Not Your Usual Italian Place

Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of our “paper” wedding in Akashi. We decided to try something new and have dinner in Akashi to celebrate. We had both heard about a particularly delicious Italian restaurant in Akashi, so Kuniko did some research and made a reservation.

Reservations aren’t quite so simple – the earliest they take reservations is one week in advance, and it is a very small place so it fills up fast. Luckily we got a table, and so after work we met in Akashi and walked to the south. I was surprised that the restaurant was right on the water, on the second floor of a huge apartment building. There were other interesting-looking bars and restaurants next door, and it looked like a fun place to come back in the future. The place had a beautiful view of the ocean and the Akashi bridge, and once in a while the ferry to Awaji island would steam by.

As for the restaurant itself, it turned out to be quite good. They had a big wine list of all Italian wines (we had a nebbiolo) and the menu seemed to be pretty authentic. We had heard that the pizzas were excellent, and walking in you could get a good view of the old fashioned pizza oven – it was really cool. Our seat was in the back of the restaurant next to a glass case filled with what appeared to be homemade Italian dishes – kind of like a deli case full of different mysterious foods.

Besides a pizza we ordered a plate of antipasto, and the way it worked was that we picked whatever we wanted, and they squeezed it on the plate for us. We picked out a few things that looked really good, and left the rest for the waiter to choose. He brought back the plate heaping with foods, and we had a chance to try everything at our own pace while sipping wine. The food was unlike any other Italian food I’ve had in Japan – it was pretty close to authentic, and was styled more towards Italian countryside than your traditional pasta/pizza/meat dishes. They had lots of those too, but the antipasto was really unique, and every bite was different and interesting.

When the pizza arrived it was pretty damn good, too. More like real Italian than American or Japanese pizzas, the toppings were simple and flavorful. The crust was excellent, and our pizza had a lot of buffalo milk mozzarella that really hit the spot. Dangerously good pizza – made me wish I had room for another.

I ordered a couple of ice creams for dessert, but they turned out to be huge, and we barely killed them off. Delicious, but huge. We finally gave our complements to the owner and headed out – but I’m sure we’ll be back soon.


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