A note on the words: Sawamura is a bakery associated with the mountain resort town of Karuizawa, known for rustic European breads and pastries. A thick-cut toast plate is a substantial breakfast set centered on a thick slice of freshly toasted artisan bread accompanied by sausages, scrambled eggs, and salad, served here with butter presented in a tiny ceramic cocotte. “Asakatsu” refers to the Japanese cultural trend of morning activity, spending a relaxed morning over coffee and breakfast before the working day begins.
Bakery & Cafe Sawamura Hiroo Plaza on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. On this day, unusually enough, I was having breakfast in Hiroo. I had some things to take care of in Hiroo, and thinking there would probably be places to eat breakfast, I arrived a little early. The place I had my eye on was “Bakery & Cafe Sawamura”—a bakery based in Karuizawa, perhaps? It’s located on the second floor of Hiroo Plaza, right after you take the escalator up from outside. Since it looked like it was open from early morning, I headed right over, but it turned out to be completely full, ha! Ah, I see, it really is popular. Maybe everyone in Hiroo gathers here in the morning.
Looking around, there are a lot of international patrons, too. Rather than tourists, I’d imagine they are foreign residents living around this neighborhood, though.
The system here is to secure a seat first, then order at the counter. Since it was full, I waited a little while until the staff showed me to a seat before going up to order.
Thick-cut toast plate with sausage and scrambled eggs — 1,848 yen
Thick-cut toast plate with bacon and fried egg — 1,540 yen
Raisin bread French toast — 1,540 yen
BLT hot sandwich — 1,045 yen
Chicken and cilantro focaccia hot sandwich — 1,078 yen
Baker’s hamburger — 1,595 yen
Sounds great; being able to eat a burger from the morning is fantastic, isn’t it? That’s what I thought, but since I had specifically come in the morning, I figured I’d go with a breakfast menu item, so I chose the thick-cut toast plate with sausage and scrambled eggs. For a drink, since it was hot outside, I went with iced coffee.
They just hand you your coffee first, and you wait at your table.
Phew, cold and refreshing.
After a short while, the plate arrived too.
Oh, I see, so this is how it comes! It’s quite a generous portion!
What’s inside the small cocotte is butter. First, I spread some butter on the bread and took a bite. Yep, delicious. Maybe partly because it’s a bakery, but the toast is truly good. And the salad has French dressing drizzled over it, with a brisk, refreshing tartness. I cut up some of the scrambled egg and bacon and put them onto the bread! Biting right into it like that was wonderful. Well, of course it would be! Delicious. The sausage goes nicely with the bread, but it’s tasty eaten on its own too. Spreading the mustard on the bread works great as well. Finally, I sandwiched the sausage and scrambled egg between slices of bread and took a big bite. Mmm, so good. Completely satisfied.
As expected, it was starting to get crowded, so after finishing my meal and lingering for just a little while, I decided to head out. Spending a relaxing morning with delicious bread and coffee while browsing news and articles on a phone is such an elegant way to start the day. I’m sure there are plenty of similar stylish morning spots around Hiroo, so it might be fun to explore various places next time I come.
Bakery & Cafe Sawamura Hiroo Plaza (Bread / Hiroo Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
