Anthem, Mizuhodai アンセム、みずほ台

Spend too long on the wrong side of the Tamagawa and you may eventually be blown down the tracks to Mizuhodai.  

It has its attractions, but not many.  Food wise, not much recommends itself; a half-decent looking Indian restaurant had promise, but locals were put off when the proprietors started advertising jobs for “young, attractive women.” In surrounding Fujimi there’s more on offer, such as great yakiniku and udon, but that’s another story.

Today’s lunch landed my dining partners and I at Anthem; a spick and span cafe-bar-deli-diner affair that is most certainly way too oshare for the locality. It’s mostly filled with octogenarians, who come in to keep warm. The staff look after them, and comport themselves with a modicum of grace while doing so, but probably dream of being elsewhere one day.  

The menu covers cakes and pastries, sandwiches and pizza, and the specialities of the house - gratin and dorian. The lunch sets, a little under ¥1,000, consist of bread, salad and either gratin or dorian in about five varieties, complete with a drink (non-alcoholic). Yebisu beer is available though, should you need it. 

The bread is forgettable, the salad uninspired (the highlight being the sweetcorn...), and the coffee good - all things considered. They used to serve the lunch sets with warm croissant, but harsh times call for harsh measures and now such francophile delights are reserved for the “dinner menu” (which, I assume, is exactly the same as the lunch one, only served after 6pm). 

My sausage and potato gratin was hot - lava hot, and although tasty, especially when topped with Tabasco in both red pepper and jelapeno flavours, took too long to cool to a safe temperature. My dining partners both had the seafood dorian. Both dishes would have benefited from more broccoli, in my opinion. 

049-252-6444

http://r.tabelog.com/saitama/A1103/A110302/11005497/