Apology and this week's opening hours

  

先週よりCovid-19の陽性となってしまい、たいへんご迷惑をおかけしております。
Sorry for the short openin hours and limited menu during the last week

19日月曜日の朝、体中が痛くなり、もう一度LFTをしたところ、陽性になっていました。

The morning of Monday 19th, I found I was positive after testing with LFT, as I had really bad body ache and tiredness. 

高熱が出ることもなく、咳が止まらなくなることもありませんでしたが、倦怠感と体中の痛み、そして息苦しさで、陰性になった今もかなり活動が制限されています。

No high fever, No cough... I just had pain all over my body, tiredness and short bleath. I still have the symptons and limited activities although I am now LFT negative. 

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引き続き今週も、下記の営業時間とメニューで皆様をお待ちしております。

Opening Hours
2時にラストオーダー、2時半に閉店
火曜日、水曜日、木曜日、金曜日のみ営業

9:30 am - 2:30 pm (2:00 pm Last order) 
Tuesday to Friday. 
Saturday, Sunday and Monday are closed

Limitted Menu
モーニングのサービスはありません。
お食事のサービスは11時半からです。
寿司セットは、ご注文お受けできませんので、ご了承ください。

No Breakfast service
Lunch Menu starts from 11:30 am
Sorry No Sushi set available during this period. 

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私の体調が整い次第、通常の営業に戻ります。
皆様の温かい言葉、たくさんの励ましの言葉、本当にありがとうございます。

Cafe will be back to normal on my return.
Thank you for your warm saports.

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写真は、この度高野山でお世話になりました福智院さんの美しいお庭です。
This photo was taken at the Temple spa Fukuchi-in in Koya-San. It's garden was very beautiful and well looked aftered. 

Long waiting is finished! It's Okonomi-Yaki nights!!!

Well, I don't know if I can call it a night, since it doesn't get dark until 9pm during Summer time...

As we have announced, we are planning to make as many okonomi-yaki as we can between 5pm and 8pm on the 4th and 11th Thursday of this month.

Anyway, okonomiyaki takes time to cook, so please forgive me if there would be a short queue.

This time, if the weather is good, you can have it on the terrace. However, the sun in the late afternoon is glaring... 💦 If the weather is fine, please bring your sunglasses.

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First of all, please make a phone call to make an order. 

07923 900344

(Please make sure you speak to a member of staff to confirm your booking, as you may not be aware if you are sent by text).

We can only make four Okonomi-yaki at a time, so when you place your order we will specify a time for pick-up etc. Of course, If there is no queue, the waiting time might be still 20 minutes .

If you come to the shop without ordering by phone, we may ask you to come back in a bit later, depending on how many tables are available.

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Awww... i haven't done Okonomi-yaki night for so long and I am so nervous.

So here is the menu. ↓Please click here to enlarge the menu.

"Oh, it's so cheep!" We hope you'll think in that way. After all, it's The street food of Nippon, so it can't be expensive! We'd like to serve beer and other beverages, but not this time.

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The price of rice has gone up so much that I thought I'd try with 'Kona-Mon" food, just like Kansai people do. I wonder how long this shortage of Japanese food surply continues... 😢.

August break and some news...

 I have finally, finally recovered from the jet lag from Japan.

I apologise for any inconvenience caused to you by the shortened opening hours and menu changes during my absence.

Since my return from Japan, I have been surprised by the incredibly fast increase in prices, although the price of petrol has gradually come down. The price of rice, which is an essential part of Japanese food, has almost doubled, while the price of soy sauce and chicken meat for making chicken katsu has risen by 30%.

In order to keep An-an going long, I decided to take time to re-arrange an-an.

We will therefore be taking a summer holiday from 1-13 August. We apologise for the inconvenience.

We will work hard for the next two weeks to make the café a more relaxing place for everyone to spend time.

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This week we are serving yakisoba as our special lunch of the week, as we were unable to make the yakisoba we had promised the first week of July. Choose between chicken katsu or pumpkin croquette topping. This also comes with a drink (including miso soup) for up to ￡2.50, so please come along.

If you can, we'd prefer you eat in, but you can also take your yakisoba home.

Yaki-soba will also be served in the first week of August (16-20 August) after the summer holidays.

By the way, lunch set B is the teriyaki lunch.

Come and try it before the summer holidays start.

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And what a surprise! For those of you in the London area, thank you for your patience.

Finally, we're allowed to go to London to sell our wagashi!

Sunday 7 August, free entry and lots of other fun for the kids, so whether you're in the area or just visiting London for the first time in a while, please pop along.

I'll be there with lots of sanshoku dango (three-coloured dumplings), strawberry daifuku and more.

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Now, we are bringing back our Okonomiyaki Night, which has been requested by many of you.

So far, we are planning to have them on Thursdays during the summer holidays, 4 and 11 August, from 5 to 8pm.

We will let you know the detailed menu and other details in August.

This time, we are thinking of having a terrace where you can eat in, so please come and join us on a summer evening. (Reservations required).

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We've just brought back from Japan the shaved ice machine we've always wanted!

It is a real fluffy shaved ice.

We have now started with three types: honey lemon, strawberry milk and Ujikintoki.

Try shaved ice made with an old-fashioned hand-cranked shaved ice machine.

If you want Plant Base shaved ice, you can change honey to maple syrup and condensed milk to Plant Base Icecream when you order.

(To be continued until the end of September).

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During the summer holidays in August, we will be clearing out our stock.

We will be selling items at half price, including those nearing their expiry date, so we look forward to welcoming you to the café over the next three days until this Saturday.

Well, it's unbelievably cool in the UK after the heat wave of just a week ago, but watch out for colds and Covid and enjoy the British summer!

Temporary opening hour and limited menu starts from today...

Thank you all for your support towards cafe an-an,

As we have mentioned in our previous blog, from today there will be a limited menu and opeining hours will be shortened. 

We have hot and cold drinks as usual from 9am-3pm however due to shortage of staff, we are limited in food options therefore we will only be able to make the pecial of the week as well as sandwiches and rolled sushi.

Apoloies for the incinvenience caused 

The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Week

 

Well, this week, events are taking place all over the country to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's coronation and the Platinum Jubilee.

In the midst of all this, we will be offering afternoon tea on both holidays (2nd and 3rd), one of the things we have been wanting to do since we moved in.

Japanese Afternoon Tea

and

English-style Japanese afternoon tea

The two types of tea are served this time. 

As you may know, we have been to the Japanese Afternoon Tea several times in the past, but it is almost (?) plant-based (plant-derived food). It is an afternoon tea with a focus on Japanese sweets, although it is vegetarian food.

English-style Japanese afternoon tea is an afternoon tea that incorporates Japanese elements into the basic afternoon tea. This is a vegetarian afternoon tea, with ingredients such as gelatine replaced with kuzu or agar.

Both are £20 per person. (As this is during half-term, each adult can share with one child (under 14 years). However, for the second child or more, each child will have to order their own afternoon tea.)

Please note that on both public holidays (2nd and 3rd), afternoon tea will only be served from 1.00pm to 5.00pm and no hot food will be served on the day. Please note that there will be no hot food service on the day.

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Menu

Japanese Afternoon Tea

Sushi and kobachi of seasonal vegetables

Seasonal Japanese sweets (strawberry daifuku, stemed cake with rose, green tea and strawberry Agar jelly)

Roses and corgi Nerikiri

(contains soy)

English-style Japanese afternoon tea

Three sandwiches (pumpkin croquette, egg roll with cucumber and eggplant dengaku)

Scones (choice of green tea, fruit or plain) + cream & jam or an-an's special sweet bean paste

Strawberry shortcake, Yuzu trifle, dark Matcha mille crepe

(Contains wheat, gluten, dairy, egg and soy).

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So, ladies and gentlemen, enjoy this historic week!

Congratulations, Queen Elizabeth!

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June opening hours

Please check before you come as many days have changed opening hours.

Report of Japanese Arts and Crafts workshop - Kintsugi -

Sorry for taking so long to write about this event.

Here is a report on the Japanese Craft Workshop that took place on Sunday 3 April.

Because of the short notice and the fact that the first craft was kintsugi (metal-joining), there were only three participants, including myself. So, I think we were able to take our time and satisfactorily kintsugi.

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The mug on the left was a one-off piece made by a friend of participant A's in France, and it had a very good grip, but it had a big chip on it and had been used as is for a long time.

The plates in the middle and on the right were a gift to the café. They were just right for serving a special lunch, but in an accident two of the five plates were broken, and I kept wondering whether I should throw them all away. On the right side, the cracks were so bad that I had given up, but the instructor said, "Let's do it!" and he helped me.

First, the cracks were attached with a special glue and the missing parts were filled with quick-drying clay. After it dried, it was actually very difficult. Anyway, we sanded and smoothed the unevenness so that it wouldn't disappear. This was probably the most time-consuming part. My arms hurt!

And then a short break for a snack😋

When we regain our strength, we knead a mixture of gold powder and nikawashi, and fill in the cracks. This is where the beautiful lines of gold unique to kintsugi are formed.

Here is the mug after restoration. The colour matches so well.

And this, oh my! These are the plates that were cracked to pieces!

It's a little hard to tell from the photo, but the colouring, combined with the gold lines, has taken the plates to a whole new level of charm💖.

We will continue to serve special weekly lunches on these plates. Enjoy!

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Now, I'm going to invite an instructor to conduct a workshop like this once a month, which is associated with Japanese art techniques.

Next time in May, we are planning a workshop on flower arrangement, as it is the beautiful season of flowers.

Please keep watching this space!!!

Let's start from April (or May...)

  Spring has come... flowers in full bloom...

Where has the blue sky I was looking up yesterday gone? and who said we might get snow at the weekend?

Some of you may have already noticed, or I think we all have, that we are seeing the prices of products going up one, two, three or even four times.

The hardest part is that the overall price of imported foodstuffs from Japan has gone up, and is still going up. On top of that, the price of chicken has gone up by 125% and rice by 115%. It is becoming doubtful whether we will be able to make katsu curry at a price that people afford to eat it for lunch.

I had sincerely hoped that the price increase would only be a short term issue, but the situation has become unbearable.

But there are still people who have to eat lunch while they are working... So we tried to keep the prices as unchanged as possible, including the weekly menu and basic sandwiches.

And I really don't want everything to be just sad news, so I thought, as it's April in the new financial year, after Covid's restrictions are lifted, I'd like to talk about something positively new to start.

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One
Once a month, on a Sunday, I would like to run a workshop related to Japanese arts and culture, and the first one in April is 'Kintsugi' - a process of metal-joining. As there is a risk of allergic reactions to lacquer, it is a simple 'kintsugi', a method that does not use lacquer. The process can be shortened from a few weeks to half a day. In May, I may have Wagashi workshop. 
Other instructors are also always welcome.

Two
We would like to start a Japanese craft group every Thursday, called Morning Coffee & Craft Club. The language can be either Japanese or English. Let's have fun chatting and making needlework goodies. We will start on 5 May and make coasters with Sashiko. (The fee depends on what you want to make, so please ask when you make your booking.)

Three
The always requested "Okonomiyaki" by everyone is back. First, we will serve it as a weekly lunch from 19 to 23 April, and from May we will be grilling okonomiyaki twice a month on Fridays in our trailer. Enjoy the Japanese street food feeling. Dates and times will be announced in our monthly newsletter and on Facebook and Instagram.

Four.
Extended opening hours until 5am.
As a recent trend, the road conditions are quite bad on top of the rising petrol prices. Therefore, we are shifting our opening hours so that staff can get to the café at the cheapest possible train times. We will serve brunch in the morning from 9.30am and lunch from 12pm until 2.30pm. Otherwise, enjoy drinks, cakes, sandwiches and sushi rolls.

Five.
The Japanese afternoon tea is back.
Sorry for the inconvenience, but reservations are required. Please book at least one week in advance.
￡18.00 per person. this will include;
     Seasonal veggie sushi set + miso soup
     3 pieces of seasonal Wagashi
     2 seasonal fresh Jo-Namagashi
     & Tea or coffee of your choice.

Sixth.
We will also have a Japanese-English language exchange.
First & third Saturdays from 3pm to 5pm. Free to attend with the purchase of food and drink from the café.
We'll give you some theme, but we'll have a good chat anyway!

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Well, now that I've made a public statement here, there's no going back!

Plans are subject to change, but everything new will be carried out in sequence.

First of all, we can't do anything without your participation, so we look forward to your requests. We look forward to seeing you.