Sando Cafe

I can’t be the only one to find this joint confusing. Because, quite frankly, I don’t generally associate Japanese and sandwiches. Not Japanese people — I’ve read my share of Murakami novels where some unnamed protagonist is inevitably slapping some sort of meat between two pieces of bread — but it isn’t something I necessarily think of when considering Japanese cuisine. So, what’s to make of a Japanese sandwich shop? Well, if that’s all they served then maybe it would represent something new. Some fresh idea in the narrow culinary world of Montclair restaurants on Bloomfield Avenue.

But they also have some pretty traditional stuff, including dumplings, a few oddball snacks, donburi and udon. My really ramshackle research tells me that perhaps this new-ish location — rebranded as Sando Cafe (or Sando Kitchen & Cafe if you read their actual sign) — was a coming together of a few different restaurants: Sando Sando, Kitsuko Japanese Eatery and maybe some place called Kit’s Yaki and maybe also a joint called Kit’s Tea? All of which were formerly in Belleville. That’s all based on one of their Instagram posts and 37 seconds of Googling. But, if that’s the case, then the menu makes a bit more sense in its lack of sandwich focus. I mean, sure, there are sandwiches. Eleven in total from what I see. And what I see looks like a goopy egg and cabbage, imitation crab and cheese, crawfish and cheese, fried cutlets and a couple tempura options. I’m not sure why there’s cheese involved in any of these, but maybe that’s the jam in Japan. I wouldn’t know, as we didn’t go for the eatery’s namesake.

Instead I did the chicken katsu over rice. And Hipster Jr. Jr. did gyudon. It’s probably the first time I’ve had katsu since my first time at Go! Go! Curry! in 2009. Oddly, it’s not really something I run into a whole lot, despite it basically just being a fried chicken cutlet sliced into strips over rice with some sauce in top. Sando’s version threw in half a goopy egg, something that may or may not have been shreddy cabbage and these red dyed things that I’m going to guess were pickled radishes of some sort, but tasted a bit like peppery, gas-soaked spice shards. The katsu itself probably would have done better being eaten in the tiny, four-table dining room. As a takeout item, the panko absorbed what they call tonkatsu sauce, though I’m not sure if that’s what it’s typically called. It’s a brown sauce that’s kind of a combo of sweet and savory, but in its boxed, take-home form, it vanished a bit into the breading, making the intended crunch a bit soggy and the sauce ratio a little lacking. The whole experience wasn’t bad, but overall I’d say it was pretty uninspired. The thinly-sliced beef gyudon — which is basically Japanese bulgogi or a cheesesteak emptied into a bowl of broth over rice (minus the cheese) — was pretty plentiful and held its heat a bit better than the katsu. It had a runny egg (not the hard bolied, gooey one) that mixed in with the meat, onions and broth to create what I felt was a pretty mushy experience. But I only got to it after Hipster Jr. Jr. couldn’t finish off the thing. So it’s possible that the mush factor upped over time. She seemed to like it, but I found the meat a little flabby. However, the flavor was actually pretty good. Mostly rich, savory and salty, which is probably a combo of the shoyu broth, marinated beef and onions marinated in something equally umami-ish.

I’ve seen a lot of places come and go on Bloomfield Ave. Mostly go. And while there’s seemingly some flaw in each and every business — some of which has nothing to do with their food — I can’t help but feel this one might be a little too niche, a little too weird to be in it for the long run. I’m happy to be proven wrong, of course, but it just doesn’t seem like one for the ages.

340 Bloomfield Ave. – Montclair
973/582-8882
sandocafe.com