High Noon Cafe

Right next to the Shinkansen tracks that run through Ontakesan, you'll find the High Noon Cafe. The High Noon Cafe is a nice place that has a bit of a unique character, at least for around here. The restaurant mostly housed in an atrium that is set up in the front yard of a house. It actually has pretty cool atmosphere, and is entirely enclosed by glass. Although the view isn't so pretty, the restaurant has put up a bunch of faux historical looking signs around the glass enclosure to give it a bit of a T.G.I.Friday's/Chili's/Applebee's look to it. Inside there are 6 tables (5 of them are 4 seaters, 1 is a 2 seater) and it's for sure a nice place to hang out on a hot summer evening. They have a pretty decent TV that pretty much shows only sports programs. This weekend was the 2nd time that mornin and I showed up there, the first time being back in June ('08) for dinner (a surprisingly cold evening).
The food is awesome. Very high quality ingredients, prepared with what seems to be a high degree of skill, we've tried a few different things on our two trips there, a hot sandwich, pizza, something else (can't remember, and no pic), and some dessert. The only thing to say negative is that the place is a little expensive. Compared to the price, it's reasonable enough. And the service is pretty quiet. There is one waitress who doesn't say much and is rarely around. Oh well, at least she's not all up in my biznazz!
T:8
P:4
F$:5
B$:6
V:4
A:8
S:4
X:9

Total score: 48/70
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mornin's view!
雪谷近辺ではあまり見かけない、イイ感じの雰囲気のカフェです。閑静な住宅街の中に唐突に現れる・・・てゆうかこのお店もフツウの家の庭にあるんだけど。庭にガラスのプレハブみたいな小屋が作ってあって、そこに客席があるんです。キッチンは家の中にあって、料理はそこで作っているみたい。トイレも家の中にあるので、フツウに家の玄関から入って行くのが面白い(^^; 土地があったらこんな感じでお店やってみるのも楽しいかも！でも、それにしてはアットホームじゃない所が気になるんだけど。ウェイトレスさんがゼンゼン愛想ないし、キッチンが見えないから誰が作ってるのかわかんない。こうゆうお店だったら、フレンドリーなマスターが居て、また来たね！！みたいな感じがいいんだけどなぁ。。
でもお店のコンセプトもいいし、食べ物は本当にオイシイ！デザートの種類も◎◎^^　　

猫のまほう

Ahhhh, the cat cafe(ネコカフェ)! The place we went is called 猫のまほう (cat's magic) and it sits next door to Osaki-hirokoji station (大崎広小路駅) on the Ikegami line (池上線) 1 stop from Gotanda (五反田駅). The first thing that you'll notice about the place is that there are no cats to welcome you. All the cats are chilling up on the next floor. First thing to do is wash your hands! The restaurant floor is nice and airy with floor seats that are a little tough to get in and out of but nice enough. The food is pretty good but on the puny end of the spectrum for sure. While you wait for food don't waste a min of your 300円 per 15min fee and head upstairs to play with the magic cats! There were about 10 cats or so of all kinds of breeds and colors. Most of the cats that were there were plum tuckered out from their lunchtime performance but they were pretty cute. The few cats weren't sleeping it off were happy to indulge us in our less than cool fantasies of being a pet owner in Tokyo.I recommend hitting up the place for the lunch set or the middle of the night. If you go in before 3pm you get some treats to give to the cats. Be warned! Some cats love treats and could take your head off for them! Maybe not, but close. In the back of the menu there are profiles of all the cats with age, sex, and location... and sometimes with warnings that the cat is very genki (元気) and might jump at you for treats, so watch out!Beer was good, food was good, and cats were cool, check it out!

T: 7
P: 4
F$: 4
B$: 6
V: 3
A: 7
S: 8
X: 10

Total score: 49/70

Our Gang!

For the 2nd entry in Scrumped! We went outside the Yukigaya-Otsuka area to Kamata (蒲田), a short trip on the Tokyu Ikegami Line (東急池上線) from here to a Bar/Restaurant called "Our Gang". I know, I know, this is supposed to be about eating out in Yukigaya, and this is only the sencond review, but I had been all psyched up to review the Italian place down the road in Ontakesan tonight, but it was closed...

The place was pretty cool, and based on the old American TV show, "The Little Rascals". By "based on" I mean that the name of the bar is Our Gang, and there are pictures of the characters from the show on the menu, aside from that it`s your typical "Japanese trying to be very American" bar. But, they do a pretty decent job of it. The place is packed with "Americana" and all kinds of other stuff (like a fencing foil, a Daruma Mickey, and a giant sensu (folding fan)) and sometimes it comes off as cheesy, such as the "vintage" license plates on the wall that are often repeated.
The menu was expansive! Tons of food choices, and tons and tons of drink choices! I`ve never seen a bigger cocktail selection anywhere, and it also had probably the biggest beer selection I`ve seen in Japan, the one unfortunate thing was that there is only a single selection (Lowenbrau) on tap. The draft beer (生ビール) is a hefty 700円 but pretty average for the size around here.
The food was really good, and pretty good size for the price. It`s a bit on the $$ side, but not too bad at all, a 880円 spinach salad is packed with girth and the pasta is also volumeable, but can`t remember the price of that. Be prepared to spend about 700円 for most menu items, but it`s filling. All-n-all, Our Gang is a pretty cool place that I`ll definately be back at some time soon. Might try one of the hundreds of cocktails even! Maybe not, but I might try a different beer next time. T: 8
P: 2
F$: 6
B$: 6
V: 8
A: 7
S: 4
X: 6
Total score: 47/70
*editor`s note* Our gang lost a few points for playing crappy concert videos while I was there.