A Happy Pancake 幸せのパンケーキ 神戸店 (Kobe, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

The newly opened A Happy Pancake at Lee Garden was impossible to get in without an hour's wait so while we were in Kobe, we decided to check out their branch at Sannomiya Center Gai Shopping Street.

Sannomiya Center Gai Shopping Street is one of the most popular shopping area in the city so I was expecting a crowd at the famed Japanese pancake house too but to my pleasant surprise, there was no lineup.



A Happy Pancake who originated from Osaka in 2014, shot to fame with its super fluffy pancakes with both sweet and savory options.



I was told it takes 40 minutes or so to have their trademark pancake ready so I kept looking and looking through those windows into the open kitchen patiently waiting for ours to arrive.



The first to arrive after 30 minutes were these wheat pancakes with garden green, ham, scrambled egg and tomato sauce. A savory pancake is not a bad idea to start off our morning but obviously, I was most looking forward to the sweet ones.

These took another 15 minutes to arrive (so altogether around 45 minutes). Pumpkin chestnut pancakes with raisins butter, I was told it's a limited offer and most importantly, it's not available in Hong Kong. At least not yet.



I thought the fluffy pancakes were really the same ones all along. Just that they've added a pumpkin chestnut sauce on top to give them more sweet flavors.

For someone with a serious sweet tooth, of course the tiramisu pancakes were a much more attractive option.

The chocolate ganache was a tad too strong for me but I could live with that.

The wait was getting a little long for our final pancake which was the original flavor. I didn't expect the other ones to arrive first while this order still up in the air. It ended up taking an hour and a half to finally show up!

Believe it or not, I thought A Happy Pancake's original flavored souffle pancake was the best one out of the ones we had this morning. Just a simple match with maple syrup already made it very very tasty.

Food Rating: 6/10
Price: ￥￥￥
Address: 1-6-1 Sannomiyacho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, 650-0021 Hyogo, Japan
Tel: +81 78-392-8888
Website: www.magia.tokyo

Hotel Okura Kobe (Kobe, JAPAN)

Leaving Kyoto was tough for me. I always enjoy Kyoto, but we had another city on our itinerary — Kobe. Personally, I’ve only visited this seaside city once before, and I never had the chance to stay overnight. Today was the first time for that.

Rising 35 stories above the vibrant waterfront of Kobe, Hotel Okura Kobe was the first of the two hotels we chose for our 2-night stay.

After dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we went out for a casual lunch, a walk and then some more exploring of the city.

Of course, we also took some time to check out our rooms first.

As expected, the room was pretty small but at least it had a “large” single bed. Not the kind of single beds I used to fall off in the middle of my sleep.

The bathroom was designed in an old-fashioned "western" style. I was hoping for something more contemporary — something I’d expect from the hotel on our second night.

And yes, I dropped a few more bucks for a room with a view to Kobe Port Tower and the harbour in the backdrop. It was looking really good in the afternoon.

Fast forward to the evening: I was hoping the lights of Kobe Port Tower would be on to create a completely different mood, but unfortunately, that wasn’t happening.

I almost climbed out of the window of my room for a better view of the harbour for my photo and luckily, I survived!

This hotel desperately needs a facelift. Other than the view, there was very little to be excited about. 

Rating: ❤❤❤

Price: ￥￥

Address: 2-1 Hatobacho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture 650-8560 Japan

Closest Metro Station: Minatomotomachi

Tel: +81 78-333-0111

Website: https://www.kobe.hotelokura.co.jp/

à La Campagne (Kobe, JAPAN) ★★☆☆☆

My little nugget has been in a pretty bad mood since waking up in the morning at our Kyoto hotel and it carried over all the way to Kobe. Not having much to eat all day has something to do with it, I guess.



As soon as we dropped off our luggage at the hotel, we quickly ventured out to Harborland for a late lunch.



It's a little early for some sweet stuff but à La Campagne is more than just a cake shop serving French style pastries with a Japanese twist.



Their lunch set came with simple salad, bread and soup.



A Japanese style spaghetti Bolognese where the meat sauce is both sweet and spicy at the same time!



The bread and butter here is their collection of cakes and tarts of course. None of us wanted to shop around so we simply went with the mixed fruit crepe cakes. 



This looked (and tasted) pretty much the same as the one served at HARBS. Not much surprise there.....



This branch of à La Campagne opens daily from 11am to 10pm.





Food Rating: 4/10
Price: ￥￥
Address: 2/F Kobe Harborland umie, 1-6-1 Higashikawasakichō, Chūō-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0044, Japan
Closest Metro Station: Harborland
Tel: +81 (0)78 341-8570
Website: www.alacampagne.jp

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm daily