foodie monday in kobe

Yesterday, the weather was sunny but the heat and humidity was brutal.

I think the temps got up to the 90s but felt like 100s.

I swear it feels like you are right up next to the broiler element of an oven.

I stopped in at Ça Marche and picked up their patchwork bread and some other items...I've written about them here. I love their breads!

It was so hot that I stopped in at a new Starbucks, this one is a Starbucks Reserve and is called Neighborhood Coffee.

All their drinks are one size (big) and their prices are quite "big" too.

This passion tea was 540 yen (tax included).

The staff are friendly and I like the space design, they even have a separate area for people to come and sit with their dogs.

After cooling down and recharging...I headed down to Mariage Frères to pick up this year's summer tea which is called Rio Summer and some others for iced tea.

The Rio Summer is a green tea base with mint, green mate and açai. I've already cold brewed a batch and it is refreshing, lots of mint!

The other two teas I purchased were Mandalay (a black tea base with fruits and spices, perfect for iced chai), and Roi des Earl Grey (a black tea with bergamot).

I really appreciate the staff working here. They are really passionate about tea and give really informative explanations of the different teas.

Since this summer is really hot, I'm sure we'll quickly go through these teas.

How is summer where you are?

Neighborhood Coffee
2-24-1 Nakayamate-dori
Kobe, Hyogo
Phone: 078.222.0230
Monday-Fridays 8:30-22:00
Saturday, Sunday & Holidays: 7:30-22:00

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

genti osier

Yesterday, I got together with my host mom, host brother's wife and my host sister for lunch.

It's been awhile since my host sister has been able to join us.

While the food at Genti Osier wasn't too good, the dessert service was nice and it was nice to be able to catch up with everyone over lunch.

My host mom and I also celebrated our birthdays early.

I'm glad we've been able to keep in touch over the years. (Thank you!)

Have a nice weekend!

Genti Osier
2-8-9 Kitano-cho, Ijinkan club Part 2, 1F
Kobe, Hyogo
Phone: 078.231.2815
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 11:30-22:00

foodie friday in kobe

Satoshi's went on a trip for work, so I have a couple of days to myself.

Thursday, it rained all day, so I stayed indoors, reading and just chilling out.

Yesterday, it was sunny, so I headed out to Kobe.

In the morning it was chilly, so I was wearing a long sleeve cotton shirt and a trench coat but by the time I reached Kobe it was blazing! I ended up carrying my coat around.

I had envisioned buying some baked goods at Ça Marche, but apparently they are closed this whole week...boo!

Bummed, I went a couple of doors down to Kitano Grocers to check out their spices. I picked up some seedless tamarind and fenugreek seed.

The lady at the check-out was surprised with my purchases and said, "most Japanese don't buy these items".

I mentioned to her that they were used in a curry recipe book I have, so I wanted to try the recipes with them.

She was very happy to hear this.

Then I went down the street to Kobe Halal to see what other spices they had. I picked up some curry leaves and raw peanuts (not shown).

Everything was super reasonably priced...love these shops!

Since it was nearing eleven-ish, I headed down the hill to L'Ami for lunch.

This tiny shop only has a "U" shaped counter with about 15 seats.

When I got there half the seats were already filled, and everyone seated were female.

I ordered the beef stew omelette...864 yen (tax included).

The omelette is fluffy with lots of sliced onions in it. The beef in the stew was so tender. The demi glace sauce was a little sweet.

Lunch also came with a small salad, miso soup, rice, some tsukemono (pickles) and a slice of orange.

The food comes out pretty quick and the turnover quite fast.

There are some items that Satoshi would like on the menu, we'll be back!

After such a big lunch, I wanted to walk around a bit, so I went in search of Coffee Stand Frank.

It was about 10 minutes away from L'Ami.

This is also a tiny shop, where you stand at the counter and drink your coffee.

Not knowing what it was, I ordered an iced shakerato...330 yen.

Turns out it is a espresso, that is shaken like a martini.

Apparently it is supposed to be shaken with some simple syrup, but when the barista asked if I wanted it sweetened, I told him I didn't.

Different but good! I'll be back.

Fun Foodie Friday...enjoy your weekend!

L'Ami
3-4-3 Sannomiya-machi
Chuo-ku, Kobe
Phone: 078.327.7225
Closed Mondays
Lunch: 11:00-14:45, Dinner: 17:00-21:30

Coffee Stand Frank (UPDATE: 2016 they moved and are now called Coffee Labo Frank)
3-1-11 Sakaemachi-dori
Chuo-ku, Kobe
Phone: n/a
Mondays-Fridays: 7:00-20:00, Saturdays: 10:00-20:00, Sundays & Holidays: 10:00-19:00

r valentino

Monday, my Twitter friend, H, invited me to have lunch with her, her daughter and a friend that was visiting from Hawaii.

Lunch was at R Valentino.

The owner is from Calabria, Italy and you can see him walking around chatting with customers and helping out with the service too.

Really homey atmosphere.

We all ordered the Lunch A...with antipasto, choice of pasta or pizza, dessert and choice of beverage.

The antipasto was a slice of omelette (frittata?), a slice of proscuitto, some fried fish and a little veggie garnish.

For the pastas, we chose spinach and shrimp cream fettucine, and sausage zucchini spaghetti.

The pizzas were margherita and a spicy salami. Love that these were baked in a brick oven, the crust was crisp yet a little chewy too.

We shared everything, so good and filling!

Dessert was a mango panna cotta and since the restaurant was celebrating 20 years, they also gave us all a little scoop of vanilla gelato.

I loved the Bialetti espresso saucers...so cute!

Not many pictures we were too busy chatting and eating.

I hope H's friend enjoys the rest of her trip.

Thanks for a great day and for treating me to lunch, H!

R Valentino
4-5-13 Kano-cho, Nuova Spirito Building 3F
Chuo, Kobe
Phone: 078.332.1268
Lunch: 11:30-14:00, Dinner: 17:30-21:00
*Reservations advised

foodie thursday in kobe

Yesterday, I went to Kobe despite the weather being forecast for rain.

The postcard for this year's Mariage Frères' Summer tea came and I wanted to pick it up as soon as possible since the number of samples were limited.

This year's summer tea is called "Summer Yuzu", a green tea base with yuzu zest and other citrus notes.

My first stop was Ça Marche, the tiny bakery that I've written about before here.

I picked up their patchwork bread and also their pain perdu (french toast) that was covered with dark chocolate and candied iyokan (a type of orange) peel.

Then went a couple doors down and popped into Kitano Groceries to see if they had small packets of ground turmeric, they didn't but they did have all sorts of other spices, it was nice to window shop there.

It started to drizzle while I walked down towards BAL (where Mariage Frères is located) and since it was close to noon, I stopped into Le Dimanche for lunch.

I chose their lotus root tartine (a baguette with slices of chicken and lotus root covered in cheddar cheese) and their donut.

Since I was eating in their shop, I needed to purchase a drink (in Japan, most places don't allow you to just have water), so I ordered a small iced coffee.

The girl at the register in her own world says to me, "what would you like to drink?"

I replied, "a small iced coffee".

She then says, "small or large"

I replied, "a small iced coffee"

She then says, "hot or iced"

Grrr...

At least I had the whole upstairs eating area to myself.

Too bad I didn't notice the toaster oven earlier, that tartine could have used a little heating up.

Dunno that I would eat there again, pick up and go definitely sounds the way to go here.

Then I headed to Mariage Frères.

Since I needed to purchase something in order to receive the sample, I got the "Imperial Russia", a Darjeeling base with lots of citrus notes.

I was kind of bummed that they only sell from 100 grams. I was kinda hoping they sold smaller sizes, like 50 grams so I could try more teas.

The guy at the counter let me smell all sorts of different teas, talk about sensory overload!

When I got home, I cold brewed both.

This morning I had the pain perdu...love this! so much candied peel and the semi-sweet chocolate matched perfectly.

I had the Summer Yuzu with lunch...meh, too perfumy and fake.

On the other hand, I did like the Imperial Russia which had a subtle citrus flavor.

Some hits and misses.

We'll be having the patchwork bread for breakfast tomorrow (Saturday).

Hope you enjoy your weekend!

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

foodie thursday in maiko

Thursday, I got together with my host-mom and my host-brother's wife for lunch. It's that time of year for our birthdays, so my host-mom took us to a buffet at the Maiko Villa hotel.

The last time we came here was when my host-brother and his family moved from Tokyo to Hyogo...some 10 years ago?!

This buffet was good! You don't have to stand up and go through a buffet line, instead, you order what you want from their menu.

I think we ordered "almost" everything on the menu...

After lunch, we went for coffee on the 14th floor.

It looks out at the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge...amazing views! Too bad the weather was overcast.

Oh, the bouquet up top is what I gave to my host-mom for her birthday, she said she really liked the colors.

It was a nice day, lots of good food and good conversation.

Thank you!

Maiko Villa
Umihotaru (Chinese restaurant)
Key West (14F lounge)
18-11 Higashi Maiko-cho
Tarumi-ku, Kobe
Phone:078.706.3711

p.s. today is the start of the Chinese New Year...Kung Hee Fat Choy!

virtual hugs

Remembering this day.

It's been 20 years since that horrific earthquake.

Sending virtual hugs to Kobe and their surrounding areas today.

maya rucksack market

Saturday, we met up with Satoshi's friend and his son to go to the Maya Rucksack Market.

Maya is the name of a mountain in Kobe. Rucksack is a European word for backpack.

This market is actually a flea market.

To get to the market, we needed to take the Maya Cable up.

When we got there closer to 11:30 (the market starts at 11:00), many vendors were scattered along the walkway to the Maya Ropeway.

There is also a tiny park where some vendors had set up, there were also many families picnic-ing.

There is no fee for sellers. If you want to sell food though, you need to apply in advance listing what you will sell and what ingredients you are using.

Apparently this market is held several times during the year.

Since we didn't know what types of vendors would be there, I packed a bento for our lunch.

Karaage (fried chicken), eggplant with shoyu & vinegar, red bell pepper with black sesame, green bell pepper with oyster sauce and carrots simmered in dashi (stock) and ume.

I also made some musubi (shiso and konbu).

For dessert, I also shared some energy bars with his friend...so good! lots of goodies in it, Thanks again Jalna!

One thing that I bought while at the market was this karinto (fried dough).

I've tried savory karinto before and this one was curry flavored. Shimacchi curry karinto, made by a group from Kochi prefecture in Shikoku.

They had 3 types, mild, medium and hot.

I bought medium...400 yen.

Gosh, this thing was hot, we were all coughing while eating it, and then we got kinda used to it and couldn't stop.

Fun times.

le plaisir

Even though the typhoon was forecast to pass by our area, yesterday, my host-mom, my host-brother's wife and I met up for lunch, to celebrate my host-brother's wife's birthday.

The skies were grey and gloomy and it was super super humid.

Lunch was at a French restaurant that my host-brother's wife had wanted to try...Le Plaisir.

Located in a tiny building the restaurant is tiny too.

In fact, you need to make reservations to dine there.

We were the only customers the whole time...nice!

Lunch started off with a glass of champagne mixed with raspberry liquer...

(When we ordered this, the chef asked "are you sure? it is a rather strong drink. I've had several people pass out after drinking it...whoa?!) It was delicious!

Next came a sauteed scallop salad on mesclun greens.

The scallops were cooked perfectly and well seasoned. The vinaigrette wasn't overpowering.

The daily fish was a tai (sea bream) that was prepared poêlé style which means "pan fried" this was served with a nice light butter sauce.

The fish was also prepared excellently with a nice crisp skin.

Next came the meat dish...Beef entrecôte aiguillette (thinly sliced beef) with a red wine sauce.

So tender and the sauce was rich.

Perfect with homemade baguette.

Dessert is pictured above. A crêpe filled with homemade vanilla ice cream and topped with caramel and mandarin oranges.

Coffee or tea was also served, we all chose coffee.

Not many photos, but it was a nice leisurely lunch and the food delicious!

I'm happy they invited me to tag along. Happy Birthday, K!

Le Plaisir
2-10-22 Nakayamate-dori
Kobe, Hyogo
Phone: 078.251.0220
Closed Sundays, Reservations only
Lunch 12:00-14:00, Dinner 17:00-22:00

beware

The other day, I went walking and saw a television crew in our area.

I wondered what all the commotion was about, but didn't ask them.

Then I took a detour through Suigetsu Park.

Everyone was sitting around enjoying the hanashobu (iris).

It was there that I saw warnings about araiguma (raccoon) sightings in the area.

Apparently someone got bitten by a wild raccoon over the weekend...

When I told Satoshi about it, he laughed it off...and said "but they are supposed to be cute right?!"....

Um, not if they jump out and bite you on the leg...sigh.

Anyway, lots of wild animal sightings in many areas of Japan over the past week.

The scariest sightings were the wild boars in Kobe...be safe everyone!

aco's

Satoshi's friend gave us this box of sweets (Thank you!)

Aco's is an online bake shop. You order from them and they deliver it to you wrapped or to the person you want to give them to.

In this particular box, there were 2 marron pies (flaky crusts and a whole chestnut), simple and delicious!

Biscotti...I liked how they used both almonds and hazelnuts.

Galette Bretonne...buttery cookie

Kibi cookies...kibi (a type of brown sugar) is ground up with pecans, flour and butter...super crunchy cookie!

Fig Kugelhopf...a little boozy fig "bundt" type of cake.

Everything was fresh and delicious...thank you!

foodie sunday in kobe

This past Sunday, we met up with Satoshi's friend and his son at Oji Zoo in Kobe.

It had been ages since I had been here! It was Satoshi's first time.

We started off by having lunch at a nearby cafe, Nim Cafe.

Apparently, the place is usually packed, but we got there right when they opened so we were able to get a table.

I had their BLT this also came with a vichyssoise, salad & tiny dessert (orange gelatin)...950 yen.

Satoshi had their daily pasta (clam and cabbage) and his friend had their omu-rice...900 yen each.

Since it was a Sunday, there were many people at the zoo and the neighboring areas.

The weather was nice but hot!

We got to see the zoo's panda.

There was also an exhibit area with this mural of the world.

I liked how they used shapes of animals to make this, here's a closer look.

On the property is also an amusement park. There are many rides, and you need to purchase tickets before riding. It reminded me of the days when we used to have carnivals at a local park in Hawaii.

I was amazed at how close up you could get to some of the animals...

The property is huge, but we managed to see a lot.

There are a lot of sakura (cherry) trees too, so this is a great place to visit when they are in bloom.

We went to a nearby shopping arcade to re-fuel.

This tiny kushikatsu stand, Ittoen, was a nice place to have a snack.

We had several sticks (quail egg, tako, shrimp, fish), the guys shared a beer, while I and the little guy had some soda...2130 yen.

And then we walked through the rest of the shopping arcade.

I came upon this cute bakery, Nico Neko-do. They make a cute (and delicious) Hello Kitty bread filled with custard...130 yen.

And this one filled with peanut cream. I was surprised at how sweet their peanut cream was (I think they mix peanut butter with frosting or something similar). Slathered in a baguette this was delicious though.

It was a long day, but we got to see a lot and eat a lot...thanks for a great day!

Oji Zoo
200 meters from the Hankyu Oji-Koen station
Admission

Nim Cafe
6-1-15 Nakahara-dori
Nada, Kobe
Phone: 078.806.3707
Hours: 11:00-22:00
Closed Tuesdays

Ittoen
5-2-24 Suido-suji
Nada, Kobe
Phone: 078.801.6332
Hours: 11:00-23:00
Closed Mondays

Nico Neko-do
2-16 Suido-suji
Nada, Kobe
Phone: 078.777.1734
Hours: 7:00-19:00
Closed Tuesdays

the last day of golden week

The last day of Golden Week, we went with Satoshi's friend to check out a minor league baseball game.

"Someone" even got a chance to field balls at batting practice...

Since Satoshi's friend had also brought his son, we went to check out the huge slides...(dunno what happened to the right side of my photo...)

These slides were super long and super fast too.

I saw one girl actually flip off it. Glad she wasn't seriously injured.

When I got home, I noticed this...

You know as fair as I am, you would think I would learn my lesson. I think there is a part of me that still thinks being from Hawaii means I can "tan"...

I guess summer is here.