Toto in Matsushima: Always Get the Set

    This is less a review than a reminder, as I needed last week when my kid had a Friday off of school and I needed to fill time without murdering my patience. We took the train to MatsushimaKaigan (420 yen on the Senseki line from Sendai) and found many surprising things.

    The area in front of the station used to be a big parking lot and buss pool. Now it's a building under construction, cutting off any easy connection to Toto, a little Italian restaurant in front of the station. Before this construction started up, the front terrace area of the restaurant was a great place to look over toward the park and the ocean beyond. Now, the front of the restaurant can't really use the terrace area and instead, from inside, you can only see the walls of the construction barriers.

    We went in and grabbed a pizza, which my daughter actually ate half of, and enjoyed ourselves immensely. In addition, they recommended we take advantage of the lunch set with comes with a salad plate and cookies in addition to a drink. This is the salad/appetizer plate. Look at it's gorgeousness! There's pate, a gorgeous little salad, a slice of prosciutto, a splash of colorful sauce and a delicious hot vegetable medley that did not look half as good as it tasted.

    So if you're in the area, don't forget about this place. Go and enjoy it. And get the set.