Just a little southeast of Hankyu Shukugawa Station, there’s an Italian restaurant called “ARTE Simposio.”
Neither the location nor the storefront really stands out, and it’s more the kind of place that quietly goes about its business (Shukugawa has quite a few places like that), but it’s a popular spot where you can enjoy authentic Italian cuisine.
This time, we stopped by during lunchtime and tried one of their lunch courses.
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“ARTE Simposio” Cuisine
From the lunch courses, we decided to order the “Today’s Chef’s Omakase Course” (5,500 yen).
It’s a course where every dish is left up to the chef.
First up was the stuzzichino.
A stuzzichino is something like a small appetizer, positioned as a snack to go with an aperitif, but of course, drinking alcohol in the middle of the day isn’t exactly easy to do…
From right to left, these are “yellowtail carpaccio,” “Chinese cabbage zuppa,” “seared Yamagata beef,” and “mussels.”
Each one brought out the natural flavor of the ingredients, and they were all very delicious.
Next was the antipasto (appetizer).
This course includes two antipasto dishes, and this was the first one.
I’m not quite sure of the dish’s name, but it had blowfish and truffle on top of a terrine.
On top of that, olive oil is poured over it when served, and this restaurant is apparently particular about its olive oils, using different varieties depending on the dish.
The terrine itself had a clear, savory flavor (perhaps consommé?), and the balance with the delicate taste of the blowfish and the aroma of the truffle was excellent.
The olive oil seemed to tie the whole dish together, and I imagine that was all carefully calculated too.
Here is the second antipasto dish.
Inside an eggshell vessel were egg yolk and salmon roe.
The egg yolk was soft-cooked, and the salmon roe had also been very lightly heated. You mix it with a spoon before eating.
It’s a combination of eggs, but surprisingly, it’s not something you come across very often.
The flavors complemented each other nicely, and it was very tasty.
The primo piatto (first course) was “spaghetti with oysters and Chinese cabbage.”
The spaghetti is coated in a soup filled with the umami of oysters and Chinese cabbage.
It’s a dish that lets you fully enjoy these winter flavors.
It was unmistakably Italian, but there was also a slight Japanese feel to it.
Maybe that’s because oysters and Chinese cabbage are so familiar to Japanese people.
The secondo piatto was “grilled Spanish mackerel” (served on top of a “carrot sauce”).
The secondo piatto is what you’d generally call the main dish, and this course includes two secondo piatto dishes.
Spanish mackerel is written in Japanese with the character for “spring,” but apparently its season is actually from autumn through winter. Come to think of it, we’ve been having Spanish mackerel quite often during recent food coverage too.
It was a simple grilled fish dish, but the Spanish mackerel was nicely fatty, and the combination with the carrot sauce was superb.
The second secondo piatto was “Yamagata beef steak.”
It was a little hard to see because of the herbs on top, so I took another photo.
Here it is.
What a beautiful color…
The surface is seared, but the center is almost rare.
The sauce was made with red wine and balsamic vinegar.
The acidity of the sauce really brought out the delicious flavor of the lean Yamagata beef, and it was incredibly good…
But the photo may do a better job of conveying how delicious it was than my writing can.
For the final dish, you can choose either “dolce” or “cheese,” and this time we chose dolce.
It was “semi-dried persimmon and mascarpone cheese.”
It was my first time having persimmon with mascarpone cheese, and it was very good.
Persimmons are originally from Japan, but they made their way to Europe in the 17th century and are now commonly eaten in Italy as well.
Incidentally, in the West, persimmons are also called “kaki.”
Finally, coffee.
For the after-meal drink, you can choose from options like coffee or tea, but with Italian cuisine, espresso is the way to go.
We also had “ponkan peel,” “meringue,” and “homemade pudding” as little sweets to go with the drink.
It was a luxurious lunch that let us enjoy Italian cuisine right through to the very end.
“ARTE Simposio” Menu
Here is the lunch course menu.
Many of the dishes change daily, so please ask the restaurant for details.
Inside “ARTE Simposio”
Inside, there are table seats and counter seats.
These table seats are located just inside the entrance.
Past this bar counter, toward the back, you’ll find the kitchen and counter seats.
These are the counter seats.
Exterior of “ARTE Simposio”
This is the exterior of the restaurant.
There aren’t any eye-catching signs or banners, so it may be a little hard to spot.
The entrance looks like this.
“ARTE Simposio” Restaurant Information
★Business Hours
11:30～14:00(LO)
18:00～21:00(LO)
★Closed Tuesdays; one consecutive holiday period per month
★Phone Number 0798-22-1886
★Address Hyogo PrefectureNishinomiya CityKotobukicho5-16
★Seats 20 seats
★Credit Cards Accepted
★Smoking Not permitted
★Related Link
Tabelog
(*Prices, menu items, business hours, and other details are as of the time of our visit. Please contact the restaurant directly for the latest information.)
