foodie flurry thursday in kobe

The weather has taken a 180 and is back to cold. Yesterday Satoshi had the day off, so I suggested we go to Kobe, and on the way to the station there were lots of flurries.

In fact, for most of the day there were flurries (woot!)

The place I wanted to check out for lunch was the Syaarii Bar (shah-ree). I had seen these foods items on the same show but different episode from the one I learned about kimu-taku gohan on.

Syaarii (sometimes written shari) is the term that one uses at the sushi bar to mean rice.

We had variations of their main 3 types...the mokamusu, a crispy rice wafer filled with rice, which kind of looks like macaron...we tried the karikari (crunchy) ume (pickled apricot) with shiso (perilla) and the sobameshi (fried rice with chinese noodles, a famous Kobe food).

The syaarii moka, which are like mokamusu but with the addition of savory toppings, we tried the mentaiko (spicy pollack roe) salad & hanryu (korean) yakiniku (grilled meat).

The syaarii roll are rice and savory toppings wrapped with a thin soy sheet, the taste was like the wafer but was pliable. We tried the puripuri (plump) ebi fry (fried shrimp) & yawaraka buta no aburiyaki (slightly grilled tender pork).

Everything is well seasoned and for the mokamusu & syaarii moka, the rice is separated by plastic sheets so as not to make the shells soggy.

We also had some vegetable consomme with it...total 2220 yen (about US$22), a little pricey but a neat food experience.

Since we were in the area, I wanted to check out Kobe's Chinatown.

I had recently seen some lup cheong on one of my Flickr friend's photos and wanted to find some here, I don't know why I haven't check this area before because I found some under the name of xiang chang.

The best part is that this meat shop, Ekiseigo, makes their own, fresh! You should know that xiang chang is the fresh version of lup cheong. Lup cheong is smoked and cured.

Anyway, I cut my two pieces into halves and froze three of the pieces.

I'll use the one I have out in something soon. I hope it tastes like the lup cheong that I know...2 pieces for 940 yen (about US$9.40)

Satoshi on the other hand, still hungry from lunch, had an egg roll made by the meat shop...150 yen (about US$1.50)

The last part of our adventure happened at Mariage Frères, a French tea salon.

It was my 2nd time here but Satoshi's first.

He chose the Savarin--a brioche soaked with Marco Polo tea (a fruity tea) then topped with white chocolate, strawberries & pistachios, and a pot of Assam Nonaipara.

I chose a raisin scone which came with Marco Polo tea jam , Darjeeling Imperial tea jam and some butter, and a pot of Pleine Lune (a black tea with spices, honey & fruits). The tea jams are jellies made from sweetened teas...total 3200 yen (about US$32).

All in all it was a great day, lots of good food and lots of flurries.

It is Friday here, I hope you have a good weekend.

Syaarii Bar
Mosaic Harborland 2F
Kobe, Hyogo
Phone: 078.360.2336 (UPDATE: 2013 this shop is no longer at this location)

Ekiseigo Seiniku Ten
Chinatown
Kobe, Hyogo
Phone: 078.331.5058

Mariage Frères
BAL Kobe
Kobe, Hyogo
Phone: 078.391.6969