Mio Posto, Ogawamachi

Eeeeeeeeeeeyep, still a reformed man since I ate Italian for lunch and dinner last night. Seemes like there's a whole company culture of mid-priced restaurants that are suitable destinations, because the staff at this place sure knew who we were.

Mio Pasto is, to be terribly brief, a casual and mid-priced 'old Italian' place just south of Ogawamachi kosaten (convenient for guitar shopping, especially that place in Ogawamachi 3-chome on the north side of Yasukuni with the incredible old banjos, mandolins and acoustic guitars. Only store like it that I know. やった！That was hard to find.) Hmmm, including the digression, that wasn't so brief. There were a few high points, but not so much in the cooking.

Wine was good - cheap spumante (Y3000, really budget prices in a restaurant) was full-bodied, dry and drinkable. Chianti after that was fruity and fresh (not characteristics I usually associated with Chianti, but maybe that's just me). Nama ham was good - they wheeled a cart over to the table and cut a few slices (and cut it very well, thin and smooth) and served it with melon. Other than that, pastas were hearty and a bit rough, lentil pizza (!) was thin and a little frozen-pizza tasting, and cooked meats (something quail-like, then veal slices in mushroom sauce with fresh porcini (!)) were either cooked dry or else undercooked. I suppose I should give credit for having 4 veal options on the menu; I love it, and it's so rare here.

So some good points but not overly impressive even at the price (Y27k for 3 beers, 2 wines, pizza, 2 pastas, 2 metas, 3 coffees), but evidently a 'safe' place if you need to pick something and can't risk offending your senpai.

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