On my way to get some fresh air at the nature walks around Ecopa Stadium near Kakegawa, I arrived at Aino station just before lunchtime, and set about finding somewhere to eat. I didn't have to go far: immediately on the north side of the station there's a little run of shops and cafes, and there I found Spoon Cafe, an appealing little place that did me a good, reasonably priced lunch.
Inside it's all understated continental chic that would be well suited to a trendy suburb of Paris or Milan, with a pleasantly mellow atmosphere. The big windows afford plenty of natural light, and if you get a window table you can watch the bullet trains zoom past. The decor is minimal, in gentle tones with simple prints adorning the walls, the music equally gentle acoustic songs, and the coaster for my drink appeared just to be a rectangle cut out of an Italian newspaper.
There were three ¥900 lunches on offer: rather than the carbonara or dry chicken curry I went with omelet nasi goreng, Indonesian fried rice with a big omelet plopped on top. I enjoyed this a lot, as the rice was firm, slightly sticky and moderately spicy, the omelet smooth and tasty, the size fairly generous. That said, I decided to spend an extra ¥480 to add dessert, and though I was tempted by the tiramisu, I opted for the two pieces of chiffon cake, one vanilla and one cocoa marble. These were beautifully presented with a drizzled sauce, light and fluffy, pleasantly sweet without being too sugary.
It is a cafe rather than a restaurant, so it's mostly drinks and cakes on the menu, which has some English and some pictures. Drinks cost from ¥420 to ¥680, and range from standards (latte, mocha, Americano) to more inventive concoctions, like banana cafe mocha or honey cream tea. Cakes include tiramisu, espresso cheesecake, chocolate gateau, and lots of chiffon cakes; you can have them as part of a set, such as a tasting cake set for ¥1,100, or it appears that you can buy whole cakes to take home. There's also a French toast set for ¥930, with maple, berry or chocolate flavours.
