Al fresco dining, outdoor seating, in Saitama Prefecture, at Adomani Cafe in Konosu
With the Coronavirus still in our midst, I’ve never been so interested in “al fresco dining”. Amazingly, it is not as popular in Japan as you would expect. Therefore, it is quite hard to find a good restaurant with a decent sized outdoor section. Even in the countryside of Saitama. So if you like eating outdoors, a cafe like Adomani is one to be bookmarked. I have noticed an increase in the number of restaurants offering outdoor seating, but few have as large an outdoor space as Adomani.
Adomani Cafe
The cafe / restaurant / cake shop is long established. But I only heard about it recently from gourmet blogger Saitamapple-san’s blog. Straight away I was drawn by the photo of the tables and chairs in a lawn garden. Furthermore, the rave reviews encouraged me to get there sooner rather than later! I had intended to visit on my way home from the gorgeous Hina Matsuri display in Kakyu no Sato, but time didn’t allow.
Thankfully my ever faithful lunch buddy, was all on for a visit to Adomani for our first lunch “together” since the pandemic began. I say “together”, but we were mutually mindful and sat a meter apart! A-san also had the very clever idea of having a hand towel to hold to her mouth as she ate. I will be following suit henceforth! The restaurant is currently taking everyone’s temperature, even if you want to sit outside. Which was good to see. You do have to go inside to pay, but I noticed that they have hand sanitizing sprays all over the restaurant. Overall I got the impression that this restaurant is very clean.
90 minutes
As the cafe is extremely popular, they have a 90 minute time limit during lunch time. Lunch is served until 3 pm. Both my friend and I arrived before opening at 11 am and there were already at least another dozen in front of us. And there were other teams of people coming behind us. You write your name down on a stand at the door. And once they open, they call you to seat you. You also circle whether you want to sit indoors or out.
Thankfully, we were one of only two groups that wanted to sit outside so we didn’t have to worry that we would have to wait to be seated. Also, as there are plenty of places to sit outdoors we could take our pick. It was a warm day with only a slight breeze. We opted to sit in the garden. There is a sun room on the south end of the building. However, it was a little too enclosed for us with only one side open to the fresh air. After Covid, if there is such a thing, I’d like to try it out.
The Menu
The fare of the restaurant / café is Italian. They have a pretty good selection. The lunch sets cost 1350 yen. There is a pasta set or a plate set. For just 50 yen extra you can get a drink. They also have a good selection of individual pasta dishes as well as desserts. There is a kids menu too. You can also get take out thanks to the pandemic! Most of the food is freshly made on site, even the bread. They use local fresh ingredients. You can even buy vegetables cheaply from a vegetable stand that works on the honor system – just pop your money in the jar that’s left out.
With kids
Apart from having a nice kids menu, they have a few other things for children too. For example, indoors there is one room with toys and books for children. It is most suited to young children, under the age of six years old. There is a cot in the room too for sleeping babies. Right across the hall is a room with a changing mat. Moreover, at the back of the restaurant behind the car park, there is a small area with some play equipment for children. It includes swings and a little slide.
Adomani Information
| Adomani Konosu | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 475 Koya, Konosu, Saitama 369-0133 |
| Phone: | 048-548-5514 |
| Hours: | 11 am to 7 pm Tuesday to Friday, until 8 pm on Saturday and Sunday. Closed on Mondays. |
| Cost: | Budget for around 1500 yen per person for a meal. |
| Online: | Adomani Cafe Instagram account |
Access
The cafe is located on a quiet, barely used road, that runs parallel to route 76. There is parking for about 30 cars and even an overflow car park. The cafe is extremely busy so despite the abundance of parking, it can be quite hard to get a parking spot.
The cafe is about a 15 minute walk from Kita-Konosu station on the Ueno Tokyo line.
nice looking place but wasnt it cold outside??? Everything still manages to look Japanese even though it’s Italian
Hahahaha, too true. Its warming up here though now, it was about 17 degrees yesterday