saturday

After all that rain during the week, Saturday was still cloudy, but with periods of sun mixed in.

I tried Garb Monaque for breakfast. The restaurant is part of Grand Front Osaka, I just never knew that they opened for breakfast.

I went with the bread set...500 yen (tax included).

It comes with salad, yogurt, your choice of drink (I chose coffee) and a screaming hot piece of bread.

I realized this bread was in fact "nuked" because towards the end of my meal, it was quite rubbery.

Not a good thing.

I liked how they gave two pats of butter and some strawberry jam for the bread.

Though I would've appreciated coffee served at the same time of my meal. By the time my meal came, my coffee was lukewarm.

Still at 500 yen it was a bargain.

And since all their other breakfast items are 500 yen too, I'll be back to try something else.

After breakfast and across the courtyard, I noticed these guys unveiling this huge robot...

Not knowing very much about anime, I uploaded it to IG (Instagram) and one of my followers said that this character was called "Patlabor" (Patoreiba in Japanese) If you are interested, you can read more about it here.

Apparently, they were there for a promotion of their new movie. By the time we left, after Satoshi's class, there was a huge crowd checking it out.

While I was waiting for Satoshi to finish, I wandered around Hankyu Department Store. I went up to their event floor and there was a huge line. Instead of directly standing in line, I checked out the other booths first.

Then after waiting in line for 45 minutes or so, I was able to buy 2 rolls.

Amafune makizushi made by Meister Kobo Yachiyo. The shop is located in a remote area of Hyogo prefecture.

They sell up to 1500 rolls a day! If you go to the shop, they limit you to 5 rolls per person.

According to a friend, this makizushi is so popular that it is very hard to get your hands on them.

During this time of year, cucumbers aren't plentiful, so there is only half of one in each roll. (Apparently during the summer, they put a whole cucumber in there!)

Also in the roll are seasoned kanpyo (gourd), seasoned shiitake, koyadofu (freeze dried tofu), and egg.

The flavors were simple. I am glad I stood in line and we got to try this.

Garb Monaque
Grand Front Osaka Umekita Hiroba 1F
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6359.5180
Breakfast 7:30-10:00, Lunch 11:00-15:00, Dinner 17:00-24:00
Open when Grand Front Osaka is

Meister Kobo Yachiyo
46-1 Nakamura, Yachiyo-ku
Taka-cho, Hyogo
Phone: 0795.30.5516
Closed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Hours: 10:00-16:00 (if they sell out earlier they close earlier)