Managed by a Nagoya-area sake brewery with a 300-year-history, Nenohi offers premium seasonal and limited-edition sakes along with excellent grilled chicken and regional dishes. The dining room is quite spacious and attractively laid out. Budget around Y6000 for food and drink. [Restaurant data]

A mid-priced bistro-style menu served in a flashy skyscraper dining room, from French celeb-chef Alain Ducasse. Unlike the Michelin-starred, pan-Mediterranean Benoit Tokyo, the Osaka branch is more classically French. Typical entrees include roast baby rabbit with carrots and green onions; and braised halibut with champagne sauce and creamed spinach. Prix-fixe dinners are Y5700-8000 or a la carte; lunch is Y2600-5200. [Restaurant data]

Kobe restaurants tend to be more architecturally restrained, more traditionally oriented than their counterparts in Tokyo or Osaka, but "Dynamic Kitchen Sun" is a rare exception. It's a stunning example of contemporary restaurant design, and an exciting space to experience as a diner. The food here is creative but not over-aggressively so, with some intriguing local culinary touches that may be of interest to Kobe visitors.

Starting at the dramatically lit entrance, diners here walk through a succession of visually distinct spaces - there's a partially screened off bar area to the right of the entrance pathway, then further along is a room full of dimly lit tables arranged to take advantage of the 10th-floor view over central Kobe. Then there's a small area of zashiki seating along the far glass wall. To the left is a huge, warmly lit L-shaped counter that's instantly recognizable as the heart of the place, providing a balance for the hard design edges and adding a warmer, human element. Large earthenware pots and sprawling arrangements of dried flowers and branches also serve to set off the different spaces, and reinforce the earth-toned color scheme. Kobe restaurants tend to be more architecturally restrained, more traditionally oriented than their counterparts in Tokyo or Osaka, but "Dynamic Kitchen Sun" is a rare exception. It's a stunning example of contemporary restaurant design, and an exciting space to experience as a diner. The food here is creative but not over-aggressively so, with some intriguing local culinary touches that may be of interest to Kobe visitors.

Starting at the dramatically lit entrance, diners here walk through a succession of visually distinct spaces - there's a partially screened off bar area to the right of the entrance pathway, then further along is a room full of dimly lit tables arranged to take advantage of the 10th-floor view over central Kobe. Then there's a small area of zashiki seating along the far glass wall. To the left is a huge, warmly lit L-shaped counter that's instantly recognizable as the heart of the place, providing a balance for the hard design edges and adding a warmer, human element. Large earthenware pots and sprawling arrangements of dried flowers and branches also serve to set off the different spaces, and reinforce the earth-toned color scheme.

The food menu is organized around tofu, seasonal fish, and high-quality brand-name meats. (The last category is listed more specifically on the menu as Mitsuse chicken, Yamato beef and Kagoshima pork.) The dishes tend to be relatively simple (grilled chicken, stewed pork kakuni-style) and they're all well executed. There's often an unexpected ingredient that sets the dish apart - for example the tsukune meatballs (here wrapped around a wooden stick) came with an interesting garnish of shredded scallions and a spicy mayonnaise-like sauce that worked much better than the typical tare sauce. The omelette comes with a bit of thick, sweet sauce and a delicate filling of yuba (tofu skin) and fragrant mitsuba.

One interesting regional item is the grilled eel sushi, prepared in the Kansai style by pressing the fish topping over rice in a rectangular box, then cutting it into rectangular pieces. Kobe is also famous for its Chinatown neighborhood, and another locally influenced dish is the excellent assorted dim sum platter. This is definitely a cross-cultural interpretation of dim sum - the dipping sauce has a distinctive yuzu component, and one of the dim sum varieties looks like a typical crab ball but seems to be made from polenta instead. Another dumpling is filled with delicate slivers of various seafood ingredients along with tiny green peas.

Excellent, creative cooking, friendly service and some of the nicest modern decor in Kobe make this restaurant worth a stopover if you're in town. Budget around Y4000-7000 per person with drinks. Sun is conveniently located in the Kobe Kyotsu Center, which is attached to the south side of JR Sannomiya station. [Show more] [Show less]

As behooves a dynamic metropolis, Osaka knows its drink. And long before the advent of the Irish pub there was The Leach Bar. A 1960s homage to Japanese folk craft, The Leach eschews wainscot for brick and bamboo. In collaboration with craftsmen Kawai Kanjiro and Serizawa Keisuke, the famed British potter Bernard Leach created this interpretation of an English "cottage bar" in 1965. As behooves a dynamic metropolis, Osaka knows its drink. And long before the advent of the Irish pub there was The Leach Bar. A 1960s homage to Japanese folk craft, The Leach eschews wainscot for brick and bamboo. In collaboration with craftsmen Kawai Kanjiro and Serizawa Keisuke, the famed British potter Bernard Leach created this interpretation of an English "cottage bar" in 1965.

The Leach Bar has never been renovated, and as such is a subtle contrast to the glitz of the Rihga Royal Hotel foyer. Similarly, there are no high-tech distractions, so a good sparring partner is mandatory. Guinness - by the half pint - is popular, but the cocktails are to die for. The Tanqueray Martini is the ninja of the menu - compact but lethal. You may want to skip dinner altogether after one of these, but if peckish try some tangle with spawn (seaweed and roe salad; Y2888), or tartar steak "Naniwa" style (Y5198).

The shuttle bus from Yodoyabashi Keihan Station (exit 4) or JR Osaka Station will take visitors as well as guests to the hotel in under ten minutes. On the double for a double!

Drinks for two from Y2000. [Show more] [Show less]

Chef Yamashita is the head of the local Kansai slow-food organization, and he takes his cooking seriously. It's international-style fusion with a lot of creative recipes - dishes like grilled Australian scampi with spicy yuzu-garlic sauce; Tasmanian salmon confit with salmon roe; and grilled Kagoshima chicken with Calvados. Chef Yamashita is the head of the local Kansai slow-food organization, and he takes his cooking seriously. It's international-style fusion with a lot of creative recipes - dishes like grilled Australian scampi with spicy yuzu-garlic sauce; Tasmanian salmon confit with salmon roe; and grilled Kagoshima chicken with Calvados.

The menu also offers a big charcoal-grill section, sashimi, pastas, great salads and interesting rice dishes. Drinks here include budget-priced Australian wines and several mineral waters. The small sake list is well-chosen, and four out of the five selections are local Kobe brews.

The dining room is small but stylish (with seating for around 30); big wrap-around windows look out over the south side of Kobe and Motomachi station directly below. Service is friendly and the atmosphere is casual and laid-back. Dinner runs around Y3000 without drinks, and the full-course lunches (from Y1900) are very impressive. [Show more] [Show less]

We were lounging on a comfortable sofa with iced tea in hand, listening to Brazilian jazz and browsing a magazine when a hissing sound in one corner of the room brought us to attention.

Heads turned to look. There was a pause in the stream of music. Then the cafe's proprietor moved in swiftly to quell the disturbance, and the prevailing calm atmosphere at "Neko no Jikan" ("Time for Cats") was restored.

The overall ambience here is quite relaxed - customers tend to speak in lowered voices, and the soft background soundtrack ranges from vocal jazz to '90s trip-hop. The eighteen resident cats seem acclimated to their job of being petted and photographed (no flash, please) by admiring visitors. We were lounging on a comfortable sofa with iced tea in hand, listening to Brazilian jazz and browsing a magazine when a hissing sound in one corner of the room brought us to attention.

Heads turned to look. There was a pause in the stream of music. Then the cafe's proprietor moved in swiftly to quell the disturbance, and the prevailing calm atmosphere at "Neko no Jikan" ("Time for Cats") was restored.

The overall ambience here is quite relaxed - customers tend to speak in lowered voices, and the soft background soundtrack ranges from vocal jazz to '90s trip-hop. The eighteen resident cats seem acclimated to their job of being petted and photographed (no flash, please) by admiring visitors.

Many exotic breeds are represented - Norwegian Forest Cats, Ragdolls, Maine Coon cats - and they range from regally stylish to endearingly funny-looking. Cats of all colors and personalities prowl the two spacious rooms, inspecting newcomers and their drinks or looking for a suitable spot in which to nap. The first room is furnished human-style, with sofas, low coffee tables and shelves filled with cat-related books and knick-knacks. The other room is more like a cat playground, with trees for climbing, a water fountain and litter-box facilities.

The routine at Neko no Jikan is typical of the cafes where we hang out - take off your shoes, leave your name at the reception counter, hold out your hands to be spayed with disinfectant, stow your bag in a glassed-in closet. At the counter you can order tea or coffee, beer, or one of their numerous original cocktails. The pace is life is generally slow, enlivened by a flurry of activity at feeding time - 3:15 on the Monday afternoon we visited - when the cafe proprietor claps her hands and cats rush in from all corners to assemble for lunch.

Afternoons tend to be busiest in terms of customers, while bar time (after 6pm) is quieter. During cafe time (before 6pm), Y1000 will get you sixty minutes of quality cat time plus a beverage of your choice (Y50 extra for drinks with alcohol). After 6pm there's a Y1000 cover charge, no time limit, and Y500 per drink. Smoking is allowed only in the bar area, and only after 6pm. There's no English spoken and no English menus.

Check their website (www.nekojikan.com) for maps, holiday notices and many, many photos of cats. [Show more] [Show less]