Miki Penguins

I had once heard of a bar in Kobe with live penguins in it. I was a little shocked when one of Becky’s co-workers told her there is a cafe in Miki that also has live penguins. 

We ended up going in the evening, and it turned out to be relatively close by bicycle, although there were a few nasty hills along the way. The cafe is called Ballantaine, which seems to be a bad transliteration the Japanese version of valentine. It had a fairly standard interior for a gourmet coffee and cake shop, except for a big penguin tank on one side! There were four african penguins. Two were mostly lounging, and the other two were constantly swimming in circles in their tiny pool. The menu was a little pricey, but I guess we were paying to see the penguins too. I’ve been told the penguin bar in Kobe has an expensive cover charge to pay for the penguins.

I got strawberry cake and iced coffee, and Becky got some sort of potato cake and a Brazilian coffee. Everything was delicious, the penguins were great, and we will definitely go back!