My favorite café “Matthew” stands near the main site of Akita Kanto Festival, one of the three major summer festivals in Tohoku (northern Japan). Maybe you want to try major Japanese foods as sushi or tempura, but I’d like you to enjoy come creative home cooking at local restaurants like “Matthew”!
The building looks like a log house and so cute! The wooden Northern European style interior at this café may make you feel like visiting somewhere NOT in Akita… I like this atmosphere as well as their yummy home cooking. This is why I have visited here more than five years!
You can enjoy daily lunch with various tastes. This store is more like a restaurant than a café. The lunch menu includes daily lunch, spaghetti with creamy sauce or tomato sauce, pilaf with crab and scallops, steak and so on. “Matthew” serves both lunch and dinner according to the store information, but I’ve never tried dinner there. Someday, I hope!
I always come here to enjoy the daily lunch. Today’s lunch was boiled pork with tuna and anchovy sauce. The sauce tasted a bit sour and matched with pork. The salad and boiled (or steamed?) vegetables were fresh and delicious, too. Oishii!! (This means “yummy!!” or “delicious! in Japanese.)
The lunch set included rice, salad, soup and coffee. It’s not Japanese traditional home cooking but creative home cooking, I think. I’m happy to introduce you this unique local restaurant in Akita!
Here comes coffee!
There is a small sesame cookie in addition to coffee. It looks like a small gift, so I always feel happy when I see it. Don’t you think so? The cookie tastes plane but good. This combination always makes me relaxed.
They also have some homemade desserts. Today’s desserts were Azuki (red bean paste) cake, caramel pear cake and Kokuto (brown sugar) ice cream.
I have loved these homemade dishes of “Matthew” since I visited there for the first time. It’s not like a famous sushi restaurant or something, but I believe that you can enjoy various kinds of creative home cooking! Please come to our local unique restaurant, “Matthew”!
For your information, many customers come here during lunch time both on weekdays and weekends. So if you are a group of guests, maybe making a reservation seems better. For solo-lunch, especially when it’s busy, they might ask you to share a big table with other customers.
Well, I became hungry… Can’t wait for another lunch! haha!
~~~ Shop Info ~~~
Matthew
1-11-32 Yabase minami, Akita city, Akita, Japan
Open 11:30～14:00、17:00～20:00
*Closed on Sundays
【Access】About 15 minutes by car/ taxi/ bus from JR Akita station (West Exit)
【Parking】3 cars
Written by Naomi in Ugo
*As of August, 2019.
