Imabari has a pretty harbour whose waters fill the moat of Imabari Castle via a narrow channel. If you’re hungry after a visit to the castle, it’s a simple matter to follow this channel to the harbour, walk for a minute or two, and take a left when you see the sign that says Redo Herb & Asian Café in English.
When I saw the sign, I wasn’t sure if it was a place to buy herbs or if it was just a coffee shop. But it’s neither in fact — it’s a fully fledged restaurant. The building itself appears to be an old Japanese one-storey building — what I would call a bungalow, with a touch of Asian styling around the door. The veranda is glassed in and looks out onto a beautiful walled garden. Inside, the roof beams are exposed and darkened. Cloth hangings and art from other Asian countries give it a rather un-Japanese feel, as does the Asian ‘world music’ playing gently in the background.
I was seated at the veranda counter overlooking the garden, in the striking red leatherette chairs. The waitress presented me with a hot towel scented with lemon balm, which was a pleasant touch. The menu is a treat to look through. Each dish has it’s own photo and explanation (in Japanese), along with images suggestive of warm island nations. Hot food is indicated by one or more chili peppers. After a good deal of indecision, I choose the khao soi, a noodle dish from northern Thailand. The tom yum ramen also looked tempting, although I wasn’t really feeling like two chilies worth of hotness at lunchtime.
The food took a short while to arrive, time which I spent wandering around admiring the garden, the artworks hanging on the walls, and the little corner selling Asian clothes and goods. When it was served, the food impressed with its beauty (I watched other customers fairly gape with surprise and pleasure when their food arrived, so it wasn’t only me). The khao soi had both boiled and fried noodles, in a soup thick with puréed vegetables and coconut milk. The soup was very spicy indeed, enough to merit at least one chili I would have thought. Besides the noodles, there was also a generous amount of chicken, pakuchi — coriander or cilantro, depending on where you’re from — and mild raw onions. It was a very tasty and fulfilling dish.
Besides noodles, the menu at Redo includes a comprehensive selection of Asian standards, desserts, crepes, smoothies, coffees, teas, as well as a fantastic-looking lunch available on weekdays. It’s a treat to find a place with such stylish food and décor, right next to the Seto Inland Sea.
