Friday, July 9, 2010

levain : ルヴァン

i'm now back in the mountainous prefecture of nagano (長野) which is not only k-chan's hometown but also happens to be the furthest point from the ocean anywhere in japan.

but enough ranting on about the geography...



as you can see kou-chan loves his car seat so the three of us went for a drive to ueda city (上田市) to check out an old town (basically a street) called yanagi-machi (柳町).
on this quaint street we found levain bakery/cafe in one of the charming edo period (1603 to 1868) homes which line the street.

levain bakes all their own breads on site in a stone oven using only natural yeast.
we opted for their "plate of the day" which turned out to be a healthy mix of seasonal vegetables, freshly baked bread and a delicious vegetarian miso based soup.
unlike our recent tokyo cafe experience kou-chan slept in his pram throughout our lunch allowing us to relax and soak in the atmosphere.









with bellies full we walked along the historic street in search of another find but most of the preserved buildings turned out to be houses hidden behind wooden sliding doors.










cafe info:
levain ueda city branch (japanese only)
4-7-31 chuo
ueda city, nagano
open: 
9am to 6pm (bakery)
10am to 5pm (cafe)
11:30am to 5pm (8pm on fri & sat) (restaurant)
closed: wednesday and third thursday of the month
access: 15 minutes walk from JR ueda station

ルヴァン信州上田店
〒386-0012
長野県上田市中央4-7-31
tel: 0268-26-3866






8 comments:

Kenny Mah said...

Ah the breads look wonderful... so healthy and good. Nothing like a wholesome meal and a roadtrip out there with the fresh air to reinvigorate one's senses and one's soul. :)

pascale said...

you always seem to know where to eat and the right food! :D
Looks wonderful! BUT what's more wonderful is Kou-chan. He is getting really CUTE!!! And I see some of you in his face. I can't quite say which part is you but I see you in him.
Have fun :)

gingerbee said...

Oh! He looks precious! (Geez, I'm practically making googly-coo-ey faces over that picture. -.-)

Wow, that is some awesome street. Two of my favorite things! History and food. :D Too bad there aren't many of those mixes here in the Philippines.

That plate looks awesome. And is that flan? Hee.

My students are 13-14 y.o. girls. Basically freshmen in high school. Hehehehe. The quizzes I give are more of noting details in the stories I give. They're really easy if they read the hand-outs. Too bad they don't. :P

world of sekimachihato said...

* Life for Beginners
the breads here are healthy and delicious but due to the fact that only natural ingredients are used they are a tad hard (the crust)
not complaining though!

world of sekimachihato said...

* pascale
i love searching for unique cafes or spots of interest. surprisingly there are great places even out here in the inaka!

it's funny, when our japanese friends see kou-chan they say he takes after me, but our non-japanese friends say he takes after k-chan.
mmm...

world of sekimachihato said...

* gingerbee
what i enjoyed about this steet was that the people living here have got together and preserved the original buildings. the cafe hidden inside one of these homes was an extra treat!
excuse my ignorance but are there people in the philippines who are preserving the local history too?

oh and you only teach girls? all girls school?
good luck with making them read your handouts. maybe you should add some of your beautiful photos to them; might just do the trick!

Luuworld said...

What a heart-breaker kou-chan is! So cute. He's gonna grow up to be so handsome and break a lot of hearts...

lovely bakery too! wow. I'd love to eat and hang out there :)

world of sekimachihato said...

* Luuworld
he must take after his dad then *wink wink*

you would love this bakery/cafe, really yummy food. no deep fried stuff though, you think you could handle it?!

Related Posts with Thumbnails