Monday mornings don’t have to be dull if you’ve decided it’s Saturday! The forecast for Saturday was just too much rain for what we had planned, so we moved our excursion to today. We went to Kobe! Ever heard of Kobe beef? Yeah, you bet we made Kobe a destination for a day!
Door to door, Kobe is just shy of 1 hour and 30 minutes away from where we are staying in Osaka. We had breakfast and took it easy this morning, then set out just after 9am, aiming to get to Kobe by the time our restaurant of choice was supposed to open at 11am.
We get off the train after almost an hour, and the girls and I head for the washrooms at the station. Joe is nowhere to be found when we get back out, until we round a corner and find him grinning, 551 Horai bag in hand. This is a Chinese restaurant chain, they have sit in as well as take out, and we’ve never seen one without a lineup. We have however, seen one (in Dotonbori) with a line up of at least 60 people, all waiting to get their hands on the popular steamed buns! Joe bought two of the bestselling pork buns, and I said “but we’re on our way to lunch!”. Apparently that doesn’t matter when we could get our hands on these.
So we stood on a pedestrian bridge, right in the middle of Kobe, enjoying steamed buns and looking all around at this new city. We could see mountains in the background, which always makes me happy. There’s something about mountains that makes me feel safe. And I have to admit, the pork buns were delicious!
Once Joe and the girls had swallowed the last crumbs, they were finally ready to come with me on the hunt for Kobe beef. By the time we arrived at the restaurant, there were two groups of people ahead of us at the elevator to even get to the front door! It was 11:05am, the restaurant was supposed to only have opened at 11am, but when we got upstairs (all dark wood, huge “golden” frames and classic painting on the walls, giant room with all seats facing a cooktop), the restaurant was already half full and the scent of sizzling beef was everywhere.
We were seated at a half moon table along with a mom and daughter duo and a solo traveller. Téa and I ordered a “Kobe steak lunch set”, while Joe and Maylin ordered the “Kobe tender steak lunch set”. A chef then appeared, asked if everyone wanted the restaurant’s famous garlic chips (we all nodded yes please), and started melting a wad of butter on the cooktop. Then the chef showed off the different cuts of beef that we’d ordered, to confirm our order and ask how we’d like it cooked (it’s best medium rare, he recommended). I tell you what, I’ve never been more excited to watch a steak cook in my life! After skilfully cooking, slicing and serving the beef, he then cooked up some leafy greens and some beansprouts, before leaving us to our deliciousness.
At 11.55am, we were once again on the streets outside the restaurant. This is definitely not a place where you linger over your food and conversation and share a bottle of wine, I have never seen restaurant staff work this fast!
I could have gushed about our Kobe steak experience for many blog posts, but as luck would have it, Kobe has much more to offer than beef! We had set our sights on the Herb Gardens at the top of a nearby mountain, and after a warm 15 minute walk, we were finally at the ropeway station.
At the top of the mountain, the Herb Garden had restaurants, cafés, a fragrance museum, several concert halls, and the beginnings of a botanical garden full of gorgeous flowering herbs.
We wandered down the mountainside on really steep slopes, towards the Glasshouse and eventually Mid Station. The Glasshouse has a Spice Factory and usually a Herbal Footbaths, which was closed due to construction. There was also a café and photo opportunities.
The path snaked its way through beautiful gardens and water features, with signs and mascots all the way down. I took a picture of my own mascot:
We were contemplating a Mid Station ice cream before getting on the ropeway on the way back down, but their flavours were very lavender, not our favourite. We agreed to go hunt for a treat in Chinatown instead, our next destination.
Once back down off the mountain, we took a bus to the city centre. We drove past all the high end shops and got off into yet another covered market alley. I love these places, sheltered from the elements, and car free for safe roaming.
The girls and I got stuck at a pet adoption shop, oohing and ahing at the cute kittens and puppies.
Once we reemerged, we continued on to find Chinatown. It was packed with street food vendors and restaurant staff inviting us in every few metres. Also games, gachapon stores, souvenirs and groceries.
We ended up in a restaurant for some cute filled buns and a shaved ice cream. I expected it to be shaved ice, but shaved ice cream is a whole other level of delicious!
Chinatown was our last stop in Kobe, and we started on the long journey back home. Téa and I went to the grocery store while Joe and Maylin went home to prep dinner. Did you know? Japanese bread is sold by the slices, not by the loaf. The bags are all the same size, you get exactly the same weight in bread, and then you pick how thick you want your slices. Do you want four ginormous slices? 5 slightly less ginormous? 6 thick slices? Or maybe 8 thin slices are more your style? So we buy bread every two days, otherwise it goes stale. And also, eggs come in packs of 10, so if we each want an egg for breakfast, we need to go to the store every 2.5 days for eggs… And fridges really aren’t made for stocking up! This means, whether we eat in or eat out, we always eat fresh, at least!
