foodie saturday in kobe

Saturday it was sunny so we decided to check out the Chinese New Year festivities in Kobe.

It was packed and hard to find a place to eat lunch at.

Our first choice had a krazy line, and the restaurant next door had no line, so we chanced it and had lunch at Koshusaikan.

They said we may have to share our table. We ended up against a wall with a teeny table.

Satoshi and I ordered the dim sum lunch which came with 12 different "tastes"...980 yen each.

These lunches had been made and had been sitting awhile because the skins of the dim sum were dried out...blah!

The bowl of noodles had either hardened or at least the noodles were in a massive clump...probably the worst meal I've had in Japan?!

I guess that is the chance you take when you veer blindly off your "to try list"...

A bit hungry we walked around a bit and decided to check out Lima Coffee.

They just opened last October and are part of the "third wave" coffee trend sweeping Japan.

Siphon-style, Satoshi enjoyed watching the guy behind the counter brew the coffees.

Satoshi had their Mandheling (medium) while I had their Peru (small)...770 yen for both.

Their coffee was good!

Since we were still hungry we checked out the second place on my list, Hyotan Gyoza.

This tiny shop has been in business for over 60 years!

They only have 8 seats so be prepared to wait.

If you don't have time to wait, order some "to-go".

Warning: If you eat at their counter, you have to order at least one order of gyoza per person.

We ordered two orders (one order has 7 pieces)...740 yen.

The skins are thin and have a little pull.

Kobe style is to eat the gyoza with a miso sauce. The sauce is made with hatcho miso, a red soy bean paste. We added a little vinegar to it, but you could also add chili sauce or shoyu.

We also tried their garlic soy sauce (bottle stuffed with sliced garlic and soy sauce), by itself.

Both are good.

Satoshi enjoyed these. He said that if he lived in Kobe, he would be here often.

I'm glad he liked this place...we'll be back to the latter two places.

Have a good week!

Koshusaikan
2-10-8 Sakaemachi-dori
Chuo, Kobe
Phone: 078.393.0607
Hours: 10:00-22:00

Lima Coffee
3-8-1 Motomachi-dori
Chuo, Kobe
Phone: 078.335.6308
Closed Mondays
Hours: 8:00-18:00

Hyotan Gyoza
1-11-15 Motomachi-dori
Chuo, Kobe
Phone: 078.391.0364
Hours: 11:30-22:30, days off not set, call before going