Morning at Sumica. ~ Make the most of your day with a delicious morning routine! I had a croque madame at a café centered on rice flour and fermentation.

Don’t you feel like you’ve made the most of your day when you get going in the morning?

Some of you may have spent a lazy morning on a day off and felt you’d wasted precious time. If that sounds familiar, why not head out for breakfast and start your day off right with some morning activity?

I visited Sumica., which serves breakfast to fuel your day.

A cafe using rice flour and fermented seasonings

The cafe is on the west side of MITSUI OUTLET PARK Kurashiki, about a two-minute walk away.
It occupies the former site of QINOCO, a cafe, and opened in April 2024 under a new owner.

The interior is laid out in a straight line from the entrance to the back. The register is near the entrance, so please order and pay before taking a seat.

Sumica. is open for breakfast, lunch, and cafe service.

The hours for each service are as follows:

• Breakfast
  9:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m. (last order at 10:45 a.m.)
• Lunch
  11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.
• Cafe
  9:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. (last order at 5:00 p.m.)

Please see the image below for the breakfast menu.

One of Sumica.’s distinctive features is that it serves dishes made with rice flour and fermented seasonings.
The owner says this approach grew out of a desire to serve food that is delicious and gentle on the body.

I had breakfast

From the breakfast menu, I chose the “Croque Madame (¥1,250 including tax).”

A croque madame is a hot sandwich that originated in France.
It is generally made with ham and cheese between slices of bread, topped with white sauce, cheese, and a fried egg.

Sumica.’s croque madame is made with house-made bacon between the bread, topped with rice-flour fermented white sauce, two kinds of cheese, and a fried egg.

The rice-flour fermented white sauce is made with house-made consomme koji, fermented from vegetables such as celery and rice koji. It is seasoned gently to bring out the flavor of the house-made bacon.

The house-made bacon takes eight days to prepare and has firm meat with little fat. I thought the egg would be the star of a croque madame, but at Sumica., the house-made bacon was unquestionably the main attraction in both flavor and portion size.

The colorful salad served alongside is also a must.
The house-made dressing was so delicious that the vegetables disappeared in no time. It has a pronounced sweetness from apples and onions, and is packed with grated carrot. It is seasoned with soy sauce koji, I was told.

A word from the staff

I spoke with owner Tanaka Asako and staff member Omizu Reina.

There seem to be few places in Kurashiki that serve breakfast. Was there a particular reason you started offering it?

Tanaka (surname only)

There aren’t many places that serve breakfast, are there?
We served breakfast at QINOCO before, so we’ve continued the tradition. We want to remain a place where customers who have been coming for breakfast since the QINOCO days can feel at home.

I also wanted to recommend to our customers my own habit of starting the morning with an even better cup of coffee. We open in the morning because we hope to be a place where people can start their day feeling good after enjoying delicious coffee.

How would you like customers to spend their time at breakfast?

Omizu (surname only)

Breakfast is the start of the day.
We’d be happy if you enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Sumica. and got your day off to a good start.

From the Writer

I had visited Sumica. for lunch and cafe service before, but this was my first time having breakfast there.

Getting dressed and eating out on a day-off morning, when I’d usually still be relaxing at home, made me feel like I’d made the most of my time. When the morning is fulfilling, the rest of the day feels good too.

I recommend starting your day with a delicious breakfast at Sumica.

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