Fukurou: A Hidden Chic Old-fashioned Cafe in Nagoya

In the middle of a residential area, this cafe would be hard to stumble upon if you were exploring only the busy city life. From the outside, it looks almost like a modern Japanese restaurant with it's minimalist appearance. However when you walk inside, there is no mistake that this is a cafe. The interior is designed like an old-fashioned shop, but this in itself if what makes it chic this day in age.

The lunch menu is small, with only 4 types of sandwiches, but you can tell that the owner puts a lot of time into making them. I decided on the chicken teriyaki sandwich. When it was brought to my table, I was surprised to see how volumy it was (volumy is a word they use in Japan to describe a dish that looks like it will fill you up).

The sweet and savory sauce on the teriyaki chicken was subtle, unlike many teriyaki sandwiches you will find, especially those at convenience stores which are sometimes too overpowering. It was very juicy and because of subtle sauce, the flavour of chicken itself and the other ingredients were not lost. The egg salad layer was likewise seasoned mildly and was a good match for this sandwich. Although a warm sandwich, the lettuce stayed crispy. The bread was toasted just enough, and best of all had the crust left on giving a pleasant crunchy and buttery bite in the end. Thick slices of juicy, fresh tomato were refreshing and with the accompanying carrot salad made this a balanced meal. Butter and mayonnaise were the only spreads I could taste...simple is best. The carrots in the side salad were julienned so thinly it was easy to eat, and was topped with a caesar dressing.

I was here at noon and there weren’t any customers. I supposed because that is because this is mainly a coffee and sweets cafe and lunchtime isn't their busiest hour. The atmosphere is quiet and pleasant with its fairytale house decor and orchestral music playing over the speakers.

They also serve "morning", which means for the price of a drink you get a small plate of food. Her the plate consists of toast, fruit and a choice of either egg salad or yogurt. I made another visit one day to experience this breakfast menu. I ordered the banana juice and morning B, the one that comes with yogurt. I saw part of the drink being made; it’s more like a smoothie with ice cream. I have a feeling it’s not made with real banana since I didn’t find any pulp or banana bits in the drink. It was sweet with a mild taste of banana, not thick like a milkshake sometimes is. The yogurt was sour but the topping of blueberry jam balanced it out. I had asked for kokutou bread because I saw that other customers were ordering it. Kokutou is a type of brown suger. The bread was slightly sweet, toasting it brought out the molasses type flavour of the kokutou, and went well with the generous spread of butter. The plate also came with a package of red bean paste, which generally goes really well with buttered toast. I found the contents sweeter than a homemade version might be, but it still was a good accompaniment to the dense, moist and thick toast.

Area: about a 5-min walk north of Honjin Station 本陣駅 (Higashiyama Line 東山線)
Shop: Fukurou 梟
Map: https://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230113/23035526/dtlmap/
Hours: 7:30am-4pm, closed Mondays and the 3rd Tues of the month