Flatts' Bakery Cafe (Noto, Ishikawa-ken)

I've mentioned before about Flatts Bakery owned by an Australian. The bakery is also a little cafe which serves lunch. The Flatts also run a small guest house lodging (3 rooms?) where for 7,000 yen (about AU$80?) you can enjoy a pizza and pasta dinner course and stay overnight and enjoy a Japanese brekkie the next morning. If you're only interested in the pizza and pasta course, it costs 4,000 yen. So it's more about the food than the lodging (apparently this bakery is quite well-known in Japan and foodies from Osaka and bigger cities have travelled into our little inaka to eat and lodge at Flatts').

On Saturday, we had lunch at Flatts'. It certainly was a nice change from the 'Chinese' food we had the night before. The bakery is on the coastal road so it has a great view of the sea. I cycle or drive past it everyday to and from my school and I'll occasionally see Ben or his wife Chikako or his children around the area.

The actual bakery section where they sell the bread and dessert products is actually quite small. The cafe adjacent to the bakery area has perhaps four tables and has a nice cozy atmosphere. There is even a 'chillout' room next to the cafe with sofas. Of course, the atmosphere wouldn't be complete without gaijin music playing :) It's a nice place to just kick back and relax and enjoy the view.

Bakery section with yummy 'real' bread:


The cafe dining area:


The view from where we were sitting:


The lunch menu consists of pizzas and the standard BLT's and other rolls and sandwiches at very affordable prices. Large pizzas (25-30cm diameter?) cost 1500 yen, and small pizzas (20cm diameter?) cost 900 yen. The sandwiches cost around the 500 yen mark. There is also a Thai red curry dish for 800 yen. We were pretty confident that the food will be of high standards since we've had their bakery products and dined at the Flatts' house for their matsuri. We chose the olive and salami pizza and the Thai red curry, and they were delicious.

Thai red curry pork with banana and yoghurt:


The olive and salami pizza - small:


Flatts' also does coffee - apparently 'real' coffee, not the Japanese ones which are supposedly weak. Unfortunately, since neither of us are coffee drinkers we cannot verify if the coffee is nice or not. We did, however, order the ice chocolate. I only had a sip or two since I know that my lactose-intolerant digestive system won't be happy if I downed a glass of milk.

Sipping ice chocolate:


All in all, it was a lovely lunch date with just the two of us - something we should definitely do more often.