Cafe & Meal Muji: Not All Muji's Have Cafes, But You Can Visit One in Nagoya

Mujirushi Ryohin, or Muji as it is known in countries outside of Japan is now widely known throughout the world, but did you know that some Muji stores in Japan have cafes?

Before the Covid outbreak, I was able to visit one Muji Cafe at Nagoya Station located in the Meitetsu department store. It is a deli-style cafe where you pick 3 or 4 hot or cold dishes to make up a one-plate meal. I ordered the 4-choice meal (1000 yen) which came with miso soup and a choice of white or 10-grain rice. They used to have bread as an option, but not anymore it seems.

Here are the 4 dishes I chose (starting at the top and going clockwise on the plate):
1. Mayonnaise curry cauliflower and chicken: Large pieces of chicken breast and cauliflower covered in a mild mayonnaise and curry powder sauce. All the components went well together.

2. Chicken and apple cream: I could definitely taste butter and white wine in this dish. It was sweet from the natural flavour of the apples, but this sweetness was a nice change from the other 3 dishes.

3. Liver and konnyaku with a mustard sesame dressing: The often-seen sesame dressing was brought one step up with a touch of mustard. This dish was heavily seasoned, but that made sure the originally flavourless konnyaku absorbed all the flavours.

4. Spicy buri (yellowtail) daikon: The traditional buri daikon dish uses a soy sauce based sweet and savoury broth, so this spicy doubanjiang (Chinese salty broad bean chili sauce) was an interesting change from the normal. I feel like maybe there was some yuzu kosho in this dish, but I could be mistaken. The daikon had some crunch still which is also a change from the usual where it is often very soft.

Although the yellowtail and cream chicken dishes were chosen from the hot deli section, there all seemed the same room temperature to me. The miso soup, being Nagoya, used a red miso, and a niboshi (dried sardines) dashi broth. Abura age, or fried tofu and wakame were also in this soup.

This location is a large open space with a cooking class right next to it, so it's not the quietest place, but the noises are all somehow dampened, perhaps by the low ceiling. There is music, but can't really be heard over the other noises, and the music playing in the cooking class area. There is booth seating in the back, a big communal table in the middle and tables for 2 that can be moved around in case you have a party of 3 or more.

Area: Meitestu Department Store, Men's Wing 6F, Nagoya Station 名駅、名鉄百貨店メンズ館６F
Restaurant: Cafe & Meal Muji  無印良品
Map and Website: https://www.muji.com/jp/ja/shop/detail/045196
Hours: 10am-10pm