Café Liberté (French)

Went to Gosho to enjoy the weather and forgot your picnic? Don’t want yet another conbini onigiri?

Café Liberté (Teramachi/Nijo) is here to liberate you with simple yet authentic French food – and for excellent value too.

Lunch consists of 5 – 6 starters and main courses, featuring French classics such as quiche and confit de canard. For best value, choose one of the two plats du jour, which include a main, a salad, and bread, for a reasonable 1000 yen.

There is also a selection of baguettes which can be combined with a soup and salad or a pommes-frites and drink set. The baguette is really authentic and all the fillings are fresh and tasty. Furthermore, they’re not drowning in mayonnaise or a suspiciously sweet sauce, as so often found in Japanese sandwiches.

For those who want take-away, there’s a bakery which offers a variety of sandwiches and pastries, including some crisp pain au chocolat.

On my last visit, I took the hamburger-steak cooked in a red wine sauce. I’ll let you judge from the photo. But yes, it was very good. 

P. Amoroso

Very Berry Café (Cafe)

It’s 30 degrees and 120% humidity. After all those hours in an office, you decided that you had to make the most of the weather. But after sitting in Gosho and poaching yourself in your own sweat, you’re not quite sure you made the right decision.

Have no fear. A short walk southwards down Kawaramachi Dori will take you to the cool Very Berry Café (Kawaramachi/Nijo). The café gets little direct sunlight, which means it’s cool.  But it’s also cool. There are low-slung leather sofas, eclectic tables interspersed with American paraphernalia – from Star Wars to rows of Mr Potato Heads, and from Popeye to Hawaiian themed goods, including what looks like a surfboard shrine. Which makes paying 900+ yen for an ice-cream sundae seem like a great idea.

Fortunately, their sundaes are really tasty. And you’re not going to deny yourself one on a day like that. 

P. Amoroso