When you picture the perfect date-night restaurant, you probably imagine a classy interior. Maybe white tablecloths, maybe candles, maybe dim lighting … you’d go to the kind of place where tables are spaced just far enough apart to give couples some privacy, and where you can make a reservation ahead of time so you and your date don’t have to awkwardly hover by the door waiting to be seated. You’d go to the kind of place that feels especially fitting for big romantic occasions, say, Valentine’s Day.
Café Mami is not that place.
And yet, this Valentine’s Day, it is exactly where I took my friend Aisha for a dinner date.
Tucked into Porter Square, the tiny Japanese curry spot is about as far from the stereotypical date-night restaurant as you can get. The dining room is small, the tables are close together and there’s almost always a line around the corner. There are no candles, no white tablecloths and definitely no reservations. The restaurant sits inside Lesley University’s Porter Campus building and has two open walls (almost like a mall restaurant), so anyone walking by can see everything going on inside. There are only four or five tables in the restaurant itself, with a few more tucked against the hallway for additional seating.
The walls are cream-colored and decorated with a cute mural of four girls enthusiastically shoveling food into their mouths, an image that somehow just makes me hungrier as I breathe in the thick scent of fresh curry wafting from the kitchen. The whole space feels a little chaotic in the best way: people standing in line chatting, plates clinking, steam rising from plates of curry and bowls of miso soup.
Aisha and I had been there multiple times before with different people, and we already knew what we would order before picking up the menu. I got the cutlet don, a chicken katsu cutlet and egg cooked with onion and sweet soy sauce over rice. The cutlet is always tender and comes out almost too hot to eat, covered in sweet, eggy goodness. The rice is bouncy and delicious, and the whole meal comes with a little bowl of miso soup, which somehow makes everything even better.
Another reason I picked Café Mami for our ‘date’ was that Aisha is Muslim and eats halal, which narrowed down our options to places that either serve halal meat or have good seafood at a reasonable price. While Café Mami isn’t halal, they have a great salmon veggie don for only $16, which is Aisha’s go-to. The salmon comes beautifully cooked on a bed of rice and vegetables, covered in a glistening, flavorful teriyaki sauce.
It’s safe to say that the moment the food was placed in front of us, we both went silent. The only sounds were the people around us chatting, eating or waiting in line — and of course, the sounds of us absolutely demolishing our food.
Café Mami is mostly known for its Japanese curry. It always arrives on a platter, and you can order it topped with a pork cutlet whose crispy breaded crust soaks up all the sweet, savory curry. The curry sets come with a small sesame-dressed side salad, which I like to steal bites of to accompany my cutlet don when my friends aren’t looking (even though I could totally just order my own).
For Valentine’s Day, Aisha and I also shared the shrimp shumai, which came crispy on the outside, juicy and bouncy on the inside and was tightly packed — exactly how shumai should be.
The prices are also incredibly reasonable, with most dishes hovering around $14. I almost always have at least one piece of chicken left over that I end up munching on later in the day (I am the queen of leftovers). The most I could realistically spend here in one sitting is around $24 or $25, and that’s including an appetizer and a generous tip for the wonderful woman who works there.
Even though the restaurant serves Japanese food, the woman who usually seats us and takes our order is Thai, and she lights up whenever my friend Julianne comes along and they chat together in Thai. She often takes people’s orders while they’re still waiting in line, which helps the tiny restaurant run like a surprisingly efficient machine.
Café Mami also has a great delivery option and it’s not too far from campus, so the food will still be warm. My aunt and uncle told me that it’s my cousin’s favorite place to order from, and he grew up in Cambridge, so that feels like a pretty solid endorsement.
Once you’ve finished your curry (or packed up your leftovers for later), you can do what Aisha and I did and walk a few blocks over to Honeycomb Creamery for ice cream. It’s a nice way to end the meal: leaving a tiny, busy restaurant still full from a bowl of curry and wandering down the street for dessert (because even if you’re full, there’s always room for ice cream). Aisha and I sat on the windowsill sharing a cup and chatting for a while before heading home, which felt like a pretty great way to wrap up a perfect dinner.
So no, Café Mami is not the picture-perfect Valentine’s Day restaurant. But honestly, I don’t really care. It’s warm and homey, the staff are incredibly kind, the food is comforting and delicious and I always end up there with good company, which is what actually makes a meal memorable. People spend a lot of time trying to perform the idea of a perfect date, but in reality, good food and good conversation are far more important.
I wouldn’t suggest Café Mami for a first date — the line might be awkward and the tables are a little too close together for comfort. But if they like Japanese food, make it your second or third date. You won’t regret it.
