Welcome back to my continued discussion on Saza Coffee. Last week, I talked about the Tsukuba University location. This week, I will talk about the first original place that is located in Hitachi Naka.
The Original
The first Saza Coffee in all of Japan is located near Katsuta station in Hitachi Naka city. I want to say that it is a ten minute walk from the station. If you go there by car there is parking in the front of the store, but there are only three spaces so if you go back a bit there is a bigger parking lot.
When you walk into this Saza Coffee, there is a lot going on. First, you will walk through the big store area which sells ready brewed Saza coffee, specialized made coffee cups and all other coffee goodies. After that, you will walk into the restaurant reception area next to the cashier. This place is always busy so you will have to wait a bit. Write your name down on the wait list and go check out the art gallery. I am not sure if the art gallery changes every month or something but the last time I went, there was weird and interesting cat art all along the walls. Once your name is called, head inside to the restaurant area.
Outside Dinning
Here is one piece of advice, eat outside. If the tables are open and it isn't summer, eat outside. The tables are smaller outside, which can be inconvenient if you plan to order a lot of food or coffee, but I love the outside eating area. It is so relaxing, especially during spring or fall. The cool spring air with your hot coffee is a great way to enjoy the evening or afternoon. There are heat lamps around the tables for winter so it won't be too cold.
The Menu
This Saza Coffee restaurant has a lot on the menu and everything I have tried has not disappointed. Last week, I mainly talked about the coffee menu so this week I will be going more in depth with the food menu. On the menu page pictured above, I have tried the Affogato and the Saza Original Quiche, which I will be talking about in this post. I have also tried the Coffee Zerii which I talked about last week. I still have yet to try the pancakes which look awesome.
The Menu continued
This part of the menu has the food sets. You have the bread set at the very top of the menu and next to that is the hot bread sausage set which is most likely a hot dog but with sausage. The bottom part of the menu is as follows: bread of the day, sausage in pork stew, sausage in clam chowder, hot bread, and the pork stew and clam chowder with no sausage.
I have tried the bread set with pork stew and sausage, and the sausage in clam chowder which I will be talking about.
As for the coffee menu, it is basically the same as the Tsukuba University Saza Coffee menu but it doesn't have an English translation. The last time I went with the wife she ordered the Hot Shogun Coffee and I ordered the Ice Shogun Coffee.
The Hot Shogun Coffee
If you took a look at the coffee menu in the Tsukuba University Saza Coffee location post, you would have seen that there are two different kinds of shogun coffee. The hot and ice shogun coffees. I have tried both and will be talking about both. First up, is the hot shogun coffee. The wife ordered it a few months ago and I got to try it. She loved it. When you receive either the ice or hot shogun coffee, you really feel like a shogun. The hot coffee is brought to you in a gold cup with a large black cup full of cream for pouring. The coffee is strong and delicious by itself, but adding sugar and cream to it makes it heavenly. I really liked this coffee but I have to say that I am more inclined to the iced option.
The Ice Shogun Coffee
I actually enjoy the ice shogun coffee more than the hot one. The coffee comes in a gold tokuri or sake serving bottle. The ice comes in a separate gold coffee cup. You have a small serving of cream and a small serving of brandy flavored sugar syrup (without alcohol). This is certainly a coffee set fit for a shogun. Pouring that amazing smelling coffee into that gold coffee cup full of ice is oh so satisfying. The brandy sugar syrup is amazing and you must pour it into your coffee to get the full delicious experience. Sipping this cool beverage in the outside area of Saza really is a relaxing and fantastic experience. Both shogun coffees are a little pricey but you should give them a try at least once.
The Bread Set with Pork Stew
I want to first apologize for the picture, the napkin is covering all the bread that comes with the bread set. I can tell you that the bread came to our table pipping hot which is the way I like it. I believe one piece of bread was a croissant and I am sorry to say that I do not remember the other one. I think it was a dinner role of some kind. I do remember opening up that role, seeing the steam come out, spreading butter in it and joyously watching the butter melt into the bread. After I finished all that, I tried the role and got that great taste of warm bread and hot butter that is just so satisfying. The croissant was warm as well and delicious. The salad was salad, and the sausage was not bad. The pork stew was OK in my opinion. It had a little spice in it but it was hardly noticeable.
Sausage in Clam Chowder
Ok, I know must of you are reading the title of that picture and thinking that a sausage should not be in clam chowder, and I agree with you. It was weird to see that. I wasn't sure it would work, and it wouldn't have if it wasn't for how creamy and delicious the clam chowder was. I was very impressed by Saza's clam chowder. By the sea gods it was great. It had that creamy clam chowder taste that we all know and love. The sausage doesn't really contribute much but it does feel kind of like an added bonus to the whole dish. The wife made the right call with the clam chowder and I sort of wish I ordered it too.
Saza Original Quiche
The Saza original quiche can also be interpreted as Quiche of the day. I heard from the wife that they make the quiche with different vegetables everyday. What I can tell you about that day's quiche is that the quiche was quite delicious. It was way thicker than I thought it would be and I felt that a lot of Ibaraki's vegetables were in there. Everything tasted super fresh in that quiche like the vegetables were harvested that morning. It was a little bit oily but not enough to bother me.
Rainbow Milk Crepe
The Saza rainbow milk crepe is a well known dessert in Saza Coffee. According to some of my sources (the wife), this crepe was an experiment that went right. It was very difficult for the geniuses at Saza to get the crepe to turn different colors, but after many tries, they finally succeeded. Cutting that quiche down the many layers it has feels extremely satisfying. I got a few colors in my fork with that delicious looking cream in the middle of all those crepes and gave it a try. I immediately loved this dessert. There weren't a lot of different flavors or anything like that, but the cream was amazing and so we're the crepes. I have tasted bad crepes in my life, ones that taste like they were made a week ago. But this crepe tasted extremely fresh and it just made my day a little brighter.
Affogato
I have a problem that I would like to share with all of you. I am addicted to affogatos. When I go to Starbucks, that is what I order and if I go to any other coffee place and see it on the menu, I order it. If you read my ChuChu Cafe post, I ordered it there too. I can't stop. They are so damn delicious. An expresso with vanilla ice cream, it is a dessert coffee from coffee Shangrila. I made sure to take a video of the pour just so all of you can see that expresso swirl around the vanilla ice cream. Looks remarkable doesn't it? As for the taste, well my friends, it is an amazing affogato. Getting a spoon full of that sweet vanilla mixed with that strong bitter expresso is like being embraced by a friend who makes you feel extremely comfortable in their presence. You feel comfortable, safe and that all is right with the world. That is how I feel whenever I had a spoon full of this marvelous dessert in my mouth. The cookie, nuts and whipped cream in this affogato are also very welcomed indeed. I almost ordered another one but I was so full that my next trip to heavenly affogato bliss would have to wait.
Don't forget to try the coffee zerii
After we finished our delicious meal and coffee, it was time to go. We headed back to the store area and went to the cashier. After handing over the check and paying for our lovely meal and coffee, we walked around the store some more to check out all the items and then headed home.
The Hitachi Naka location is by far my favorite location of all the Saza Coffees in Japan. Just sitting in the outside area with a delicious cup of Saza Coffee is a great experience in it of itself. I highly suggest checking out the original Saza restaurant and enjoying a great cup of coffee there.
Thank you for coming with me on this Saza experience and I hope you have a chance to try Ibaraki's number one coffee.
So if you are around Hitachi Naka and want to have an excellent cup of coffee, skip Starbucks and head on over to Saza Coffee's original restaurant. Who knows, you might see me there, enjoying a great cup of coffee and there is a 99% chance the affogato will be on the table.
Enjoy!
For more information on Saza Coffee, check out their website:
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