THE VERDICT
-
Setting & Atmosphere
-
Food
-
Service
-
Value For Money
Overall Summary
A local gem in the middle of the woods
While traveling around Suwa, Nagano, it was a real challenge to find places opened on a Wednesday. While most of the popular eateries we read about on travel sites were closed, we were lucky to strike gold with a small local find called the Mint Garden through good old Google search. With the autumn drive towards the Mint Garden as our last saving grace to satisfy our afternoon tea cravings, here’s what to expect in this idyllic cottage cafe.
Setting & Atmosphere
f you love all the charms that quiet mountain living has to offer, you’ll definitely enjoy the country home aesthetic of Mint Garden.
The owners run the cafe out of their European style wooden house by themselves and it has all the vintage details you would expect of a chic traditional German farmhouse. Once you step inside, you’ll instantly feel at home. The wooden antique furniture with exposed ceiling beams radiated those cozy hygge vibes while, the old stove heater kept the room at a toasty warm temperature. There’s also a small handmade trinket shop next to the register.
Even better, the cafe is also dog friendly and the owners have three dogs themselves
who you can see behind the register bar. Their older black Labrador is a big old sweetie who gets around slowly and will melt your heart!
If you get the opportunity, sitting in the sun room area has to be one of the cafe’s best features. It’s charming high ceiling and skylight let’s in those warm afternoon rays that makes you feel at peace. You’ll also have views of the garden or wonder outside on the terrace. I could already imagine my inner granny enjoying a cup of tea in the sun room or sitting on the porch while listening to the birds sing and watching my rose garden grow. Wherever you choose to sit, you’ll definitely forget about the rat race of modern life being surrounded by all this rich nature!
FOOD
s you might have noticed with our various recounts of aesthetically pleasing cafes in Korea and Japan, cafe-hopping while traveling is our thing!
Dare I say, we have become experts at trying to find cafes that offer something attractive while making it worth the trip. At the Mint Garden, their main draw is their hearty salad dishes that look like they are overflowing with green goodness. They refrain from using pesticides as much as possible and use mainly organic and local ingredients so customers can eat with peace of mind.
For the weary traveler who also enjoys tea time, the Mint Garden is also a lovely stop-over for afternoon tea which is when we visited. Considering we had been eating every meal at a convenience store thus far, the thought of a freshly prepared meal was greatly welcomed with open arms.
The homemade cakes were all deliciously served with a side of seasonal fresh fruits
and we were lucky to come when Japanese grapes were in season. If you have never tried Muscat or Kyohei grapes in Japan you’ll be surprised how super plump and juicy they are!
For our cakes we decided on the baked cheesecake and the chiffon cake. At first, I thought the cheesecake looked a bit petite on the plate but it was very rich and dense so it turned out to be enough to satisfy my greedy eyes. Of the two, we both agreed the winner was the classic chiffon cake. It was so light and fluffy and tasted even better with the generous dollop of hand whipped cream.
To wash it all down, we chose to share the flowery herb tea called “hanakokoro” which was surprisingly very smooth and an interesting blend of lavender, rose and anise seed. Although I don’t usually like herbal blends, I really enjoyed the flavour of this tea a lot! Not too flowery and very different from any commercial tea blends I have tried before. We also ordered a chai tea as our other set drink.
Cake Set (¥950 w/o tax each)
Chiffon Cake (¥500 w/o tax)
Baked Cheesecake (¥500 w/o tax)
Herb Tea 華心 (Hanakokoro) ¥600 (w/o tax)
Vegetable Salad
Curry and Naan
SERVICE
eeping in mind that this is run and owned by a husband and wife team, it’s best not to rush your time here.
As we beat the lunch time rush, our service at afternoon tea time was pleasant and prompt with a homey hospitality. The staff are friendly and enjoy chatting with their customers but unfortunately can speak only Japanese and some broken English.
Considering this, travellers might find it difficult to order and communicate since the menu is all in Japanese.
Though it isn’t listed anywhere, the last order for lunch time is at 3PM (unless sold out for the day) while tea and cakes are still available to order before closing time at 5PM.
Value For Money
aybe it’s due to the area but considering everything at the Mint Garden is homemade and uses organic ingredients, the prices are incredibly reasonable.
I noticed that the lunch set was only 1150 yen which included curry, naan bread, vegetable salad, drink and fruit dessert – a great bang-for-your-buck! You can also order a lunch cake (450 yen) or creme brulee (350 yen) if you are in the mood for more dessert.
If you are coming by for tea time only, the cakes were not too bad at 500 yen each but you should definitely order the cake set which also includes a drink of your choice to make tea time come under 1000 yen.
Overall, the Mint Garden is an affordable dining spot to savour the wholesomeness of homemade healthy food before continuing the long drive ahead.
My, that’s so peaceful and delicious I feel more relaxed just reading about it! Since we’re “socially distancing” here this was a treat to enjoy your experience from afar.
I hope you are safe and well; it’s a little scary in the plague year…
Thanks for stopping by Chief!
Hopefully our posts can take people’s minds off this pandemic situation even just for a bit since traveling is still risky at the moment.
We were lucky to do all our traveling before the outbreak so writing has been a nice cure to our own cabin fever haha
—
Siree