Fujiya at Narita Airport Terminal One, with its hearty food and kind, attentive staff, can cheer up sad souls leaving Japan.
The restaurant is cosily well placed by the observation deck on the fifth floor, with window seats to gaze and day dream at planes flying in and out. The menu is extensive. For example, Fujiya’s juicy hamburgs with the specialty house demiglace, tender omelettes, cheesy pasta and pizza, creamy gratin dishes, fresh salads, and dreamy desserts of strawberry shortcake and ice cream sundaes. It is all tasty and reasonably priced, so one can really eat one’s heart out. The staff also seemed experienced with travel woes, helping put away cumbersome luggage, and disentangling the numerous bags strung around my neck.
When I visited Fujiya, I ordered the breakfast set. For the princely sum of about 600 yen, I had hot cakes lavished with maple syrup and butter, and strawberry yogurt. The wonderful thing was that I requested and was un-grudgingly given more butter and syrup. At some other restaurants they respond as if you had asked for their liver, or else there is a charge for extras. The same for coffee. Just as I was about to finish, the waitress floated round with refills, and also topped up my milk. This simple breakfast and vigilant service eased my travel restlessness and tension, and lifted me up from being down in the dumps. The little things count.
Fujiya started in 1910 in Yokohama, and there are now about 57 stores across Japan. Fujiya is also famous for their candies and chocolates, and my heart has leapt with joy to spot their cake outlets at department stores. Their restaurants can be crowded, so if at the airport with a plane to catch, give yourself plenty of time to relax and enjoy every morsel of your farewell-to-Japan meal.
