Japan Culinary : Coco's Japanese Hamburger

When you look around in japan, mostly their streetfoods are containing seafood, ever since meat price is higher than the rest, only a few will actually sell beef meat. Usually they sell it in restaurants or ryokan, which is sold at a really high price *o*

It was winter night, the clock already struck at 11 pm and we just got into our room in Kanazawa, we're so hungry so we decided to check local foods there. There is no streetfood stalls in sight, but when we take a walk about 5-10 minutes later, we found this fastfood restaurant called COCO'S. The outside looks really neat, and inside is a warm-family-restaurant looking.The cashier and receptionist is located near the front door, so make sure don't just straight go inside, what you need to do first is write your name in the guest book and let the waiter know, you can wait in the waiting seat and after that the waiter will guide you to your table ^^

What's surprising is eventhough it's already 11 pm, there are so much people and family hanging out xD by the time i got to find my table, i realize that the interior reminds me a lot of  the scene from 'tsuki ga kirei'. The tables, the drink bar, also the foods too! *o*

It just look exactly like it xD i didn't get the chance to capture the whole interior, since i was too busy with my food (sorry). Anyway, the menus are wayyy to temptating, i specially cannot get my eyes off their cocoshe x_x Specially the one called 'Strawberry cocoshe with fondant chocolate inside' and ends up ordering it first before i get the main course xD

Strawberry Cocoshe

 The desserts are cheap, considering how they are sooo tasty (it's only 500 yen) and also, it is a perfect dessert after ordering the main course. My choice of main course is Coco's Japanese Hamburger with Grilled Kobe Beef and 6 KIND OF CHEESE inside (yeah, you read that right, 6 kind of cheese) since i asked which one is without pork and wine, and they suggested us this. Yes, it is expensive, but actually it is not too expensive since it use kobe beef .-. It has such a heavenly taste to describe, i really love cheese and beef, and mixing them up with this unimaginable way... is perfect. I love the taste, it is not too salty, not too cheesy, it has the right texture, it is soft but it also still chewy enough to eat.

 If you wonder if this is steak or is it hamburger, it is BOTH of them. This is japanese hamburger, so you won't expect a whole beef sliced and grilled but a mix of meats (sometimes beef mixed with chicken or etc) minced and formed together.

Japanese Hamburger Steak

Italian Smoked Cheese

 meanwhile my brother choose Italian Smoked Cheese grilled beef  soaked in Tomato Sauce. It really looks like vegan steak since it has so many vegetable inside x_x i didn't really like the taste tho xD

Coco's Restaurant

In the end, it was all worth it because it is tasty, it is warm, and plus, it is family-friendly restaurant. It has also doraemon special menus for kids (and it also temptating). It still considered as fast food, but it has a different taste than any othe fastfood i've ever tasted so far~ Also, if you are a maniac of studio ghibli, i happened to found one of their most iconic things in this restaurant : Grave of the Fireflies Candy. I don't know if they also sell it in another restaurant chain, but i bought this in Coco's Kanazawa. Every colour has its own different taste, and it tasted good! You should buy one as a souvenir~

Grave of the Fireflies Candy

Japan AirBNB review & tips : Kanazawa

Staying in Japan can be very tricky specially if this is the first time you ever step in this land of magic and wonderful things. There are only a few people who can speak english (i'd say it's only 30-40% of them) and if you do not know how to speak and how to read japanese, it will be hard specially if you want to travel to smaller town like Kanazawa or Gifu. I have a really bad time communicating with people in Japan, specially when it comes to asking for direction (eventhough i can speak japanese a little) and mostly it's because i have a really bad connection and forgot to rent a pocket wifi, so i was completely clueless and lost, thanks for that.

So! based on my experience, here's a few things that MUST be done before you want to stay and book an airbnb hotel/room in Japan :

• Rent a pocket wifi / at least have a connection in your phone to search maps ( wifi in japan mostly are locked, only in bigger town you'll have a free wifi tho)
• Make sure you ask your airbnb host : HOW TO GET THE KEY, how to find the place ( having an address or GPS sites will not help, really, i found it hard to find house's number in japan, because there's no such thing as street name sign, if there's one, it's only in kanji, hahah +  japan's house's number is so small. like really really small. The best is you ask your host the map how to get there (best if there's picture of it) + the picture of the front house
• If you want to check out late and not wanting to spend a lot of money in taxi, make sure you know your bus time! (my experience is i get there so late and there's no bus to be found and ended up spending so much in taxi)
• If you want to spend less in transportation : search and book a room that close to train station (it will cost much less rather than the one that near a bus stop, and plus, you get around town-to-town easily)
•  READ CUSTOMER REVIEW (this is crucial!) because not all that is written by the host is true x'D sometimes you need to double check in the comment section
• if you want to search for address in maps : japan's mapping system in google sadly is.. poor if you write 'em in alphabet, i've tried this and not all places you can find. Sometimes it will only match if you write 'em in kanji
• find a trusted host : this is not necessary, actually, since not a lot of them are verified and written trusted, but it will be much easier if you can contact your host easily when you need help or urgent matters :D

~ If you do all of that, then i guarantee that you'll have a good time finding your stay~

Anyway, here's my review for my stay in Kanazawa's airBNB hosted by 小百合 ^^

 The place is really comfortable, warm and clean! I really love how the host keep it really traditional and great with such a cheap price (i was staying for 1 night and it only cost 470.000 IDR = 39 USD ) The place is also close to restaurants and tourist attraction ( it is really near to Higashi-Chaya district, the center of geisha's houses ) plus, it's near to Kobashimachi bus stop ~

The house have almost everything to fulfill your need to experience traditional japanese house, it has futon, it has kotatsu, it has its garden, and even, it also has cafe inside it. Even when i'm in the house really late at night, i can still smell the oh-so-tasty cinnamon cake nearby the front door TwT i didn't get the chance to try their cakes and drinks but it sure smell great (^3^)/

Japanese Traditional House

the room (the bear is actually my brother x'D i just couldn't bear his pose in this photo but i still need it, so i cover it with bear instead wkwkwkwkwkkwk)

My room itself is really neat. It has free wifi, and it has a great view from second floor, you can see the nearby neighborhood a bit tho ^^ and plus, eventhough it's floor is in tatami (the rice straw mat ) and the door is  shoji & fusuma (which is really thin and made out from paper and bamboo) the room in winter is really warm because of the heater~ and plus, sleeping with futon is so comfortable ! it's so sad that i get to spend so little time in this house eversince i arrived at 10pm and have to go at 5 am >_<

In the living room, you can enjoy having your drinks in kotatsu, reading japanese book and brochure which is provided in the front.There is also kitchen and small sink nearby the bathroom, you can use it to wash your dishes and make some hot tea~ 

Brochure & Magazines to borrow

The spacious living room

 With a 5 minutes walk, you can find a lot of restaurant near the main road and it opens until midnight too ! (i tried Coco's restaurant which have a really yummy hamburger~ i will do the review next time!)

Front door at winter ~

 Last of all, I HAVE A DISCOUNT which is you can use for your airBNB stay, click below and enjoy your stay, ciao!

airbnb discount code