For our very first breakfast in Osaka, I wanted to check out a local Japanese coffee shop.
I fired up the ever trusty Google Maps, and entered coffee into the search bar. A whole bunch of pins appeared, accompanied by their respective ratings.
It didn’t surprise me to see three Starbucks in the immediate vicinity, including one Starbucks Reserve no less. The 24 hour McDonald’s across the street also made an obligatory appearance.
Kekkou desu.
Which, as we all know, is a succinct nihongo expression that means: “Now, why would I fly all the way to Japan to have coffee at an American chain store with multiple branches in Singapore?”
Among the several cafes with Japanese sounding names, the one that caught my attention was Komeda’s Coffee at Namba CITY. It was just one block away from the Fraser Residence Nankai, where we were staying.
I had heard of Komeda’s before, and must have walked past one of its numerous Tokyo branches in the past. But for whatever reason, I had never actually stepped foot into any of them.
Well, there’s always a first time.
In addition to the retro logo, which looked suspiciously like the KFC colonel on his coffee break, there was also an old school chalkboard with handwritten specials.
I haven’t gotten round to learning how to read hiragana or katakana yet, but I could make out some of the kanji that was written. One, in particular, stood out.
æ — is pronounced as “kuri” in Japanese, and sounds different when you say it in Chinese. But they both mean the same thing — chestnut.
Scanning the board quickly, what my brain registered was:
Pure chestnut something ¥500 something coffee shop something autumn something chestnut something fragrant something something something seasonal something something special
The Wife and I are suckers for anything chestnut, and that was enough to entice us to walk in.
Service was super quick, and we were seated and offered iced water and warm towels almost immediately.
First things first, coffee.
We take ours black, and there were three options on the menu. The one with the biggest photo was their Komeda Blend (Â¥540) that was “carefully extracted from carefully selected beans,” as carefully advised by Google Translate’s real-time camera function.
Second biggest was a Special Blend of Kilimanjaro and Brazilian beans, touted as “Komeda’s most luxurious coffee ever” for Â¥640. And finally, in a cute little green mug was an Americano (Â¥540) that was “light and easy to drink”.
Prices were higher than I had expected.
But I quickly realised that each order of coffee during breakfast hours (ending 11am) comes with a complimentary set of bread and toppings. It was good cost/performance for a simple but filling meal.
Ordering was a straightforward three-step process. First, you choose between toast or roll. Then, you pick either a hard-boiled egg or one of three spreads (egg salad, red bean paste, seasonal kiwi jam).
Finally, you decide if you want butter or strawberry jam on your choice of bread. Various add-ons like yoghurt and salad were available for an extra fee.
However, I didn’t see anything chestnut related and started hunting for it in their ala carte menu. It didn’t take long to find a cute little Mont Blanc (Â¥500).
The other options on the page all looked tempting, especially the sweet potato cake and apple tart. But we decided to restrict our sugar intake, and stuck with the thing that drew us in in the first place.
We pressed the call button on the table, and sumimasen‘ed in our choices to the server who came over. Since there were pictures for everything, the language barrier was easily overcome by simply pointing.
One Komeda Blend with toast, strawberry jam and egg salad. One Special Blend with toast, butter and red bean paste. Plus, of course, the Mont Blanc.
If you’re not used to how Japanese cafes typically brew their coffee, be forewarned.
They roast their beans really dark and focus on maximising extraction, resulting in a cup that’s dark as midnight and bitter as, well, strong black coffee.
The Komeda Blend fit the expected profile exactly, which is probably why it’s served with a side of milk. The Special Blend was smoother and less harsh, closer to what we prefer.
For supposed “freebies”, the toast and toppings were surprisingly generous and tasty. The thick white bread was fuwa fuwa, the egg salad was pleasantly chunky and the red bean paste had just the right level of sweetness.
The Mont Blanc was topped with half a chestnut, and like the red bean paste, was not overly sweet. It’s easy to lose the delightful earthy taste of chestnut when too much sugar is added.
Thankfully, Komeda’s chose to adopt a light touch and allowed the characteristic kuri flavour to shine. The portion size was just nice between the two of us.
It’s surprising that I hadn’t tried Komeda’s Coffee before in all my previous 26 trips to Tokyo (yes, 26, and no, it’s not a typo). But I’m glad that I finally did, though it finally happened, ironically, in Osaka.
Their coffee and breakfast set is surprisingly good, in both taste and value for money. Being a nationwide chain with more than 900 outlets, you’re bound to come across it when traveling in Japan.
And when you do, don’t be like me. Just step in at the first instance, and order a nice coffee and toast to start your day.
