The cheap lunchtime set menu is a staple in Japan and there are plenty of quality places in Muikamachi vying for your money. A great option is ‘Olu ‘Olu which serves up tasty homemade pastas. It is a bit off the beaten track but well worth hunting down.
‘Olu ‘Olu is surrounded by farm machinery showrooms and other industrial buildings and is easy to drive past without a second glance. Its newish building is shared by their pasta cafe and a hairdresser on the other side. It is not particularly big with only five or six tables but this means great service and extra attention to the quality of the food. It is actually in its second incarnation as it used to serve up a Hawaiian themed menu but now they have focussed in on handmade pasta.
You can choose one of four bases (garlic, tomato, cream, or tomato/cream) and three different styles of pasta. With those two decisions out of the way you have a further choice of what other ingredients you would like from half a dozen preset options. It was a difficult choice but we ended up going for spinach and bacon garlic tagliatelle and a tomato/cream prawn spaghetti. Both were fantastic, but being a set there was plenty more: a generous salad drizzled in a tangy dressing, a refreshing cold sweet potato soup, a glass of juice and, best of all, some warm crusty bread. The bread was great and perfect for mopping up the remaining pasta sauce.
It was an impressive lunch spread served by friendly, attentive staff in a relaxed atmosphere. A nice touch was the chef coming out of the kitchen to see how we enjoyed our meal, and then seeing us off afterwards. It was a good value feed and from time to time they do an evening “ eat as much as you like” pizza and pasta buffet which I am very keen to get involved with given the quality of this lunch. If you are looking for a simple, tasty pasta meal or a good value set lunch, ‘Olu ‘Olu has you covered.
