The Margherita Pizza Toast

Day 4
Matsumoto, 26,740 steps, 21.2 kilometers

Reader, I have found it. The fabled pizza toast. A basic one — just bread with tomato sauce and some cheese on top — but I will take it. I can appreciate simplicity.

Found this kissa — Azemichi — at a street corner just a couple blocks away from my hotel. By the time I got there, the place was full. Mostly regulars, I think? The owners — a cute elderly couple — were tearing coupons off the coffee tickets on the wall for the majority of orders.

I didn’t want to walk a lot today. But somehow 20 kilometers happened anyway. There must be something in the Matsumoto water, I’m sure of it. Every time I come back from a long hike — sore all over — and soak in the hot spring, it’s like my legs are saying “hey, we’re good as new, let’s go for a walk again”. So we go.

I’m starting to realize that kissatens are not about coffee at all. It’s the atmosphere. The community — small town, people know each other, shop owners chat with the chat before taking the order and of course the regulars use the coffee tickets.

Coffee tickets are like shop loyalty cards, but better. Because you don’t have to carry it with you — it’s stored under your name in the shop itself.

Ingenious!

But I digress.

Sometimes, sometimes kissas are about the food. And, gosh, I think I’ve just had the best cheesecake in my life this afternoon?

Moist but fluffy at the same time. Just the right amount of sweetness. And a tiny hint of rum — just enough so you know it’s there, but by no means overpowering the classic cheesecake flavor. Heavenly!

I’ve been obsessed by this yakitori restaurant from the start. Every time I passed by, I stopped. To look around, to take a picture. Mesmerized by the colors, by the smoke that comes out from the exhaust, and by the smells carried by that smoke.

I had to try it. And it did not disappoint. I keep ordering more and more skewers. My heart and stomach are content.

That concludes my last full day in Matsumoto. Tomorrow — Karuizawa and maybe, maybe and hour or two in Nagano. I’m excited!

— Chris