French toast @ Tarachine Breakfast, Kasuga, Kumamoto

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and what better way to start this with some French toast. I get it, eggy bread sounds like something you can make yourself. Indeed you can. However, this shop makes it so well that it deserves a shoutout. 

Fancy

Tarachine Breakfast is a cafe which specialises in breakfast dishes. I mean, it is in the name. Their main specialty is their traditional Japanese breakfasts with rice and side dishes. However, I came a bit too late and they told me they have sold out. The staff did mention that their French toast is still available. As it was very hot and I was very hungry, I decided to sit in and get that instead. A set with coffee stands at 1000 yen, which is quite modest. I did get some bacon and eggs which stood at 300 yen, giving me a grand total of 1300 yen. The place is quaint and homely. Surprisingly the walls are decorated with various bottles of alcoholic drinks! Wine, nihonshu, shochu, you name it, it is most likely there. I would not be surprised if they moonlight as a bar at night, but that would be telling. And soon enough my breakfast appeared before me. 

Fit for a king!

The eggy bread was golden brown and was cooked to perfection. The egg were nestled between strips of bacon, making some sort of eyeball for your morning pick me up. Ok that may be a bit of an odd metaphor but it does look that way. Despite the modest appearance, everything else was everything but modest. 

Golden

The toast was actually rather incredible. The texture was fluffy and soft without being too liquid. The bread was barely holding it in as the eggy custard felt like it has soaked the bread into oblivion.  It felt as though it was custard an bread form, instead of bread being soaked in some eggy milk mixture. A good slathering of maple syrup and a sprinkle of icing sugar gave this a sweet finish. Honestly this felt more like a dessert than breakfast. A sugar rush for sure, but I really do not mind one bit. 

The classic staple

The egg and bacon did help balance out the overall experience. Sure it is just bacon and egg. But the savoury profile help temper the sweetness somewhat. The porky fat from the bacon was actually a nice supplement to the overall package. And speaking of the overall package, the coffee that came along was actually pretty good too. It was slightly smoky and had some nutty notes without being too sour. 

Find this white sign and head to the second floor. You won't miss it. 

Despite having a change of plans initially, I was very happy that I stuck to my guns and sat in anyway. It is not often I get excited about French toast. Rather, I was never enthusiastic about it until now. And when this spot is located directly in front of Kumamoto station, it is hard not to recommend this place. If that has caught your attention, the address is as follows:

2 Chome-3-23 Kasuga, Nishi Ward, Kumamoto, 860-0047