From Banknotes to Bistro
Imagine looking across the room and seeing Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe sipping wine. You finish your superb coffee and take that last bite of Basque cheesecake. The check comes, and it's only ¥1,300 per person. That’s The Conder House.
As far as fine dining in Nagoya is concerned, most are familiar with The Kawabun Nagoya, a restaurant dating back 400 years to the days of Tokugawa. While that restaurant is certainly amazing, an equally special one is The Conder House. Interestingly, both restaurants are owned by the same person. Even more intriguing is that this upscale restaurant has an option for those on a tight budget.
More on that later.
Built in 1926, the building was repurposed as The Conder House in 2018. This fine Chinese cuisine restaurant used to be the head office of the Bank of Nagoya. It still features the bank’s vault, now functioning as the restaurant’s restroom.
The early 20th-century neoclassical architectural features make you feel as if you’ve traveled back in time to the days of flapper dresses and fedoras. Fine woodwork can be seen throughout, and the lighting treatments are period-correct.
The center of the room is adorned with a very large, beautiful chandelier. Despite Nagoya's industrial image, there are still a few buildings like this in the city, with grandiose cathedral ceilings from yesteryear. Nagoya’s City Hall, the Nagoya City Archives, and Mitsui Sumitomo’s Kamimaezu Branch all exude similar grandeur.
For lunch, prices start at a shockingly cheap ¥1,500 for an appetizer and main dish. For that price, you can choose from a few options. I recommend the mapo tofu if you don’t mind something quite spicy. Despite being a Chinese restaurant, they have a variety of other foods as well. The pad thai and curry are also quite good. They also offer an afternoon tea set for ¥4,400.
For ¥2,500, you have a few other options for your main, and in addition, you also get either a noodle or rice dish. At this price, I highly recommend the sweet and sour pork, which has a very rich sauce that is utter perfection. They even have a ¥4,500 all-you-can-eat option.
Now, if you are on a budget, you can just have some coffee and dessert. The Basque cheesecake is to die for. At only ¥700, it’s a steal. The coffee is excellent as well and is only ¥500. You could easily exceed those prices on a trip to Starbucks, but instead, you get an ambiance usually reserved for a visiting dignitary.
For dinner, à la carte main dishes start at ¥1,200. Eight-course dinners for ¥10,000 are also available, so there is quite a range of options. As for drinks, cocktails and beer start at ¥600 and ¥500, respectively, but wine is where it gets a bit bougie. While simple glasses start at ¥600, bottles range from ¥10,000 to ¥140,000.
The Conder House really does tick all the boxes: sophisticated, delicious, and extremely low prices for the quality and experience it provides.
If anything, it’s a steal.
What do you expect from a place that leaves its vault unlocked?
The Details
Phone: 050-5462-4730
Address: 2 Chome-20-25 Nishiki, Naka Ward, Nagoya, Aichi 460-0003
Hours: 11:00-22:00 Monday-Saturday
Website
Access
A four-minute walk from Fushimi Station
(H09) on the Higashiyama (yellow) line
(T07) on the Tsurumai (blue) line
Map
By James Rogers
Dr. James Rogers is a tenured university professor in Japan. He has published newspaper articles, books, and over 50 research papers on linguistics and Japanese studies. He is the author of the book "On Living and Working in Japan.”
*Please note that the writer did not receive any financial compensation or incentives in connection with this article.
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