During a hot day in August, the Ibaraki Eats Duo and a friend of ours decided to take a trip to Takahagi beach. By the way, if you haven't been, check out the beach and the cave area near the beach. It is a nice adventure for a hot summer day.
While heading home, we stopped around Hitachi station to get some coffee and dessert. I had heard of a very small café that did French toast and we were all in the mood to try it, We all walked into Rays Café, ready for some good coffee and delicious desserts.
Rays Café
Rays Café is in the Heiwacho area of Hitachi city and very close to Hitachi station. I want to say that it is a five minute walk from the station. We came by car, and Rays Café does have a few parking spaces available next to the café.
We went on a Tuesday and were lucky we picked that day. Rays Café is only open on Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday. They are closed the rest of the week. I know, weird schedule.
Inside
Rays Café is a somewhat small café. There is a bench and table in the middle of the cafe that seats four people. The other tables around the cafe only seat two people. There is a lot of coffee stuff around the cafe and on the walls to check out. Our group grabbed the middle tables and checked out the menu.
The Menu
The menu mainly consists of coffee but there are sweets and food as well. Everything is mostly in Japanese. Unfortunately, no English. The menu has hand drip coffee and a long list of different espressos and ice espressos to try. There are other drinks like milk shakes and alcohol.
As far as food goes, there isn't much but sweets and curry.
Hot Brazil Roast
This was my wife's coffee. She let me try a sip and to be honest, I really didn't like it at first. It was strong which I liked, but that was it. Nothing really great about it. The coffee came with two small chocolates. My wife let me have one and then I sipped the coffee again. I don't know what it was, or what chemical reaction the chocolate had with the coffee but it was delicious. The coffee was instantly ten times better than when I first had it. This was a great mix that I would love to have again.
Café Latte
This was our friend's coffee. I didn't get to try it so I will quote what she said. "Not too bad." Take that as you will. It did have some nice latte art to it.
Homemade Coffee Ice Cream
What do you get when you make your own ice cream and throw coffee beans in it? This masterpiece right here. This delicious homemade ice cream was great. It was creamy but had that rough coffee beans texture at the same time. It had a sort of light espresso taste but you could still taste that sweet ice cream. Unfortunately, we only got one scoop but both my wife and I really enjoyed it.
French Toast
Dear Japan, I have said this more than once, in fact my wife is quite annoyed at how many times I have said this. YOU ARE USING THE WRONG BREAD! Use Brioche! Maybe it's me? Maybe it is my American French toast ways? I just don't appreciate Baguette French toast, which is what I usually find around Japan.
So you can imagine that I was a bit disappointed when the French toast came to our table. I did give it a try and honestly, it was OK. It wasn't bad and the ice cream was a nice mix, but nothing out of this world. It is a nice small dessert to have with your coffee, but as I emphatically stated before, not a fan of the bread.
Caffe Freddo Shakerato
This espresso was in the ice espresso section of the menu. I had never heard of a Shakerato or an ice espresso. I was really eager to try it. According to the menu, this was a double espresso, with ice and sugar, shaken in a shaker, like the ones used to make a martini.
The presentation was nice so I gave it a sip. That sip changed everything about what I think I knew about espressos. It was fantastic! It had a very strong espresso taste but it went down so smooth. It was perfect for a hot summer evening. I loved this espresso and I will definitely be ordering it again.
Ray's Cafe is a nice little cafe near Hitachi station with excellent espressos. I wish they would be open more than just three days a week and that they improve their French toast game. Other than that, we really enjoyed our coffee and experience there. We hope to go back soon.
So if you are looking for a nice cafe to relax at and have an excellent cup of coffee or espresso, why not give Ray's Cafe a try? Who knows, you might see me there, sipping that excellent Cafe Freddo Shakerato.
Enjoy!
For more information on Rays Cafe, check out their website:
Update
I just want to update a part of this post. I wrote this post a while back and the café had different business hours when I did. I recently doubled checked Ray's schedule and they seem to be open everyday except Mondays and the third Sunday of the month. Now, you have a better chance of trying their amazing iced espressos.
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