Elsewhere: Café Tamon in Higashi Chaya-gai

Any desire to move out of Fukui and into the big city only diminishes with time. Here there is quiet. There is always a mountain within walking distance. There is the infinite sea. That's not to say the urge for something a little more high speed, a little more hustle-and-bustle never strikes. When it does, I never think, "Let's go to Osaka!" or "Tokyo sounds good." Kyoto is usually where my mind goes. When time or money don't allow, Kanazawa is always waiting. And so, that's where my wife and I found ourselves a few days back.

Higashi Chaya-gai is my image of Kanazawa as an outsider. Fancy cafés; pubs mostly focused on fresh and grilled seafood dishes (Kanazawa is home to the Omicho Seafood Market); and, juxtapositionally, souvenir shops stuffed with brightly colored, low quality goods are all packaged inside old teahouses where geisha historically lived and worked.

In one such building is Café Tamon. I hesistate to call it a pancake shop for your brain will conjure images of IHOP. Being left with only that, though, so be it. It's a pancake shop, but the pancakes on offer are anything but the flapjacks of childhood.

Each one is 2-inches thick. Enchanted by some unknown magicks, any slight movement of the plate or table makes the pancakes jiggle and sway. Each bite is soft, buttery, eggy. We went for the seasonal Fig and Noto Salt Caramel. Amazing.

Turns out Café Tamon is a one customer, one order type of place. It'd be cool if that were written somewhere instead of being explained only when we went to order the pancakes to share. Anyway, we were glad for the rule as it forced us to order the Denen Salt Cider. Despite the name, I assure you it is delicious and very refreshing.

At any rate, neither the food nor the cider would have been as good without the atmosphere of the shop. Dark woods and warm, yellowed tans create an extremely relaxing space. Looking toward the front of the shop gives a partial view of the shrine across the street. Turning toward the back, you'll see the open kitchen parked next to a verdantly glowing garden of mosses, small trees, and stone.

Even the smell of the place adds a layer of comfort. Toasted butter, aromatic wood, something sweet -- going out into the hot sun was increasingly unappealing as we soaked in this fog. Finishing the last of salty cider, that's what we did, though.

Shop information:

1 Chome-27-7 Higashiyama, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-0831

076-255-0370

cafetamon.jp