foodie sunday in kobe

Sunday was my birthday, it was also a day before the start of Chinese New Year, so we headed to Kobe...

Instead of fighting the crowds in Chinatown, we ate at a yoshoku-ya (western style), Grill Ippei. According to their website, they opened their first shop in 1952 in the Shinkaichi area of Kobe.

The one we ate at was their Motomachi shop, which is near the East gate of Chinatown.

Luckily, we got there soon after they opened and there wasn't a line (yet).

I ordered their tan-stew (beef tongue) simmered until fork tender.

This came with a salad and rice or bread, I chose rice but afterwards thought I should've ordered bread to mop up the demi-glace sauce...

At 2200 yen (tax included) this was totally worth it.

Satoshi ordered their "C" set 1900 (tax included), his meal came with potage (soup), some salad, fried fish, fried shrimp and pork sauteed with onions and other veggies. His plate also had some potato salad, slices of ham and a little macaroni coated with tomato sauce. (no photo).

Everything that other customers were ordering looked good too, we'll be back!

Just around the corner from Grill Ippei is Coffee Labo Frank. Last year, I visited their stand-up coffee shop called Coffee Stand Frank.

Since then, they moved to this new address.

We liked the laid back feel and their coffee good.

We'll be back.

I'm not sure how I found about Kissa Maruo, but I have had them bookmarked for some time now.

The reason is their "William"...a whole apple pie...650 yen (tax included). I am not sure, but think it might be named after "William Tell"...

We took this home and heated this up in the oven at home and served it with some vanilla ice cream.

The crust was disappointing, really mushy.

We liked the apple and custard type filling.

I'm glad we got to try this.

At Ça Marche, we picked up some items to have with wine and other nibbles.

A beet and pastrami sandwich (we got two), some olive bread and a cheese bread filled with 3 cheeses and some bacon.

Although the wind was icy, the sun was out and it was a delicious way to celebrate.

Grill Ippei
2-5-6 Motomachi-dori
Kobe, Hyogo
Phone: 078.331.1144
Closed Mondays
Hours: 11:00-20:30

Coffee Labo Frank
3-3-2 Motomachi-dori, Imagawa Building 3F
Kobe, Hyogo
Phone: n/a
Hours: 12:00-19:00

Kissa Maruo
3-9-22 Motomachi-dori
Kobe, Hyogo
Phone: 078.331.0575
Closed Thursdays
Hours: 8:00-20:00