed to be in every dish. This time, to my absolute delight, the zucchini was avocado. As in, most of the dishes were with avocado. Sah yum.

1: A trio of corn pudding with lemon cream sauce, Tottori tuna, avocado and ratatouille caprese, and grilled vegetables.
2: Raw veggies with an anchovy sauce
3: Cold cream of potato soup
4: Gluten-free pizza margarita on a rice-flour base
5: Main dish of pork with panko (Japanese bread-crumbs), potato salad stuffed grilled tomato and avocado and roe eggplant pizza.
6: Vegan hand-made fettuccine with avocado, tomato and burdock.
7: Tea cake with vanilla ice.

Most ingredients local. All ingredients yum.

Thank you so much Terra! Oishikata (it was delicious).

PS the head chef walked us to the parking lot to say goodbye! Now that’s service, am I right?!

 

Vegan Cafe Bonheur

Finding vegan food let alone vegan eateries in Japan is somewhat problematic. Ok, it’s problematic. Not somewhat. Actually, I was once told by a writer friend to not use that word, ever. Sorry. So yeah, it’s difficult to find food without dashi (fish stock) or niku (meat) here. So when my adorable yogi friend, Mi-chan told us about entirely vegetarian Café Bonheur, I got pretty excited.

After having lunch there yesterday, my verdict is, Café Bonheur is a nice place to take your Mother on Mother’s Day (take that as you will). The building itself, its interior and the overall feel of the place is really beautiful and stylish. It is not Japanese whatsoever. I would describe it as an artisan beach-style café. Adorned with sunlight and pot plants, it is much like sitting inside a glasshouse. In one word, elegant.

As for the food, for the price of 1000 yen (about 10 dollars) we ordered the one lunch plate on offer containing a variety of tasty creations including soy “chicken karaage”, tofu “mozzarella”, braised vegetables (2 kinds), garden salad, brown rice and barley soup. For an extra 300 yen ($3 or so dollars) we were able to have a coffee AND a vegan tofu chocolate cake after. Everything was tasty and again, elegant, lush, luxurious. Without stereotyping too much, I know my mother would love it and my father’d have a fit.

review no29 La Gita italian restaurant

You know it’s gonna be good pizza when there’s a legit wood-fired pizza oven in the room. Everyone loves Italian but for some reason, the Japanese are obsessed with it. After the Jap classics (teppan, sushi, ramen etc), here, Italian restaurants are the next big thing. Naturally, they can’t all be amazing so it’s pretty exciting when you come across a good one. La Gita in Katsumada is definitely up there. Not only is the food delizioso, the atmosphere is great, too! My favourite details include the chequered table cloths, the football jersey on the wall and the wait-staff’s uniform. The menu is in Japanese and ITALIAN so make sure you’re familiar with the basics before you go: margarita, marinara, frutti di mare etc. My only complaint would be the size of my tiramisu. I mean, come on, look at that picture. No wonder the Japanese are so skinny, I inhaled it in one bite.
I WANT MORE.