Wednesday, 12 October 2022

Thursday evening is OkonomiYaki Evening!!

 

 OkonomiYaki Evening is open from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm.(The last order is at 8:00 pm) every Thursday.

Please call 07923 900344 to order.

Eat in or Take away available.
Sorry we don't do delivery.
Collection Only.

Thank you!
xx


Monday, 3 October 2022

October sweets and calendar

 

This year's Otsukimi date is very early.

Now, I know there is always a time difference between the lunar calendar and the Gregory calendar, but the first Saturday of October is the 13th moon night, the so-called chestnut moon.

However, the chestnut in the neighbour's tree are still green. 

I was going to do the presentation I did at Kew Garden last year at the café, but due to the Covid, I am still not in perfect health and will have to wait until the next time 😢.

We are very sorry for all the inconvenience and worry we have caused in the last two weeks. Even though after the test was negative on the seventh day, I was bedridden for almost two weeks with headaches, joint pains and fatigue due to breathlessness. I really thought I need to be a bit fitter...

What shocked me the most was the sense of taste gone somewhere... Everything tasted so funny. 

I thought I was going to go mentally crazy from the shock of the difference between the taste I expected and the taste when I ate it. Who said Covid made people loose weight... It was not my case at all. I was constantly looking for the taste I want to taste. As the result, I gained nearly 5 kgs😱

Now I am happy I can taste coffee, but I still can't taste Dashi. I can recognise the general taste of sweet, spicy, salty, sour, etc., but I don't think I have yet regained the sense of taste to guess what is used in the ingredients.

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October Sweets

Strawberry Daifuku £2.00 per piece 

As I could hardly make these in September, I will make them until the first week of October. If you missed An-an's strawberry daifuku this summer, this is the week to get them. If you have a large number, it would be helpful if you make a reservation in advance.

Bunny buns £2.00 each. 

We also make these until the 13th night of the moon. Rabbit buns with white bean paste are steamed and plant-based. Contains flour and gluten.






Otsukimi Rolled cake £3.00 per slice. 

A rich chocolate and banana roll cake that captures the full moon. Contains egg, flour, gluten and dairy.






Halloween cupcakes £3.00 each. 

We will be selling a variety of scary and cute decorated cupcakes again this year, available from the third week of October. Please look forward to seeing what the designs will be.

Made with flour (gluten), eggs and dairy products.


Autumn Mont Blanc £3.50 per slice. 

Sweet potato and apple Mont Blanc. Rich sweet potato cream wrapped around a fluffy sponge.
This contains 
Egg, flour (gluten) and dairy 

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October events.

Okonomiyaki nights are planned every Thursday from 13 October.



Please check our Facebook event page for more details and menu. (Both eat-in and takeaway are by appointment only).



Weekly lunch plans (with miso soup or one drink)

Week 1 Set A Yaki Soba, chicken cutlet or thick fried tofu
              Set B Beef bowl or Kitsune bowl


Week 2 Set A: Sushi set, seafood or veg. 
              Set B Neapolitan (with fried egg) Chicken or Veggie


Week 3 Set A Japanese salad (chicken or tofu) with onigiri
             Set B Omelette rice (chicken or mushroom)

 

Week 4 Set A Curry rice with chicken cutlet or autumn vegetables
              Set B Nagasaki Champon (Seafood or Veggie)

These plans are subject to change depending on the availability of ingredients.

Every Tuesday, we will announce the weekly lunch of the week on Facebook and Instagram. Please refer to our Facebook and Instagram pages.

I'd love to make more events for this month, but my health is not yet up to scratch, so I'll leave it at that for now. I'm also planning to hold various Christmas markets and traditional Japanese art workshops towards the end of the year, so I'll keep quiet until then.

*********

Well, everyone, it's getting colder, take care of yourselves💓.


Monday, 26 September 2022

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. 

*****

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. 

*****

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.

*****
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. 

Wednesday, 3 August 2022

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.

************

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... 😢.


Thursday, 28 July 2022

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.

*************
 
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.

***********

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).

**************

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!





Saturday, 25 June 2022

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 

Tuesday, 31 May 2022

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!

*****

June opening hours

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