Above-Average Chain Join: Bistro 309

A new Aeon mall opened near my son's school a few months ago and that's been a godsend for my wife and I. Now we can drop our son off, take care of some wholesale business in the area, then run by the mall for lunch and shopping. This Aeon is one of the smaller ones, comparatively, but it has some good eateries. The other day we tried one called Bistro 309. We stopped in out of curiosity, lured by fondue. The atmosphere was standard country-home/European kitchen motif. At alot of places, I get the feeling they took their motif out of a catalog...or more like a pamphlet. While 309 is a bit plastic, it's not irritatingly so, and the background music was a pleasant mix of jazz and intelligent pop.

One distinguishing feature is the bread bar in the middle that boasts about 15 different kinds of fresh bread rolls, all you can eat, and some interesting flavors at that. Basil, carrot, onion, corn, pumpkin, yomogi...and some pretty decent croissants.

The rest of the food could have been average and the bread would have been enough to bring us back, but the salad was also a cut above the average family restaurant. As you can see, mixed greens, and not drowned in dressing.

 I never had my fondue. I saw the cheese demi glace hamburg steak at another table and had to have that. And it was as good if not better than what I've had at Bikuri Donkey and places like that.

Food was prompt, service was courteous. They accommodated my requests. In the end, we had a tasty lunch at a reasonable price, with professional service (not the part-time college student sort you get at alot of places), and an atmosphere that didn't annoy me.

One other thing we noticed about the ambiance was a surprising absence of squalling tots. This sort of restaurant is usually thick with the screeching of colicky infants. But we were mercifully allowed to dine in peace. On our way out we saw why: strategic seating. All the baby groups were clustered at the front away from the rest of us. That's the kind of attention to detail I appreciate.

We'll be back soon to try some of the other items. If you come across a Bistro 309 I'd recommend you give it a try.