Rub shoulders with govt officers at this affordable eatery that feeds the ministry.
We have been consuming off the overwhelmed route lately, experiencing a style of team food stuff at cafeterias that serve staff members but are also open up to the community.
These concealed gems are ordinarily only acknowledged by people who work and take in there, but we have been sharing our solution finds with you and now we have a different good discovery, in excess of at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Tokyo.
As the administrative company that oversees all the things food stuff-connected in Japan, we had higher hopes that this staff cafeteria would be just one of our best finds however, so we despatched our reporter Mr Sato over to the ministry in Kasumigaseki to check it out.
Restraining the urge to scream “Give me all your delightful meals!” as he walked through the entrance to the developing, Mr Sato set on his best manners, quietly telling the stability guard “Shokudo ni ikitain desu kedo” (“I’d like to go to the cafeteria“).
The guard informed him to head above to the reception desk, where by Mr Sato stuffed out a type with his title and call data and showed employees his license as a kind of image I.D.
He was then handed a move (pictured beneath), which reads: “Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Temporary Go (Cafeteria)“, with guidance in compact print to only use the employees cafeteria and return the go in the returns box in the lobby when leaving.
The cafeteria, named “Afu Shokudo” is located on the very first basement floor of the making, so Mr Sato headed downstairs, exactly where he was greeted by this humble entrance.
▼ Wanting at the signboard, Mr Sato could listen to his belly get started to rumble at all the superb food choices.
According to the restaurant’s official site, the foods listed here use domestically sourced components as substantially as possible, with a focus on develop from Fukushima Prefecture. Two types of day-to-day established meals are provided in the course of the working week, from Monday to Friday, and the menu incorporates noodles, rice bowls, curries, and specials that alter weekly.
▼ The rice at this time used in the meals has been freshly harvested from Fukushima Prefecture.
As usually with workers cafeterias, it’s greatest to go to outside the house of peak lunchtime several hours to prevent extensive queues of employees, so Mr Sato implies stopping by possibly prior to 12 p.m. or immediately after 1 p.m. Mr Sato visited just before midday and didn’t have to wait to be served the Specific Afu Set Food that he selected and compensated for at the vending equipment.
▼ Once you decide on and pay back for your meal at the equipment, you are going to acquire this food ticket, which you’ll need to have to hand to personnel at the kitchen area counter.
Mr Sato’s Particular Afu Set Food was priced at 1,200 yen and constrained to only 30 servings for each working day. When he visited, the set meal was the Fukushima Hayama Plateau Butadon, which will come with butadon (pork rice bowl), alongside with two tiny sides of your selection and soup.
Hayama Plateau Pork is a Fukushima model of pork generated solely by selected farms inside the prefecture. Raised with very carefully picked, purely plant-primarily based feed, which is reported to suppress the odour of the meat, this is a quality brand name that is gaining a status for staying significantly delicious.
When Mr Sato tried the meat, he was amazed by its comfortable texture, and amazed at the finish absence of any pork odour. Regardless of being odourless, it had a strong and mouth watering flavour, and was nicely complemented by the sweet soy-centered sauce and delicate seasoning.
The total meal was nicely-balanced and left Mr Sato emotion recharged in a nutritious way. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries definitely has a popularity to uphold as the protectors and promoters of local develop, and Mr Sato could feel that sense of satisfaction and determination in the meticulously created meals available at the team cafeteria.
Following finishing his food, Mr Sato stumbled across a retail outlet around the cafeteria, and he could not resist getting a T-Shirt for 2,900 yen as a memento of his take a look at to the ministry.
▼ “No rice no life” was printed on the entrance of the T-Shirt, and on the back …
▼ …the kanji for “rice”!
It’s a fun and uncommon shirt that’ll absolutely transform heads on the avenue, but Mr Sato plans to don it when he next visits the cafeteria to include an excess sprint of enjoyment to his meal. With lunch sets setting up at just 650 yen, Mr Sato would take in listed here each individual day if he was in the neighbourhood, but for now he’ll have to make do with the faculty cafeteria for adults in Shinjuku.
Cafeteria Facts
Afu Shokudo / あふ食堂
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Kasumigaseki 1-2-1, Tokyo Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Main Building B1F
東京都千代田区霞が関1-2-1 農林水産省本館B1F
Hrs: 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
Shut: Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays
Web site (Instagram)
Pictures © SoraNews24
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