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

Ryu-En @ Kobe Waterfront

There is craft beer in Kobe, however with my limited resources and time I failed to find it during my visit. I tried to find two places listed on a Japanese beer blog, Cafe De Brugge and Sandaya Steak house. However upon visiting Brugge, I found no Japanese craft beer to be drunken at all. Sandaya was located on a waterfront area known as Harborland, after a short subway ride I managed to locate the mall and even find the restaurant, however they were closing by the time I walked in. In retrospect I should have been searching for a place called the Rokko Beer Garden, but maybe next time...

After failing to find any of the craft beer I'd been craving all day, I gave up and decided to checkout my options for dinning at Harborland. Not too far from where I'd located Sandaya, I found a restaurant called Ryu-En where I grilled some Kobe steak while drinking a bottle of hot sake. 

Harborland

View off of the balcony at Harborland

Kyoto to Kobe

This morning before I caught the train from Kyoto to Kobe, I dropped by the Kyoto Tower to get a final view of Kyoto fro above. It was nothing too special, however it's always healthy to get a good view of your surroundings.

Kyoto Tower

View in a direction, not sure which one

Tadgs Gastro Pub @ Kyoto

Tadgs Gastro Pub was located about a 2 minute walk from my hotel near the Kamo River. They have several local craft beers on tap and a wide selection of local bottled beers also. I chose to do a tasting of 3 beers and ordered a seared beef appetizer to help myself wake up. While I waited for the beer and beef to be prepared the eclectic music and a fresh snowfall outside helped calm my sake hangover.

Bar@ Tadgs

View of the snow outside

Wollongong

After some googling and studying of the train routes around Sydney I decided to take a day-trip down to Wollongong. The ride by train is about an hour and a half, the view along the way isn't bad. I haven't been outside of Sydney till now so it's the first time I've gotten to see how lush the coastal landscape is. Looking west from the train I could see hills all the way to the horizon covered with trees, and east toward the ocean miniature beach communities sprouted from the greenery.

west

Wine Tasting in California

I'm back in California for a little bit, so I'm taking the time to explore some of California's nicer areas. I've been staying in the town of Lompoc, near Vandenburg air force base in Santa Barbara county.

Last week I ventured out from Lompoc up to San Luis Obispo for some wine tasting and some food with a friend. Our attempt to get to the wineries in Edna Valley failed as we were unable to locate the turnoff from shell beach, so we drove all the way to SLO and then turned south from there and drove passed the airport. The first place we hit was Edna Valley vineyards, the view out the window was awesome as usual and the traffic low. I tasted through the reds, and decided that this was exactly as I remembered these wines from years before, peppery, acidic and smokey.

View From Tasting Room At Edna Valley Vineyards