News & Reports

A charity plate campaign in collaboration with the Red Cross and the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (SSFF & ASIA) is being held at Café Le Pommier in Omotesando until June 30. A PR volunteer for the film festival reports her experience of dining the plate.

From Harajuku Station, walk straight down the tree-lined Omotesando Avenue with its beautiful fresh greenery for about 5 minutes. Café Le Pommier is located on the second floor of the Japan Nursing Association Building across from Omotesando Hills. With terrace seating in front of the store overlooking the beautiful greens, this café offers a relaxing atmosphere while still being in the heart of the city. The concept is “health and beauty”, and you can enjoy meals with plenty of fresh vegetables and raw juices and smoothies made from fresh fruit.

The charity plate I experienced this time was also “health and beauty” oriented. It is very healthy with plenty of vegetables. The “Green Salad” with an abundance of tender leaves, the “Carrot Rapees” with the freshness of spices and the sweetness of carrots enhanced by walnuts, the “Salmon Carpaccio” with the aroma of dill and capers, and the main course, “Tartine with avocado and cold steamed chicken in black olive sauce”.  It is a tartine (French-style open sandwich) with avocado and cold steamed chicken in a black olive sauce. According to the staff, this tartine is the most popular dish at the restaurant. The best-ripened avocado covers the tender chicken, giving it a great visual impact. This dish is a must for avocado lovers. The avocado is in a perfect state of melting in the mouth and the healthy steamed chicken is a perfect match. The black olive sauce was a very nice accent to the dish.

This charity plate is a limited-time menu that the Japanese Red Cross Society is offering through June 30 in cooperation with Cafe Le Pommier in conjunction with the Short Shorts Film Festival, an international short film festival to be held in June. Five percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society to fund its activities.

Nowadays, we see news of war every day. It is sad to think of the suffering and pain of the victims. What we can do in Japan is limited, but I think that the system of eating a charity plate and donating may be a small support, but it is a contribution that is easy to take action. I hope that this contribution mechanism will spread more widely in Japan, as it is common in Europe and the U.S., where donations are well established.

The Japanese Red Cross Society supports the Film Festival’s “War and the Power to Live program”. The Cafe promotes the program through window wrapping and in-store pop-ups.

The “War and the Power to Live Program” will be screened online from June 1 to 30 and at Omotesando Hills on June 9. It is heartbreaking to see the lives and thoughts of people caught up in the conflict through the films. However, these films remind us once again that we should not turn away from them. This year, you can see 9 films including online and offline screenings. For more information, please click here!

War and the Power to Live Program supported by Red Cross – Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2024(SSFF & ASIA 2024)