After leaving Igrek, I walk down the Sannomiya streets toward Chinatown. The whole point of today’s visit was to go to Henri Charpentier near Kobe Port. Well.. in the end I was pretty disappointed, since I’d thought Henri Charpentier was a café and it turned out to be just a takeout counter, but on a trip like this it doesn’t really matter whether the plan itself works out or not. As long as the journey is fun, that’s enough. As John Lennon sang: Life is what happens to you when you busy making other plan ^_^
Kobe Chinatown
Maybe because it’s the weekend, it’s packed and bustling with tourists. The vibe is similar to Yokohama; it’s a bit smaller, but it looks livelier. Snack stalls typical of a Chinatown, none of them too pricey, welcome the tourists. There were plenty of tasty-looking things, but I ignore them for now and keep going. If I filled up in a place like this, who knows what would become of the rest of the day..
This is probably the main gate?
One side is under construction. Wandering around, I found one interesting shop. It made such an unusual impression that I decide to come back in the evening.
On the way back from Kobe Port..
There are still quite a lot of people. It’s not totally commercial like Yokohama, and it feels warm and friendly. I think Yokohama’s Chinatown is only really worth it as a date spot.
You can see bun and ramen shops too.
And of course, queuing is a given
This is why I came back to Chinatown. Est Royal
Right in the middle of Chinatown sits a proper, authentic Western pâtisserie. It’s popular too, people were lining up to buy. The second shop, which doubles as a tea room, was full of young women.. so I got really curious and bought a bit of this and that.
The next photos were taken at home after I took everything out.
Tourtière de Gascogne
Apparently it’s a traditional pastry from southwestern France, with moist baked chestnuts inside and a crisp shell. They say Est Royal was the first in Japan to make it. One bite and the taste is just amazing. The chestnut inside is so delicious it vanished in my mouth like melting ice cream. I still can’t forget that crunch of the outer layer. I bought just one to try, took a bite on my way out, then turned right around on the spot and bought every last one they had left in the shop. Their other items can be ordered online, but this one you can only eat by going to the shop, so after Igrek, I now have one more reason to go back to Kobe. ^_^
There’s a detailed explanation of how it’s made online, so have a look if you’re interested..
http://www.estroyal.co.jp/gascogne/index.html
Sweet potato
It’s a dessert made with sweet potatoes from Tokushima Prefecture, which are famous for being tasty, but sadly the shape got a bit squashed. These kinds of things are sold in lots of places like department store food halls, but even so, this shop’s sweet potato is clearly a cut above the rest. One bite and I was like, wow, this is great..
Sweet potato pudding
This one I gave away as a present, so I didn’t get to taste it..
Then, to have something to eat on the shinkansen home, I stop by Isuzu Bakery, another bakery the neighborhood is known for.
The sign looks like this..
This shop also has a long history and is very popular, so it has branches all over the city. Just like the Igrek café, it was really easy to find.
Curry bread with beef tendon
Japanese curry bread.. it’s really good, isn’t it.. (at least way better than curry ramen ^_^) But there are problems too. Of course, if the curry or the bread doesn’t taste good, there’s nothing more to say, but the truth is that even when a specialist makes it with good bread and good curry, something’s often missing. (Like the curry bread at Shinjuku Nakamuraya, for example..) Because the curry goes inside the bread, the bread can get soggy, and since the bread itself is so oily, it can feel greasy. But this shop’s isn’t like that at all. The bread is nicely chewy, and the curry is top-notch in its own right. On top of that, the oil-soaked bread comes together with the spicy, punchy curry, mild yet dry, and rises to an elegant flavor. I never thought I’d see curry bread in its ultimate form, which I’d assumed only existed in theory, here in Kobe.. I was honestly a little moved.
Bread with sausage
I bought it to eat casually instead of a sandwich.. and even this is delicious, sob. The sausage is nice and plump, and the crust is wonderfully chewy. It would make a good snack with drinks, too. It was originally 45 cm long, but I kept eating it on the way home, so that’s all that’s left..
Apple pie with red-wine-stewed apples
It got a bit squashed on the way home.
This is how the apple sits inside.
To describe the taste, I can’t help pointing out that this place is a bakery. I’ll never understand why a bakery sells such an incredible dessert. It feels almost rude to call it just bread or a pie: it’s a grown-up dessert made of nothing but the freshness of lemon, the essence of apple and the aroma of wine. Looking at this photo, I think you can guess how I felt back when I ate what Guillaume served me as an apple pie.. I’m telling you, I didn’t dislike that place because of its handsome waiters..