We are not big on fast food nor eating in food chain restaurants. We try to cook our meal as much as we can and only go out for things that are not easy to cook or does not taste nearly as good when cooked by ourselves.
One food chain grabbed our attention, though. It’s called Komeda Coffee. It’s a coffee shop as you can tell from the name but probably not the kind of coffee shop you’d expect. We heard about their name every now and then, and the time finally came for us pull it off as we recently found out that there is one store nearby. What sparked our interest was their breakfast offering. Komeda Coffee was founded in 1968 in Nagoya where a particular kind of breakfast meal called Ogura Toast is enjoyed by many locals. It’s basically a slice of toast served with butter and red bean paste. There are more variations to this toast but the general idea is that it’s a light morning meal served along with coffee or tea.
First of all, I’ve never had a toast with red bean paste, and secondly what the feedback we hear was all positive. From a glance look, the restaurant exterior looks a little outdated almost, but my guess is that it’s their intended theme, a good old coffee shop for people in all ages. We made it there at about 9am after sending our kids to school, and the place was unexpectedly quite full. The place had a cozy atmosphere and staffs were very welcoming. We were off to a good start.
Great Food with Satisfying Portion Size
They had plenty of drink and food to choose from. For breakfast, a complimentary toast was served with drink. We ordered two drinks and got the famous toast as a starter. These toasts were one of the reasons we came for, so it was perfect. There was also a range of sandwich and hamburger options with typical Japanese fillings like Katsu (port, beef cutlet), and we went for one of the Katsu sandwiches as it looked so good.
Food and drink arrived, hot and fresh and they all looked good.
For a starter, I grabbed the Ogura Toast. It was simply delicious. I like red bean paste, so I didn’t think there would be much to go wrong here but it was better than I imagined. Coffee was nice and rich as I’d expect in a good coffee shop. Up next was the sandwich, and it was also tasty. The bread bun was nice and crispy outside and soft inside and the Katsu filling with sauce went together really well.
I was surprised by its portion size the most as you don’t often find food this big in Japan unless you went for a size upgrade. It was a little too big that we had to take leftovers home. Not all restaurants in Japan, offer their customers to take leftover food home. Places that encourage taking leftover food home will often say it somewhere in the restaurant. We couldn’t see any of that sign at Komeda Coffee, so we asked around, and they handed us a proper food container at no extra cost.
Free Wi-Fi and Power Outlet in Most Tables!
Although it seems to be the case for newer stores only, most tables seem to offer power outlets for those wanting to stick around longer and have some work done. And there is free Wi-Fi! I haven’t tried their Wi-Fi so I can’t comment on how good the Wi-Fi connection is but it seems decent as I haven’t heard any complaints on that.
I work for a company that promotes the idea of remote work and every single employee in our company works remotely from their own location. I mostly work from home, but sometimes I feel like I want some change and that’s when a coffee shop like this would come in handy. In most coffee shops, though, nomad or remote workers don’t seem that welcome for obvious reasons, but I didn’t feel that way in this restaurant as I saw more than half of the customers at the time with their laptops. You also get this kind of semi-secluded space for each table, so you also get some degree of privacy which is perfect for me.
Would I Recommend to Others?
Put simply, yes!
Food is great, price is reasonable, not to mention a flawless customer service you’d normally find in Japan. What’s not to like about this place. We will definitely come here again, probably with my laptop next time so I can get some work done.
Here is a link to their English website if you wanna learn more about them https://www.komeda.co.jp/index_en.php
Leave a Reply