Tsubomi cafe:dining

Working in collaboration with BouneLund toys, Tsubomi cafe:dining is a wonderful choice for parents who like good food but need to go somewhere that is fun for their kids too.

The concept is brilliant- create an Oshare restaurant & bar and design an upstairs playroom full of high quality BourneLund toys staffed with friendly oni-chans and One-chans. Thereby making it the most attractive family friendly restaurant in Hiroshima city.

When we went for dinner, we were a group of 2 adults and 3 small children. We enjoyed a variety of dishes ordered ala carte from the menu like grilled sea bream with herbs, seafood pasta, baskets of bread with butter, large salads and delicious desserts of cakes and homemade sherbert. We also had a few glasses of wine and our bill came to about 5,000 yen per adult (the kids didn't eat much). This included the 300 yen per hour charge for the kids to play in the playroom (while being minded by the playroom staff) once they finished eating and we continued to sit, eat and drink at our leisure. If you want the kid's set meal at dinner, you have to order it in advance.

What a wonderful treat it was to be able to sit and enjoy a well made meal while our kids were having fun and someone was keeping an eye on them for us upstairs. When my 1.9 year old daughter looked sad, the staff would bring her down to us and then when she wanted to, she went back up to play again- they were very relaxed about that.

Before your kids can play, you sign them up and sign a kind of waiver on a form that explains the system.
The whole restaurant is also set up to be child friendly from the highchairs to the sinks in the toilet. There are also some toys to play with in the lobby in case you have to wait for a table.

When you make a group reservation (sets start from 2,500 yen per person) you can reserve the upstairs for a larger group or downstairs there is a private low seated area that has a small, private play area at the back of it. Or you can book your kid's birthday party: adults 3,000 and kids 1,000 yen. for food and fun. They have a variety of other plans including all-you-can-drink deals.

Tsubomi is located a few blocks over from the Alsok concert hall, along the old route 54 (now 183) in the Oshiba area (between Hakushima and Yokogawa), it is flanked by car dealerships, a big WANTS drug store and Gusto/Skylark on the same busy road.

As this place is very popular with families and people dining without kids as well, it is strongly recommended that you make a reservation in advance no matter what day or time of day you would like to go.

• Reservations recommended- reserve a set course at the same time to save money.
• Family and child friendly.
• Bring your own chopsticks (they only have waribashi) and kid's cutlery (only available with the set meal).
• Some staff speak a little English
• Japanese menu
• smoking and non-smoking sections
• credit cards will be accepted from September 2008
• Parking for 12 cars in the adjacent parking block (cars lower than 155 cm) and 6 spots in front
• Nearest train station- Yokogawa station (about a 15 minute walk up route 183 from there heading away from town).
• Nearest bus stop is Oshiba (大芝)2 chome.

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