Thursday Rendezvous

For a couple of months now, I've been teaching a Thursday morning lesson in Kaihin Makuhari (Chiba), which is also in the vicinity of Rob's office. Due to the nature of their jobs, Rob and his collegues work crazily hard, and they don't even take proper lunch breaks - instead they eat at their lunches at their desks. However, when I began going to Kaihin Makuhari on Thursdays, Rob found the time (albeit very brief, 30-40minutes) to have a mini-lunch date with me. His office usually get their lunches delivered to the office from the surrounding cafes, diners and restaurants and Rob has a few favourites which he takes me to for our mini-lunch dates (the others, he says, are not worth trying). These lunches aren't very fancy, due to the limited time frame, but they are quick, satisfying and delicious. More importantly, it's the company that I treasure the most, as these mid-week rendezvous are one of the rare times I get to spend time with Rob during the week due to his long hours at the office.

One of Rob's favourite lunches is the Chicken Sandwich (~1000yen) from the rib steakhouse Tony Roma's. Made with grilled whole chicken breast and nothing more than lettuce, sliced onion, tomato, pickle, honey mustard and tomato sauce, it is not only delicious, but pretty healthy. Apparently, Tony Roma's is famous for ribs and are located in 27 countries! We tried the ribs (I think the Baby Back Ribs?), but we still preferred the chicken sandwich (perhaps because ribs were a bit too heavy for a quick lunch). The Kickin' Shrimps were also pretty tasty. The Roma Burger (~1300yen) was also quite good, but once again we both preferred the chicken sandwich. No wonder then that it's one of Rob's favourite lunches at work.

Cafe Croissant has a decent variety of sandwiches made using baked goods like ciabatta, croissant and cobb, each reasonably priced under 400yen (~AU$4). However, one is not usually enough for Rob nor any adult males with a good appetite, so he usually gets two which is great for variety's sake. Favourites include Pastrami Ciabatta and Cobb Sandwich (made with avocado and prawns).

I hardly ever buy sandwiches or order them when dining out because I can easily make them at home, but it is nice to enjoy a variety of sandwiches available without having to collect so many condiments and ingredients at home just to make a sandwich lunch for one. Plus they are fast food but a lot more healthy than most fast food available. Here are two previous lunches we recently had at Cafe Croissant and Tony Roma's. Forgive the bad quality of the photos, taken with a keitai (mobile phone) camera.

Cobb Sandwich and Pastrami Ciabatta from Cafe Croissant:


We also snuck in a takeaway order of Chicken Sandwich from Tony Roma's into Cafe Croissant:


Tony Roma's Chicken Sandwich and Roma Burger: