On July 1, 2022, after leaving Koori, I initially planned to go straight home, but I was invited by some young people to go to the next place and make a brief appearance. The place we ended up going to was Wise Cafe & Bar, for the second time. This was technically my first visit because the first time I only registered the store information and posted a photo of the exterior when the store first opened. The atmosphere inside was different from when I had briefly entered before, and it felt even better. I'm not sure what the young folks ordered, but a variety of fancy appetizers were served. I tried some and they were quite good. I checked the drink menu and even though it's a bar, they seemed to have a wide selection of alcohol. Since I had already had sweet potato shochu in the first round, I stuck with it here too (laughs). After ordering, I arranged for my wife to come pick me up by calling her. I had one drink and then left, reading the atmosphere and leaving the young ones to it. The atmosphere was really nice and it felt like a place where you can casually enjoy a drink, so I'm thinking of going back again. I've already become familiar with the owner, and it seems like a good place for solo drinking too. It was a great restaurant. Thank you!

I found out about this place opening at the end of last year. They only open for lunch on Fridays and serve soup curry, but you can't go unless you take paid leave. I didn't want to take leave just to eat there, so I kept putting it off. Golden Week this year happened to include a Friday, but they were closed for lunch that day. Even though they have a website, they didn't communicate this information. I suspect the owner, who may not be good with computers, had someone else set it up for them. I finally took leave for errands, and that's when I remembered about visiting this place. I called to confirm their operating hours and that they were serving soup curry before going. When I arrived, I checked the parking situation and found a shared parking lot nearby. Inside the restaurant, the female owner welcomed me. There were two regular customers at the counter. Since there was an empty table, I sat there. They only offer set meals and soup curry, so I ordered the soup curry. When the owner took my order, I hurriedly asked about the spiciness level. She asked if I preferred it not too spicy, so I requested it to be very spicy. At that moment, I regretted choosing this place because in my experience, single-item menu and no spiciness setting are often just touristy fake items. But when the soup curry was served, I realized it was different. I took a sip and thought, "Wow, delicious!" It wasn't a fake dish. The tomato-based soup with basil, popular since around 2004, was full of umami. The spiciness was just right, balancing well with the umami. The chicken was tender, but could benefit from more flavor infusion, and the lotus root tempura could be fried a bit less. For all this and a soft drink included, the price of 1,000 yen is reasonable. The owner mentioned she had studied by eating at various places, and I could see why.