Spoon Bread in Jiyugaoka

Update: It looks like Spoon Bread may have gone out of business. It was such a great place, I'm sad to see that it's gone.

Yesterday I went to Jiyugaoka with a couple of friends for lunch.  Jiyugaoka is a trendy neighborhood in western Tokyo full of shops, restaurants, and cafes.  Raku and a friend had been dying to go to a popover restaurant called Spoon Bread, and they invited me along.

It turns out Spoon Bread is in the same complex (called Sweets Forest) as Cuoca, the baking shop I visited back in December.  It's a great place to have some lunch (or dessert) and then do some shopping.

We arrived early, so I got pictures before anyone else arrived, but even during the lunch rush it wasn't crowded enough for  anyone to wait for a table.  It might be worse on the weekend though.  The place has an airy, country sort of feel.  I imagine Martha Stewart of Ina Garten could walk in here and feel right at home.

I'd never had a popover before, but was assured that I'd love them.  My two friends (popover experts) proclaimed these to be perfect.  Crunchy, fluffy, chewy, and eggy all at the same time.  This might be blasphemy, but I actually thought the soup was the standout of the meal, but everything we ate was wonderful.

They have number of lunch sets, but we all opted for the soup and salad set for 1200 yen.  There are also individual soup or salad sets that are larger, or a curry set - but we don't think that even comes with a popover.

I had the herbed chicken salad set, and it was fantastic!  The soup was a really rich tomato-y vegetable soup.  The salad was lightly dressed and the chicken was crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and perfectly seasoned.  I loved the soup so much I would almost recommend the Soup lunch, except I wouldn't want to miss out on the salad.  Decisions, decisions.

Another friend tried the avocado and tuna salad.  It came with a light fluffy tuna salad that she said was quite enjoyable topped with a generous portion of avocado.

Raku got the marinated bean salad, which comes in a small bowl, separate from the greens.  She reported that it was dressed very pleasantly in a tangy mustard dressing, and it looks like there were small chunks of avocado mixed in as well.

After lunch two of us got the popover sundae. We each got the half size, which was half of a popover filled with ice cream and whipped cream, then topped with banana slices, chocolate shavings, and chocolate syrup.  (Adzuki beans are an alternate topping to the bananas).  Delicious!  Raku just got a plain popover for dessert - can someone please explain sweets to her?