A weird sort of deja vu, all over again. I could swear that I already wrote about my lunch at Kobeya, which was late last year or early this. I really enjoyed it at the time, despite the obvious failings, and I remembered it fondly enough that I went back again.
For the better part of a year, I failed to realize that Kobeya, mainly a bakery chain, was concealing a restaurant behind their normal-looking bakery frontage in the basement of Oazo. It turns out to be huge, so I guess it would be a reliable choice for lunch if you were going at an inconvenient time and wanted to make sure it wouldn:t be crowded. The atmosphere is sort of brisk and professional, with lots of waitresses all wearing blue-checked aprons and bustling about in a cheery and vaguely German way. Carrying 4 big mugs of beer would complete the picture (being blond would help, but that’s a bridge too fair).
The deal is this: For about Y1100 (plus/minus) you get a main plate plus all the bread you can eat. Both times that I’ve been, the main plate of choice was grilled flounder with tomato sauce and a side of pasta; I was so surprised by this that I had to ask if it really changes every day. The waitress assured me that I must have also visited on a Tuesday the first time….the fish is fine, if pre-cooked and kept on a warmer, the pasta is OK too, if pre-cooked…but like the times when we used to go to Burdigala in Roppongi for gorge-on-bread lunches, the bread is quite good here. I really liked the tall, soft, crusty raisin bread both times, and yesterday I was diggin’ on the fig bread. There are 6 or 8 varities to choose from in the roving basket, including more normal country-styles and mini loaves.
Geez, I SWEAR I’ve written this before. When I thought of Burdigala, I thought ‘Surely that was the main theme I used last time.’ Am I getting that old?
Still don’t know how I lost this the first time…
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