Itameshi cuisine for the win!

It's a fact that is served deliciously at Key Coffee Kissaten, a classy restaurant at Opus Mall in Quezon City that serves Itameshi cuisine by combining Japanese and Italian culinary cultures.

- BUM D. TENORIO, JR.

If your gustatory excursion at the restaurant starts with a cup of Toarco Toraja, a coffee variety that grows in the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia and is said to be one of the rarest and most sought-after coffee by royals and coffee connoisseurs. Just indulge, sit back and relax in the comfy and cozy coffee shop, and savor elegance in every sip.

"After World War II, almost all the coffee plantations were left unfarmed and this rare coffee was almost lost, until in 1978, Key Coffee made it a mission to reintroduce this coffee for everyone to enjoy," says Bryan Chua, president of Boosterfoods Inc., the mother company of Key Coffee Kissaten.

Bryan is a "coffee crawler." He travels around the world in search of the perfect blend. He says Key Coffee is one of Japan's oldest and most respected coffee roasters with more than 100 years of history. The Philippine franchise is a modern take on the famous kissa, Japan's traditional coffee shop. Because it's a coffee shop, expect also food dishes that are luscious. Think Crab Ikura Udon, served with generous crab fat, or Japanese Melon and Prosciutto Pizza or Tiramisu with Blue Mountain coffee. But that's going ahead of the story.