Here’s a bonus Japanese animal blog, except this time we ate it. Another one of our day trip’s from Kyoto was to Kobe, home of Kobe beef! Or is it really? I don’t remember eating French Fries in Paris?? Anyways, we didn’t do any research beforehand on where exactly to eat beef in Kobe, so we just kind of walked around.
We ended up at Kobe Meriken Park Oriental Hotel on Kobe’s port and the Oriental Steak House on the top floor. I actually brought jeans that day so they wouldn’t kick me out. We were seated at a teppan and a teppanyaki chef came out to cook for us. He did the usual tricks and sculpturing of vegetables, and I learned it’s not just a show in America (well he could have been showing off to Westeners like us).
We had a salad as an appetizer, then a fish plate where he wrapped the skin using his kitchen tools, which was more of a show of skill than utility. The beef was indeed soft, but I didn’t find that it was as melt-in-your-mouth as I thought it would be – but then I think I was expecting an ice cream texture which probably isn’t realistic. We did finish off with ice cream though, but it wasn’t that soft either.
The best part was that both 4-course meals cost us only ~¥8000 before drinks, tax, and tip! And it was a decent place too, the hotel is ranked #2 in Kobe on Trip Advisor. Although we were lucky and went for lunch, the dinner prices are at least 50% higher and I couldn’t really see any additional dishes.
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