あそらの茶屋 — Restaurant in Ise

Some friends found this place online. One of the few breakfast places available. The store comprises of 2 levels. The first floor is their retail store where you’re able to purchase all the ingredients they use in their porridge sets. The restaurant resides on the second floor. Tables are limited, and the queue closes fairly early depending on the crowd. When we arrived at around 8.30am, there was already a queue and the queue closed shortly at around 930-10am. Enter the queue by submitting your details on the tablet by the stairs. Take a quick browse already the store while waiting - make a mental note of which menu items are available for purchase while you’re at it.

There is only 1 set available, and can be paired with either lobster, abalone, sea bream or turban shells (basically, seafood stuff). If you’re not a fan of seafood or have a seafood allergy - avoid this place. There are no alternative menu items.

The porridge is plain and comes with a sauce. The little sides that comes with the set is heavy on the seasoning which goes well with the plain porridge. There are 2 sweets, the red bean and sweet Ume wine (which we were told is alcohol free).

Everything tasted good and balanced out each other. The whole set is served in a wooden box which they open in front of you, it felt like I was being presented a gift. The staff spoke minimal English but were able to give basic introductions to some of the sides. We got abalone and sea bream and were happy with both.

Credit card payment available. Parking limited. There is an elevator that leads to the...

Popular breakfast spot at the approach to the Ise Outer Shrine from Iseshi Station, which also sells kamameshi in the afternoon. I ordered the abalone kamameshi in shell as it was in season and also two other ala carte desserts. All the sides were delightful. There was marinated seaweed, chazuke toppings and mini oden and mini zenzai. They serve to enhance the flavour of the otherwise plain tasting rice in the kama. The abalone, in season, was not overly chewy. Adding these sides and the sansho into the chazuke serves as a way to alter and deepen the flavours of the dish. I felt that while the overall dishes are good, the kamameshi does not seem to have an impact on the rice. Since I come from SEA, I would prefer a crispy rice bottom to add 2 rice textures in one dish. The abalone is also a little lacking in quantity. The rice alone without the accompaniments also taste a little bland to me and the abalone did not impart its sweetness into the rice. The desserts, zenzai and tofu pudding, are great and I would recommend...

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