Granite Cafe

It's always nice to sit down and relax with a good lunch after completing a steep hike and that's what my friend and I did at Mt. Rokko. Granite Cafe offers gorgeous views of Kobe city and we were lucky enough to snag a window seat that overlooked the area. The cafe is a popular spot for couples and we were the only ones who weren't there with a significant other. That didn't stop us from enjoying our lunch (and we got a pretty good deal too!) :) We ordered the season set which came with a soup, salad, bread, cabbage rolls, a dessert and drink for about 1,800 yen. Originally, we were only going to get something small, but changed our minds when we saw the season special and thank goodness we ordered it because it was delicious! 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

Chocolate Lounge: Heaven for a Chocolate Addict

When I was researching about Shiroi Koibito Park, I read about the Chocolate Lounge and immediately made a mental note to stop by. After touring around the factory, I chose one of their many desserts and sat down near large window to enjoy the view and my very chocolaty snack :) If you're a chocolate lover, this is definitely for you. It was called the W Chocolate (sort of like "double chocolate) and had numerous layers of chocolaty goodness. The top layer was a rich ganache with brownie bites, banana chips and walnuts sprinkled on top of that. A milk chocolate mousse followed by a sweet chocolate mousse was below the ganache and each of those layers had fillings inside (banana for the milk chocolate mousse and chocolate sponge cake for the sweet chocolate mousse). Finally, another layer of chocolate ganache and a sort of cookie crust completed the bottom layer. Everything was rich and velvety, so it was a good thing that the cup wasn't very large :) Definitely worth trying if you ever go there!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Afternoon Tea: Baumkuchen Cake and Hokkaido Ice Cream

After checking into our hostel, my friend and I wandered around the area to get acquainted with it, and to find something to eat because we were hungry. However, we arrived at the odd time where it was too late for lunch, but too early for dinner so many restaurants were closed. My friend went to a conbini to grab some snacks while I stayed out to explore a bit until I walked by Kitsutoya. It had a bakery on the right where they sold fancy sweets and a cafe on the left where you could sit down and enjoy some of their desserts. I definitely wasn't expecting my first food in Hokkaido to be sweets, but I can never refuse them :) I ended up ordering the baumkuchen set that came with two different cakes, Hokkaido ice cream and some hot tea. Baumkuchen cake is a popular dessert in Japan despite originating from Europe and each region has their specialties. I've usually only tried baumkuchen cake from grocery stores so it was a treat to try one from this place :). 

Hokkaido is known for their dairy products (among many other food and produce) and their ice cream has to be one of the best I've ever had. You can taste the small icicles in most ice cream, but Hokkaido ice cream is extremely smooth and creamy without being too rich. This wouldn't be the last time that I ate it ^^.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week :) My parents and older brother are coming to visit for almost two weeks so I'll have lots of posts for you guys on where we go!! :D

Golden Dew Cafe

I've taken quite a liking to the various cafes in Kobe because of their charm, food and atmosphere. There was a lot of time to kill before the Kobe Luminarie started, so I decided to try out a cafe that I hadn't been to before. Golden Dew Cafe is just one street before the Daimaru in Sannomiya and the menu prices are pretty reasonable, but the main draw for me was the second floor window seats that allow you to have a nice view of the downtown area.

I really wanted to sit on one of these tables, but it probably wouldn't have been a good idea..

Christmas tree decorated for the holidays :) 

Window seat! I ended up moving seats to one that wasn't being hit directly by the sun. 

Their pineapple soda which was pretty good. I accidentally ordered it (not a fan of soda), but ended up liking my drink :)

Shrimp curry with kabocha, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and bell peppers. Japanese curry usually isn't spicy at all (despite their various levels of spiciness), but this curry had a nice kick to it. My lunch set came with  small cup of soup, a drink and a mango pudding dessert :) All for about 1,300 yen or so. 

This cafe is also known for their desserts so be sure to stop by if you're passing by! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend ^^

Window Light and Healthy Lunch: Cafe Ageha

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend :)

Ever since I saw this cafe in a Kobe Cafe book in addition to various Kobe tourist sites, I've really wanted to try it out. After visiting Sorakuen Garden for the chrysanthemum exhibition, I walked over to Sannomiya and my next mission was finding this place! If you walk up Tor Road, the cafe will be on your right a little after Hotel Tor. With antique furniture and a nice atmosphere, I considered myself to be extra lucky when there was a window seat available! Half of the cafe is more indoors while the other half has natural lighting thanks to a glass ceiling and windows.

Decided to go with one of their seasonal lunch sets :) It was about 1,350 yen, but left me very satisfied! I definitely wasn't hungry after I finished, but I wasn't full either-- just very content.

Seasoned rice and it tasted soooo yummy! :) My aunty makes rice like this during our Sunday dinners back home and this definitely reminded me of her ^^

A lunch set wouldn't be complete without a bowl of miso soup :)

And some tsukemono and dipping sauces for the vegetables.

All of the vegetables were steamed and they came with two different dipping sauces (one was a shoyu-based sauce and the other had a miso-peanut flavor) as well as sesame seeds and salt :) 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week ^^ 

Anmitsugori: Beating the Summer Heat

Happy Friday everyone! :)

I went to Kyoto this past weekend for one of their handicraft markets and to visit the Botanical Gardens (will have a post on this soon). The last time I was in Kyoto was during early April when the weather was still nice and cool. Come summer time and all I could feel was the heat and humidity, so my friend and I decided to cool off by going to a little cafe called Sabo Isehan. Located a few minutes from Demachiyanagi Station, this cafe specializes in their anmitsu and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to try their summer special: anmitsugori. The matcha kakigori (shave ice) was extremely refreshing with the vanilla ice cream and the An wasn't overly sweet and soft, but firm and slightly bitter which balanced out the sweetness of the kakigori and ice cream. The jelly and mochi also gave the dessert a variety of textures and for 900 yen, this was definitely worth it! :)

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! :) 

Cafe Hopping in Kobe

Happy Friday!! :)

I've been wanting to experience Kobe cafes for quite some time, and when my friend suggested that we go this weekend, I was only too happy to agree. This past weekend was also the Kobe matsuri (I'll have a post about that soon!) so we decided to use the festivities as a mini break between our numerous cafe stops. Four cafes and 4,000 yen later, I was incredibly glad that we did it :)

Although this wasn't a cafe, the words "Chocolate House" made it a mandatory stop :)

Dark chocolate and worth the 280 yen that I paid

Our first cafe stop was at the open cafe on the first floor at Daimaru 

Caramel cappuccino with this cutie in it! I've never had a cappuccino before, much less one with a design in it so the price was well worth it for me :)

Second cafe stop was at a quaint place in Motomachi

And they had a special strawberry parfait, so we had to get it :)

Sample plate at our third stop with a warm scone, chocolate and custard tart, jam, marmalade and whipped cream.

Pairing the sweets with some Royal Milk Iced Tea :)

Last stop was at Kobe Fugetsudo in Motomachi :)

One word: delish. 

Matcha shave-ice with azuki on top and a cup of hot tea :)

If you're in Kobe, I highly recommend walking around Sannomiya and Motomachi! There was literally a cafe on every street :)