Asagao, a French restaurant in Taito Ward, Tokyo, offers two set meals with hors d'oeuvres, soup, fish, meat and more. Priced at 3,000 yen or 4,000, yen excluding tax, the meals are designed to be eaten over two hours.
This may sound quite normal, except that the restaurant specializes in breakfast, starting at 7 a.m.
Asagao is one of a growing number of outlets in Japan that offer luxury breakfast sets. A popular recipe-sharing online site also offers creative recipes for breakfast to try out at home. The trend seems to stem from people's desire to have some relaxation in their hectic morning hours.
"I want to make breakfast a pleasant, special experience, like the feeling your breakfast is quite good while traveling," said Dai Shinji, who opened Asagao in February last year.
The menu constantly changes to incorporate seasonal ingredients, with last month's menu featuring roast duck and sauteed anglerfish. The restaurant generally offers light meals and so refrains from using large amounts of butter and cream.
"I feel so elegant in the morning," said a 45-year-old self-employed woman dining at the restaurant. "It's lovely to leisurely enjoy my breakfast sometimes."
Les Saisons, a French restaurant at the Imperial Hotel in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, offers a nine-item breakfast from 7 a.m. that costs 9,000, yen excluding a service fee. The set includes scrambled eggs with black truffle and bread unique to that particular breakfast set.
Pierre Herme Paris, the French confectionery brand, began last September offering the Petit Dejeuner breakfast set for 4,200 yen every third Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the brand's flagship store in Aoyama, Tokyo. The set includes croissants fresh out of the oven, granola and snacks. Reservations for the breakfast are required.
Though priced on the high end, such luxury breakfasts still cost less than a fancy dinner.
The popularity of luxury breakfasts is on the rise, according to a 2016 online survey of working women conducted by Asajikan.jp, which offers tips on morning lifestyle. When asked what they want to try most in the morning, 49 percent of respondents chose "yoga, exercise and/or running," which ranked first, followed by "having breakfast at a cafe, restaurant or hotel" chosen by 31 percent. The survey received responses from 572 women in their 20s to 50s.
Though not necessarily "luxurious," one can also add a creative twist to breakfasts made at home.
For example, the recipe-sharing site Cookpad offers around 65,000 breakfast recipes.
Variations of toast that make use of ample ingredients, such as toast with quiche ingredients or egg-and-cheese toast, are attracting more and more views.
Akemi Natsuyama, a senior researcher at the Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living, suggested that the popularity of luxurious breakfasts is part of a recent trend in which people seek to make their daily lives more enjoyable. "With an increasing number of women working, I believe more people want to take a break from the commotion of daily life," Natsuyama said.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
