Balloon Shapes By Cops » Kobe

Hobgoblin Mistake

Silentjim — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:26:59 +0000

When I find an error it’s only polite to correct it….we went back to the Hobgoblin in Sannomiya last weekend and discovered to my shock (at having told a porkie on this blog) and delight (at being able to now afford it), that the Sunday Roast is actually only ￥1400 (about £7)!. The ￥4000 version is for a party booking and includes all you can drink for 2 hours (which in fact is quite a bargain).
Apologies all round to the Hobgoblin Pub.

Haven’t tried the roast yet, but will let you know.

My Birthday

Silentjim — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:21:51 +0000

Wow, it’s been ages since I blogged anything, never have time to get online these days.

Last month (for ’tis now September!) was my birthday and a splendid time was had by all (well mainly me, as Aki just got to watch me drink 11 beers in 2 hours in a beer garden on top of a department store in Kobe).
Still, I’m sure that was fun for her.

Kobe

This was the view of the Kobe Shinbun (newspaper) offices and a cloud from my seat in the beer garden. Not that exciting but thought I’d show you it anyway.

After the garden we went to the recently opened Hobgoblin pub in Kobe the first one to be opened in Kansai (there are 2 in Tokyo). For those that don’t know the Hobgoblin chain is run by Wychwood breweries in England, and one of them was in fact my local in my hometown, and many an hour was spent in it’s confines over the, wow, 17years I’ve been going there.

A lot of “English” or “Irish” pubs in Japan are run by Japanese people/companies, and bear little resemblance to the real thing, so I was very pleased to see that it did actually look and even feel a bit like an actual pub. It’s run by an English guy called Simon so that helps. They had Magners, Speckled Hen and even Pork
Scratchings! Splendid.

We didn’t eat there, but the menu contained fish and chips (and unlike in the Hub – another english pub here, actually looked like fish and chips), full english breakfast!!! and on Sundays for ~~4000Y (about 20quid) you can get a full english traditional roast! Yes, I did say, 20 quid – almost London prices huh? We’re saving up for that special treat~~. Apologies to Hobgoblin, went back the other day, and there was a mis-reading – the Roast is actually only 1400Yen (about 7 quid). The 4000Y menu was for a “party”. Oops. Will be going back much sooner to try it out
Things were starting to get blurry and I was starting to buy things like pork scratchings in a wave of nostalgia, so we headed back to our favourite wine bar (Petit Emilion) for some birthday cake.

Birthday Cake 2008

Birthday

Silentjim — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 02:19:03 +0000

It was my birthday the other week, and this year I was lucky enough for it to fall on mine and Aki’s day off! yay.

On the Wednesday night (the birthday eve) as per tradition (well we did it last year), we went to Petit Emillion and had champagne and cake splendid.

Champagne and Cake

Although a bit embarassing when the other customers at the bar (some other regulars like us) started singing Happy Birthday!

The next day, my actual birthday, we went to Kobe and Aki took me to the docks for some surprise. Luckily it wasn’t a sailor called Big Bob but the “Luminous Kobe”, a big ship that goes on a 2hour cruise to Akashi (with the worlds longest suspension bridge) and back with a great meal on board!
Very splendid.

Luminous Kobe

Pasty

The food was excellent, and although the steak was tiny, it was tasty. And the pasty (the starter) was just like a cornish pasty, aah, a taste of home!
We finished off a bottle of wine and prepared for the next stage off the day.

This was a trip down the Motomachi shopping arcade (under the JR train line) which is full of cool shops, toy shops and small drinking dens. Bit like Camden but in a tunnel under a train line. We stopped at a few drinking establishments, a few toy shops, and I nearly bought a second hand Tekken fruit machine with video display!
V. Cool and only 60quid! But I managed to fight the urge, but maybe one day…

Me drinking Sake in a Little Bar

Aki in the Bar

We ended up, after much sake consumed in a yakiniku restaurant in Ashiya and then finally attempted to watch Oceans 12 – it made no sense, and at the end some French guy did it?? eh? Or did he? I dunno.

All in all, an excellent birthday
Got some great presents too!

My Birthday