Wanto Burger @ Kobe

My second day at Kobe I decided to track down a Kobe burger for breakfast, after a bit of googling I was drawn toward Wanto Burger, located close enough to Sannomiya station to justify a walk from my hotel. Inside the place was laid out like a cramped 70s diner, complete with rotating bar stools and an open view of the burger stove. For 2,700 yn (23 usd) I was able to get a Kobe burger loaded up with egg and extra pieces of steak to top it off, for an extra 10,000 yn they will use Kobe beef for the steak slices also. The texture of Kobe meat felt very at home when greased up, inside of a sandwich, and followed by a swig of cheap beer. Out of the three chances I had to eat Kobe Beef while I was in Kobe, this was by far the most successful meal.

Outside Wanto Burger

Smile Burger @ Kyoto

Smile burger is located just out side the exit of the Kiyomizu-Dera temple, as I walked by starving from kilometers of walking,  I couldn't resist popping inside. They serve a range of burgers and sandwiches and a couple types of beer, this might not be the place to take a date your trying to impress but if appears to have all the essentials if you just want a good meal. I got myself a salsa burger, which tasted amazing. The fresh bread, soft cloud of meet, and salsa flavoring all fused into a wholesome gestalt.

Outside Smile Burger

Craftworks Taphouse & Magpie Brewing @ Seoul

While I was in Insadong I googled Korean breweries and found that there were two craft breweries to the south in Iteawon 2 Dong, Craftworks and Magpie. I decided to try my luck at locating them and took the subway down toward Noksapyeon station. Without wifi to tap, my ipad was useless in helping to locate the place, so I walked in the general direction I figured I might find them. After strolling up and back down the street I'd hoped it would be on, I hung a right back onto the main road and spotted it in plain sight.

When I walked in there were a couple people waiting for tables, lucky for me someone had just left the bar so I was able to sit down immediately. I orderd myself the sampler pallet which serves you a taste of every beer on the menu except for the seasonal and got the Craftworks burger to fill my starving tourist stomach. While I waited on the burger I managed to clear through everything on the sampler, although not all astounded me, the IPAs were decent and the Oatmeal stout was worth ordering to go along with my burger. The burger was beef, yet topped with bacon and pulled pork, which turned out to be an awesome combination.

Entry to Craftworks Taphouse

Sakkaline Road Dining @ Luang Prabang

Sakkaline is the main road which runs through the center of Luang Prabang, the same one where they set up the night market. The majority of the places along here are European in style however offer traditional Laotian food also. Here's a couple I stopped into in search of a WiFi connection and bite to eat.

 I'm not sure how smooth of  name "Restaurant Luang Prabang Bakery & Guesthouse" is, but they had the most blatant advertising on the street, with signs hanging down with  'PIZZA' and 'HAMBURGER' typed in shiny gold lettering. Sadly, It was enough to tempt me to try their burger out.

Outside @ Restaurant Luang Prabang Bakery & Guesthouse 

Big Tree Cafe @ Luang Prabang

One of the places I checked out yesterday was Big Tree Cafe, its an art gallery and a restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating on the edge of the Mekong. This could be a cool place to kill time if you ended up spending an extended stay in Luang Prabang and you don't want a distracting atmosphere ruining your focus. I ate their fish burger which felt more like a fish salad in a bun then the greasy fried fish I was expecting.

Marlowe @ SoMa

I've noticed this place Marlowe a couple of times walking around SoMa, so I decided to pop in the other day and see what it was all about. Marlowe is kind of  a hole in the wall located across the street from the train station, however it offers a compact bar area with a nice selection of beer and wine. Due to my lack of ability to properly schedule my daily activities, it was already about 3pm when I got here and I still hadn't eaten a thing. Unfortunately I'd arrived too late to eat off of the normal lunch menu so my choices were limited, I settled for the Marlowe burger and waited as patiently as a starving person can. The burger was slightly compact and didn't seem very special to me, which it should have considering how starving I was.

Paragon @ SoMa

I found Paragon down on 2nd and Townsend street, right in front of the baseball stadium. It's a pretty clean and modern looking place, and due to its location you'll find lots of people wearing orange. When I went here it was too busy to get a seat a the bar but I still managed to get a table. I opted for the burger with bacon, and a beer. The burger was a bit above average, however this was mainly due to the size of the bacon pieces I'd had added. As I ate more people began to flood into the place wearing orange so I made an effort to finish off my beer quickly in order to get out of here. Upon exiting I witnessed a mass exodus flooding into SoMa from the stadium as the game finished up. This exodus is a common occurrence here and pretty much cripples any form of transportation and makes it impossible to get a seat at a bar

Lava Restaurant + Lounge

I did a bit of walking around SoMa yesterday to look for interesting places to drink. After some wandering and kind of going in circles for a bit, I found a sign on Brannan street which indicated that if I walked through  an alleyway north to Bryant I would find a nice place called Lava. So I did and I did, the place was empty but didn't look like a complete shit-hole so I decided to give it a shot. They had Kobe beef sliders on the menu, which attracted me after eating the Wagyu meat in Sydney, so I got some of these sliders and a Guinness to go with. The beer+sliders was 18 bucks and tasted great, however I'd say you might want to order a cheap side to go along with if you get the sliders.

Judgement Bar & Bistro

Walking through Darlighurst the other day, I happened into the Judgement Bar & Bistro for a bight to eat. This place is kind-of hidden, in order to get in you need to go into courthouse hotel and find an unmarked staircase to the second floor. The layout is simple and the atmosphere is unexciting, however they are a bit separated from the insanity of central Darlinghurst, and serve beer and burgers! I had them throw some egg and bacon on my burger, and got some calamari to go along with. I didn't realize it when I ordered but I guess it was a steak burger and it was a nice balance with the egg and tar tar sauce that came on it, the calamari isn't anything special, but it rarely is. All in all I'd say this is a nice place to stop for a burger when in Darlinghurst.

Judgment bar from outside

Beresford Hotel

The other night I investigated the bar at the Beresford Hotel near Darlinghurst. The establishment is 2 stories, offers indoor and outdoor seating and has a cool balcony on the second story. They are also are set up for bands to perform on stage. I spend slot of my night out on the balcony talking with people, eventually it got so filled up that they refused to let anyone onto the balcony until someone else exited in order to meet the maximum occupancy requirements. After several beers, I ordered a burger and some calamari from the bar and gave up on trying to get back out to the balcony. The burger was pretty average, but at least it was only 10 bucks, the calamari was the same price and probably wasn't quite as good of a value.

Beresford from outside