Sunday I met up with Kuniko after work in Sannomiya, and together we met up with Masaki and Tomoko. You might remember that we went over to their place a while back, and during that time we mentioned that there was a great place in Kobe for burgers – Starchild’s in Kitano.
With a little due diligence we found out that Starchild’s was in fact out of business, and so we had to go to an alternate restaurant. In the end we picked a Spanish restaurant that I had been to before in the new Mint Kobe building. On the way there we stopped in Tower Records, and Tomoko found a new album by one of her favorite artists – Joe.
I can’t emphasize enough how bummed out I am about Starchild’s. The burgers there were just like a burger you would get at a burger joint in America. Grilled on a real indoor BBQ with a hood, with cheese, avocados, everything you need to make the perfect monster burger. Now, there is no source in Kobe for burgers…. bummer.
We went to a Spanish restuarant, and had a pretty good meal. The food was pretty good, the wine was really good – especially a big 1987 Spanish red that was so mellow – perfect for drinking now. And it was on sale by the glass – yes!
Over dinner we talked and caught up with what we were up to and what our plans were for Golden Week. Misaki had the week off, so he was planning on a little bit of fishing and golf – that sounded like fun.
We got out of dinner for around 3000 yen a head, which is pretty reasonable considering we had a couple of rounds of drinks, too. From there we got a Starbucks to go, and then took it with us on a walk up the hill to Kitano.
Every year at this time they lay out these huge murals on the ground made from flower petals, and like last year Kuniko’s school made a mural. We went and surveyed them all. The evening was perfect for walking the upscale Kitano neighborhood. On the way back to the train station we stopped at “Natural Lawson” – my first time to see one. Lawson is a convenience store, with branches about every 200 feet in Japan. This was my first time seeing a Natural Lawson, where they emphasize fresh and healthy food. It was fun to spend time looking through all the different (and unusually healthy) products that they had.
Everything was just a little more expensive, but I’m thinking it is worth it. They also had some of the regular convenience store food as well, so drunken people walking in seeing a Lawson logo wouldn’t be disappointed. Anyway, I hope I see more of them in the future.
We parted ways at the train station and headed on home, but it was a lot of fun to hang out with them. They are a really nice couple and they are really patient with me and my broken Japanese. I hope we can meet up with them again soon.
