What do you do on a day when you just feel like sipping on some tea or coffee and enjoying the day? The Ibaraki Eats Duo usually decides to hang out at a cafe for a little while and enjoy a tasty beverage. I was told about a new cafe that opened up in Tsukuba which does a certain breakfast style dish that I love. I told my wife we had to go there and that is how we ended up at Cafe Poetica.
Cafe Poetica
Cafe Poetica is located in the Kurihara area of Tsukuba. There isn't much around there except a few houses and some rice fields.
I know I usually have a picture of the outside of the restaurant at this time in my post, but for some reason that picture has disappeared. Sorry about that.
My wife and I were driving to Cafe Poetica and almost completely missed it. The cafe looks like a two-story house so we were a bit confused. Then we saw the "P" sign for parking and the cafe name on that sign and headed into the parking area in front of the cafe's entrance. We both walked inside and were greeted by the owner.
The inside of the cafe looks and feels very new. We came to find out that the cafe had only been open for about a month. All the tables and chairs were painted a rough white color which I liked. Also, all the tables were in a corner of the restaurant which offered a lot of privacy which I thought was interesting and convenient. I found the stairs to the second floor and thought that is where the owner lived but that floor is part of the restaurant as well.
We sat at our corner table with a nice air conditioner over us and looked at the menu.
The Menu
Good news everyone! The menu is in both English and Japanese! Even the descriptions of the dishes are in English. We went to Poetica during lunch time so we got the breakfast and lunch menu. The menu had a drinks section, a food section, and a dessert section. If you order any food from the lunch section, you can get a drink set which knocks off 200 yen out of any drink. My wife wanted to try a dessert from this cafe but as you will see, we were way too full at the end to even think of having dessert.
Craft Cola and Homemade Ginger ale
My wife ordered the craft cola with her meal and I ordered the homemade ginger ale. Both drinks were fantastic but I think the cola was a bit better. It had the perfect blend of spice and sweetness which would give Coca-Cola a run for its money.
Appetizer
We were also given an appetizer before our meals arrived. The appetizer brought carrots, and wait is that a Greek salad!? And wait, is that hummus!? I was in complete shock when I saw both. I told the owner that I had never seen a Greek salad and other than Dippy Dip in Tsukuba Village Market, I rarely see hummus. The owner told me he learned how to make both during his stay in Australia and that is where he learned how to make all the dishes in the cafe.
I tried the Greek salad and loved it. It had been so long since I had this salad. It was nice to see all those diced vegetables that go in a Greek salad and the feta cheese together. Next, I tried the hummus and loved that as well. It was creamy and a little light on the hummus taste but it went well with the toasted baguette.
Finally, the soup was an Indian-style tomato soup that had a small spicy kick to it. This appetizer dish was incredible and I couldn't wait for our main course.
Berry Yogurt Granola
I wish I could have this every morning. This is a perfect and healthy breakfast dish. Different sliced fruits with fresh homemade granola and that blueberry yogurt was a breakfast fit for royalty. This was my wife's choice and she absolutely loved it. Getting a spoonful of yogurt, granola, and fruit was an explosion of sweet tangy flavor that brought a smile to my face. The cafe opens at 9:00 am and I am 100% sure I will be having this amazing dish for breakfast sometime soon.
After our nice breakfast dish, our lunch arrived.
Smashed Avocado Burger
My choice was the smashed avocado burger. Look at that picture. How many chopped pieces of avocado are in there? I could not answer that question myself but one thing for sure is this was a tasty burger. It is in no way lacking in avocado. I know you can't see it but there is a beef patty in there. It is a bit small and roundish but the meat was pretty good. The buns were great but they didn't really hold the burger together. The burger did get quite messy at the end with the avocado pieces falling everywhere. Even though my hands needed thirty napkins in the end, I did enjoy my burger.
Eggs Benedict
Have you ever had Eggs Benedict? If you haven't, imagine biting into an English muffin with creamy egg sauce all around it and a soft-boiled egg on top that explodes tasty yellow yok in your mouth during each bite. Yes, your chin will be dripping with yok but it is totally worth it. You can be civilized and use and fork and knife, but then you wouldn't get that nice explosion of flavors during each bite. Poetica's Eggs Benedict was exceptional. It had spinach bellow the eggs and prosciutto all around the English muffin. If you mixed the spinach and prosciutto, you did get a kind of salty overload to your taste buds but the creamy egg sauce took care of that. I do wish the English muffin was a bit more toasted, but other than that this was a great Eggs Benedict. I hope I can have it again sometime soon and my wife said she is getting it again next time we visit.
Nice Swing Seat
My wife and I had a great time at Cafe Poetica. I think it is a good place to have a light meal (even though our meal was not so light) with a friend or possibly a date. We hope to go back to Poetica and try some of their other menu items. My wife has her mind set on trying the tiramisu.
So if you are around the Kurihara area in Tsukuba and could go for some Western-style breakfast or lunch, why not give Poetica a chance? Who knows, you might see me there with my wife, finally trying the tiramisu. And on your way out, don't forget to try the lovely-looking wooden swing seat outside.
Enjoy!
For more information on Cafe Poetica, check out their Instagram page:
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