No, your eyes are not playing trick on you. These clam shells known as “Meretrix lusoria” are GIANT compared to normal ones in the market and they taste quite good. Most convenient thing is that you don’t have to wait for the sand to be removed.

Simply love claypots during winter. They keep the body warm. Plus the fact that you can just dump basically anything that you have in your fridge is a big convenience for well,, you can call me LaZYBones, but the word I want to use is “BUSY PEOPLE” like me.

Though the picture doesn’t tell enough about the taste, fyi, the taste wasn’t bad at all. *WINK*

Meretrix lusoria / 白はまぐり

claypot / 鍋

I went to this cafe known as “charaku” today.
Though it is sitting just a mere 2 mins walk away from JR Chuo line mitaka station (north exit), most probably only regular customers knew about it because of its “hidden location”. The cafe has a very quiet ambience which I like very much.
And yes, the aroma of the curry. It fills the air some 20m or so away from the shop before even reaching. Upon entering the shop, one is greeted by those nostalgic Japanese music that the cafe is always playing. Well,,, you can call me old, but somehow I feel calm listening to them.

For just 900yen, the cafe offers set lunch with choice of either curry or spaghetti + salad + soup + coffee or tea. I am just wondering if it’s ONLY Japan’s cafe in the world that offers set lunch??

The exterior image of the cafe with terrace seats for those who smoke or would like to enjoy a bit more of the sun.

★ 店の外側のイメージです。
喫煙者やぽかぽか陽気が好きな人にとって，テラス席は最高です♪

Cafe entrance

For those who wants to escape from the sun, go inside to indulge yourself in the nostalgic atmosphere.

★ 太陽を避けたい方、ノスタルジーに浸りたい方は店内で。

Interior of cafe -- Table seats

For those lonely souls, opt for the counter table without worrying about having to share seats.

★　カウンター席も素敵です。一人でも十分くつろげます (≧▽≦）☆

Interior of cafe -- Counter seats

The shop has many such small ornaments all over and thought they blend in well with the antique look of the interior.

★　店に飾ってある置物や小物が、店のアンティーク調の雰囲気を演出しています。

Small little decorations

Finally, my healthy curry rice set came. Of course it tastes as delicious as it looks, but its unlike usual image of a curry because Japan’s curry is NOT HOT at all.　
Its time to get back to work again after some moment of quiet time..

★ おまちかねのカレーセット!
甘口でさっぱりした味。とてもヘルシーなカレーです。 (^o^)b 美味しい～　　
さ～てのんびりしたから、また頑張るぞ～！

Curry set lunch

I took lunch at one of my favourite japanese restaurant called ootoya.

Besides chinese food, Japanese food tops my list of favourite foods. Not that I had experience with so many different types of cuisines around the world, but my preference for food are those which are “light”. When I mean “light”, vegetables are a MUST, oily foods are out, all meat only dishes are out, serving must not be too big (I must admit that I am not a big-eater) and foods that are saltish is a No No.

In general, the food balance for Japanese set lunch or dinner (known as teisyoku) are very well considered. Few types of vegetables usually accompany the set with miso soup. Its important for people like me who don’t do much cooking to include a bit of intake of every kind and they make me feel healthy.

Today’s lunch set is claypot stew chicken cutlet. I must admit I am 100% satisfied.　(*^o^*)/