Fujiya @ Sannomiya

After a tiring yet fun day we had at Kobe Animal Kingdom , my friend Yoshimi and I went to Sannomiya area for a snack.  She said she knows a place that is not so crowded .  It is called Fujiya.

Fujiya is a well-known confectionery shop all over Japan.  It started in the early 1900's and is still thriving to this day, inspite of a scandal in 2007 about their using expired ingredients.  This almost toppled the business then  and led to the resignation of its company president. There are a lot of Fujiya chains all over the country.  I have been to one in Kyoto last year.

She led me to this Fujiya Sannomiya branch just above Sannomiya Center Gai.  I have never been to this place .  It is among shops which I have never explored before.  True enough, only a few people were in the shop and elsewhere.  It seems like we were in another part of the city, not the usual crowded and noisy Sannomiya.

Since I was already starving, I ordered a hot pot of veggies , chicken and rice.  It looked tasty and good for us, ladies who are a bit obsessed  with  healthy food.  Simple yet filling.
 

Then we needed to have something sweet , of course, since we were in a famous sweets shop.  At first, we thought of getting cake slices, but then I changed my mind when I saw the other things on their menu for desserts.

This is a traditional Japanese sweet snack - red beans, fruit slices, mochi , Japanese jelly squares  with honey syrup.  Yum!  Yum!

Had lots of time to chat about many things with Yoshimi.  But we had to leave before 7 pm as she needed to return to Wakayama.  

On our way out, a life-sized Peko-chan was by the door saying goodbye and come again, please.  This is Fujiya's famous mascot , a girl in pigtails licking her lips.  A well-known marketing icon, this shop's Peko-chan is all set for the Halloween season 2016.