TOOTH TOOTH FISH IN THE FOREST, the bakery cafe on Kobe's Meriken Park, has announced two evening plans for autumn on the same day. One is BAKE CANDLE NIGHT, which lights the dining room with candles and serves all-you-can-eat house-baked bread for two months, October 1 (Thu) to November 29 (Sun). The other is a special dinner buffet held only on the five days of the harbor fireworks, Minato HANABI 2026 , October 19 (Mon) to 23 (Fri).
Same restaurant, same hours, but the price and conditions are different. Candle Night is from 5,000 yen, two guests or more, reservation required; the fireworks buffet is from 2,700 yen and open to solo diners. Both have you pick one main and eat house-baked bread alongside it. What differs is how the bread is served and what comes with it.
The two plans side by side
| BAKE CANDLE NIGHT | Minato HANABI Special Dinner Buffet | |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | Oct 1 (Thu) – Nov 29 (Sun), 2026 | Oct 19 (Mon) – 23 (Fri), 2026 |
| Hours | 17:00, last reception 19:30 | 17:00, last entry 20:30 |
| Seating | 90 minutes | 90 minutes |
| Party size | 2 or more | 1 or more |
| Reservation | Required | Web reservation available |
| Price | From 5,000 yen (tax incl.) | 2,700–3,600 yen (tax incl.), kids 1,300 yen |
| Includes | All-you-can-eat house bread (6 kinds) with a butter candle, hors d'oeuvre platter, choice of main, freshly baked apple pie | Choice of main, deli buffet with 6 kinds of house bread, free-flow flavored water, coffee and tea |
The operator is Potomak Co., Ltd. (Chuo-ku, Kobe), the company behind the TOOTH TOOTH brand. The restaurant ran a Bakery Beer Garden over summer and a daytime bread series using Hyogo-grown ingredients, FINDING HYOGO, keeping bread at the center of its seasonal plans. For autumn, the evening slot goes to candles and fireworks.
BAKE CANDLE NIGHT: melt the butter, dip the bread
At the center of Candle Night is an original butter candle. Light it and fragrant butter melts out; you dip the house bread into it. Six kinds of bread baked in-house are all-you-can-eat.
- Olive bread
- Salt bread with Onokoro Shizuku salt
- 2 seasonal breads
- 2 breads of the day
The Onokoro Shizuku salt in the salt bread is made from Awaji Island seawater and also appears in the daytime FINDING HYOGO series.
Choose one main from five. Three carry no surcharge; two do.
| Main | Surcharge |
|---|---|
| Amatriciana with roasted onion and bacon | None |
| Oil-based pasta with chicken salsiccia and fried autumn vegetables | None |
| Tajima chicken breast cutlet with Kitasaka egg tartar sauce | None |
| Roasted head-on shrimp and mussels in crustacean tomato sauce pasta | +400 yen |
| Rib-eye roll steak and frites | +1,200 yen |
The starter is an hors d'oeuvre platter, and dessert is freshly baked apple pie with black tea ice cream. The press release text also mentions a "candle cocktail", but no drink appears in the plan breakdown, so drinks are not part of the plan.
Minato HANABI buffet: five fireworks days only, from 2,700 yen
This plan lines up with the five days of Minato HANABI 2026 . Pick one main and you get a buffet of six house breads and deli dishes, plus free-flow flavored water (4 kinds), coffee and tea.
| Main | Price (tax incl.) |
|---|---|
| Amatriciana with roasted onion and bacon | 2,700 yen |
| Oil-based pasta with chicken salsiccia and fried autumn vegetables | 2,900 yen |
| Slow-cooked Awaji beef bolognese with cheese fondue sauce | 3,100 yen |
| Grilled chicken and apple cider cream gratin, rigatoni | 3,600 yen |
| Roasted head-on shrimp and mussels in crustacean tomato sauce pasta | 3,600 yen |
| Kids' menu | 1,300 yen |
Bread on the buffet: house butter rolls, milk bread made with Awaji Island milk, house bagels and three breads of the day. The deli line runs to ten dishes, including Piedmont-style potato salad, Rokko mushroom Caesar salad, mussels in herb butter sauce and a bread gratin with vegetables and bacon. The restaurant notes that items may change depending on supply.
Eat before the fireworks, or after
The Minato HANABI fireworks run 18:30–18:50 each day, 20 minutes, and watching from Meriken Park is free. The restaurant sits at the park entrance, so dinner and fireworks connect on foot. Working back from the buffet hours, there are two ways to do it.
| Plan | Enter | Dinner | Fireworks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eat first | 17:00 | 17:00–18:30 | 18:30–18:50 |
| Eat after | 19:00–20:30 | 90 min from entry | 18:30–18:50 |
If you eat first, you need to be in at 17:00 when doors open; otherwise the 90-minute seating runs into the fireworks. If you eat after, last entry is 20:30, so you can catch some of the post-fireworks music live and still make it. The official announcement does not say whether the fireworks are visible from inside. In our editors' view they are not, and the second floor is no different, so plan on stepping outside for the fireworks.
From October 19 to 23 the two plans overlap. Dropping in alone on the way back from the fireworks points to the buffet; booking a table for two or more points to Candle Night. But Candle Night's last reception is 19:30, which leaves no margin for entering after the fireworks. Anyone who wants both fireworks and candles will have to put Candle Night on a different day.
Restaurant details
TOOTH TOOTH FISH IN THE FOREST
- Address: 2-8 Hatobacho, Chuo-ku, Kobe (inside Meriken Park)
- Phone: 078-334-1274
- Nearest stations: About 5 min on foot from Minato-Motomachi Station (Kobe subway Kaigan Line); about 15 min from JR/Hanshin Motomachi Station
- Reservations: Web reservation (ebica)
- Official site: toothtooth.com
- Instagram: @fishforest.kobe
