One of the new tasty discovery during this trip to Japan was a cute little local mom & pop restaurant in a residential neighborhood. It was not hard to find, with all sorts of signs in front of them.
They have a couple of parking spot right up front, but they also have an actual parking lot just a few houses down. What else do they have? A small koi fish pond! We arrived a few minutes before they opened for the day, so we sat at the bench while watching the fishes play hide-and-seek under the water lily leaves.
The inside was very nice, with traditional-style design with thick and heavy wood everywhere. They have the cushions made with old-fashion pattern fabric, which went perfectly with the décor. They have a few counter seats to the right, and table seating to the left.
Since we were the first customers of the day, we got to pick wherever we wanted to seat. We took the table by the window. They had bamboo trees by the window. A clever way to provide privacy and greenery.
As soon as we got settled, the owner came over and asked if we wanted hot or cold tea. It was kind of a hot day, so we asked for cold tea. He brought over cold Japanese tea, which is complimentary here. Thanks!
“Kamameshi” means “kettle rice,” and it is a traditional Japanese dish that is cooked in an iron pot called a “kama.” You can cook just a plain white rice in here, or all sorts of tasty rice dishes. At this restaurant, they specializes in Kamameshi dishes, and that is what we came here to try.
They had a special kamameshi of the day, which was Beef & Poached Egg Kamameshi (1,280 yen/about $13 USD). It has beef soboro (ground beef, flavored with Japanese seasoning), poached egg, bamboo shoots, and shiitake mushrooms. It came with homemade side dishes, including a soup, konnyaku with seaweed salad, sunomono (vinegar-based cucumber salad), and pickles.
It came piping hot in the traditional kama, which was awesome. The beef soboro was packed with flavor, with perfectly cooked poached egg on top. Comforting with nice sweetness to it. So good! All the side dishes were really nice too.
They have the fun word play with the number 87. In Japanese, it can be read as “hana” which can mean nose or flower. Here, they use the flower definition, and use the flower design everywhere they can. The owner couple no only makes all the food from scratch, but they also make the dishes they use here also! How cute!!!
We also had their seasonal kamameshi, Asari Kamameshi (1,280 yen). Asari is a Japanese littleneck clam. It had wonderful aroma with generous amount of clam, not fishy at all but earthy and with umami flavor.
A great thing about their lunch set during the weekday is that it comes with a dessert of the day! Oh yeah! They had mizu yokan on that day. It is one of the traditional Japanese desserts, usually made with red azuki beans, agar, and sugar. This one is also homemade, no store-bought stuff here! It was so soft, velvety, just melt in your mouth! I was just craving this dessert for some reason on that particular day, so it was double awesome! It was as if they read my mind!
The lunch set was very filling and very satisfying. For those people who don’t have the time to sit and eat at the restaurant, they do offer take-out option too. I prefer to have them right when they are cooked… I also loved the little plate that said “let flowers bloom in your heart.” How lovely!
They had more adorable stuffs in here, including their hand-written menus with super cute caricatures of the owners, husband & wife pair. How cute are they??? And just when we were leaving, I noticed that door knob was made of rice paddle!
I totally love this cute little restaurant! The food was great, we enjoyed every single bite. The atmosphere was warm, cozy, and welcoming. Such an awesome neighborhood restaurant! I would love to go back again the next time I am in Japan!
Kamameshi Hana (87) – 2 Chome-11-13 Matsubacho, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan
釜めしはな (87) – 千葉県柏市松葉町 2-11-13