L'avenue

One of the best Pâtissier we had in Japan.
The perpetrator of this place is Mr. Shigeo Hirai, who won World Chocolate Master back in 2009.

All the cakes we had were delicious and complex. The chocolate is of course superb.
We asked the shopkeeper for a recommendation and she suggested "Mode" (the cake that won Hirai the award) and we were not disappointed. We would also recommend "Lady," which is one of the lightest and refreshing cake we had in our trip.

However, the only issue we found was that the shop only does takeaway, and there is no table for eat-in. But this can be solved if you are willing to pay an extra fee and do a bit of a walk.

You can ask the shopkeeper to get you a table at the cafe "Spark Scone & Bicycle" which is around 400m away. The staff will call the cafe and check + reserve a seat for you at the cafe. Then you can take the cake you bought over to Spark and eat there. However, you will need to buy 1 drink each (standard for most cafe in Japan) + 100 JPY fee for seating (with plate / utensil and tissue paper provided). The cafe opens at 12 and has a lovely atmosphere and has a good selection of tea + good scone.

(Trip was made back then on 10 Dec 2019, 2 years before the Covid-19 Pandemic hit)

L’Avenue is another popular patisserie which is famous for their chocolate desserts, whose pastry chef, Shigeo Hirai, won the World Chocolate Masters in 2009.

Unfortunately their most famous confectionery, the Mode, which was the pastry chef’s winning piece at the competition, was sold out.

The gracious staff said that a lot of their cakes are popular as they’re famous for their chocolate desserts (practically everything was chocolate based).

In the end we picked the Ardechois, their seasonal item which the staff recommended, and something with orange filling inside (forgot the name).

If we hadn’t tried Gregory Collet’s confections just shortly before L’Avenue’s, the latter would have been our top pick. But alas, it was not the case and Gregory Collet has set the bar pretty high, which L’Avenue just fell slightly behind.

But this doesn’t mean that L’Avenue wasn’t good, both their cakes were still really delicious, just that Gregory Collet has a slight edge over L’Avenue.

Probably the best western dessert shop in Kobe. Chocolate based desserts are highly recommended due to the chef's expertise.