This morning we got to sleep in a little but that doesn’t mean we weren’t still jet lagged. I was up for most of the night still and yet managed to get 6hr of sleep because I knocked out early! Itinerary today is to spend the day in Kobe and eat Kobe beef (my mom’s request). I made lunch and dinner reservations with the first being at 1130. However, I was already starving by 6am and don’t think I could make it.
Thankfully, Supermarket Kohyo right across the street has ready to eat sushi and bento boxes and I’ve remember them being decent the first time in Japan. Plus, it’s so much more fun to shop for ready made food and sushi in Japan than in America. And you KNOW the food is going to be good.
My mom and i shared the Mackerel nigiri and Chawanmushi. The mackerel included a little soy sauce packet to drizzle on top of the nigiri. We each ate two pieces and it was good! I was worried the rice would be hard because it’s been refrigerated but it’s very soft still. Fish was very good!
The chawanmushi had mushrooms, fish cake, shrimp and chicken on top. There was a microwave after the cashier line to heat up the foods if need be. I heated up the chawanmushi a bit because I’m used to eating it hot when served at a sushi restaurant. However, the cashier told me I can eat it cold. There was also a counter with plastic bags for us to pack up our foods. The chawanmushi was soft, silky and food. It was light and refreshing. I liked it!
Now we take the JR Kobe line to go to Kobe!! We have some fuel in our stomachs for our short journey and glucose to feed our brains to navigate the train station and transfers. I still get a little anxious every time because it’s a lot more overwhelming compared to Seoul, Taipei and HK. Wish me luck!
After we landed in Kobe, we didn’t have to walk too far and saw a super cute bakery. We walked in only wanting to look and saw these cute round-shaped croissants. My mom really wanted to try it so we shared one. It was very soft and flaky, with a slight crispy crust. There was a nice glaze to it. This was an appetizer to our lunch!
First restaurant is called Kobe Plaisir. The restaurant was located on the ground floor of a hotel. It was very nice inside. We got seated at the Teppan counter alongside 7 other people.
We were first served a Japanese soba noodle appetizer and some raw little veggies with sesame dressing on top. With it, they gave us a tiny goblet of a peach and apple vinegar juice that was very tasty and refreshing. I’m not sure I was a big fan of the soba noodles because it was very sticky like there was okra in it.
The chef showed us the platter of raw foie gras with the vegetables that would be accompanying it prior to cooking it for us; almost as if asking for our approval of satisfaction of the product.
Next course was the onion and butter soup, which was very creamy and light. It kinda reminded me of cream of mushroom soup.
The foie gras was so tender, soft and extremely juicy and fatty. The texture almost reminds me of semi-firm tofu but fattier and juicier. If you haven’t noticed, there was eggplant included and yes, I did eat it!! Since it was cooked on the pan top with the foie gras juice, I was like why not!! It wasn’t too bad.. it was kinda firm and not the mushy version my mom used to make.
Afterwards, we were served salad while watching our chef cook our 100g line beef sirloin steak. Our steaks were cut into 8 pieces for us. They were so fatty and tender. Literally melts in your mouth with each chew. There were different options of what to dip our steaks in. My favorites were the soy sauce, steak sauce and the salt.
Then!! They gave us a palate cleanser of oolong tea, some pickled veggies and miso soup. There was a super sour red apple thingy that I could not finish. Super big punch of sourness.
The fried rice was cooked with the residual Kobe beef pieces and fat. It was so good! Rice was plump and soft. It was very flavorful and comforting and filling.
For dessert, they took us to another room where they not only gave us dessert, but also served us hot tea with milk and sugar. The cake was very sweet yet good. My regular dessert consisted of mochi with red bean and whipped cream. Their whipped cream is just different from America’s. It’s more soft and light yet creamy. As a special occasion of celebrating my mom’s early birthday, they surprised her with a small slice of birthday cake, took a picture of us and framed it for us as a gift!! That was so sweet of them!!
Next to us, there was an elderly couple who was probably celebrating their anniversary because they got the same treatment but instead of a slice of cake, they gave the woman a small and cute bouquet of flowers. How adorable!!!!
After we walked around for 3 hours to digest, we found ourselves amidst the Sannomiya Center Street, which is a lot of shops. Felt like a big shopping plaza!! Downstairs was a food court and we stumbled upon a cute dessert place that had soybean matcha pudding. It looked so good and cute, we had to try it!
It was incredibly soft, smooth and silky. Not sweet at all with the pleasant taste of matcha. There was a soft whipped cream on top and two sweet red beans. It was a perfect little bite before our dinner reservations at Mouriya Honten. This place seemed more like a casual and cozy setting than the first place.
We picked the A5 Wagyu Kobe finest beef ribeye cut 150g. It came with a roast beef appetizer and some edamame seeds and red pepper slices. It was tasty, cool in temps and refreshing.
Our chef was very kind. He helped us take pictures with the ribeye. He cooked the ribeye in a couple of sessions so that we can enjoy a few bites at a time while simultaneously cooking our side veggies too so we had consistent eating packs of meat. The vegetables were also good. I tried one eggplant and gave the rest to my mom. I tried one bite of bean sprout that was cooked in the fat just to try and gave the rest to my mom too. The rest of the veggies were good! I really enjoyed the shiitake mushrooms, lotus root and tofu. Delicious.
I enjoyed this Kobe beef a lot more!! Why?! Because it was the ribeye cut. So delicious, juicy and tender. Each bite gushed out savory juices in my mouth. It felt so sinful to eat yet in the moment, I didn’t care about my cholesterol.
They gave us hot green tea to end the meal and my mom a little birthday dessert! She had a small chocolate cake with an eggy ice cream. Both were super dense cuts but delicious delicious. So that I wouldn’t eat alone, they gave me a scoop of fruity sorbet, also good.
I think I’m done with red meat for the rest of my trip. I still need to eat sushi!! And tsukemen and eel rice and yakisoba and and so much more!!
Oh, I forgot to mention that before going to dinner, we stepped inside Isuzu Bakery and couldn’t help ourselves but got two different types of curry croquettes… The plan was to eat it tonight as a night cap.. but I’m already suffering through meat sweats that started halfway through dinner.. Can I eat more? lol..
