#teppan

The best things to do while waiting for it to be 12pm :D

Going back to Kobe means going back to my favorite restaurant in the world, Aidoru...

Once I take my usual seat at their small counter and the first of my favorite foods arrived, I always feel like I’m home. I’ve actually written about this small local restaurant before, but not here on Eataku, it was actually for Lucky Peach... http://luckypeach.com/atlas/aidoru/.

As I sat there last week, talking to Mama and Mika, drinking ice cold mugs of beer and indulging in their no-nonsense dishes of Japanese comfort food, it hit me that it’s been 25 years since I first visited Aidoru! And their cooking was still just as good as the first day I walked in and sat down in 1992.

Here’s a look at the dishes I never fail to order when I visit!

Squid legs with white pepper...

Chicken gizzards with lemon...

My favorite dish on the planet, Aidoru’s negiyaki...

A chewy “pancake” stuffed with scallions, chopped beef tendon and cubed “konyaku”, an obscure vegetable in the West known as “devil’s tongue”...

This bite is pure heaven...

Grilled vegetables with pork, shrimp, squid and octopus...

Their famous “one bone” grilled chicken wings...

Garlic slices grilled in butter...

And the makings of a “buta tama” pork okonomiyaki...

And voila, the real deal...

I (heart) Aidoru...

If you’re ever in the Kobe area, there’s no excuse not to visit Aidoru. It’s a five minute train ride from central Sannomiya, a quick walk from Hanshin Iwaya station.

If you do go, be sure to tell them that C.B. sent you!

AIDORU

4-4-6 Kitamachi

Iwaya, Nada-ku

Kobe