General Notes
This place is actually a ryoukan, but this review is just for the food itself. As part of the stay, you're served dinner and breakfast, which changes each month. For dinner, this is like your typical kaiseki experience, with a ton of different small dishes, each of which are prepared super intricately. Breakfast is your traditional Japanese style breakfast, also with a ton of different small bites. The overall atmosphere feels a little bit stuffy (and also a little bit hot inside with the heating), but the food really speaks for itself. Every little detail is carefully thought through and the food is overall quite delicious. This kind of dining experience isn't _really_ for me, but I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to have this experience.
Separately, the stay itself is pretty interesting. We had a private onsen in our room, which was an incredible experience. "Onsen hopping" was also quite nice, it's pretty quiet. I did some reflection / calls in the cafe in the morning and it was one of the most serene experiences I've had. The room itself is quite nice, although there are some aspects which feel like it's lacking a little bit of polish (which isn't surprising, considering this place has apparently been open since 1428).
Dishes Tasted
- ★★★☆ breakfast -- breakfast was a bit more pedestrian, composed of a bunch of miscellaneous things. Honestly, what I enjoyed the most was the fruit -- the orange and cantaloupe were INCREDIBLE. Super sweet and flavorful. Great way to start the day with a variety of stuff.
- ★★☆☆ homemade warabi mochi -- bracken starch jelly.
- ★★☆☆ house pickled vegetables
- ★★☆☆ clear soup with eggplant, radish sprouts, and somen noodles
- ★★★★ ginger mixed rice -- this is surprisingly delicious, the ginger is perfectly fragrant but not overpowering.
- ★★☆☆ pike conger hot pot with vegetables -- again good flavor but the pike conger is impossible to eat
- ★★★★ grilled sendai beef filet steak -- SO FLAVORFUL, the juices literally explode in your mouth
- ★★☆☆ simmered eggplant + eel -- simmered eggplant with kudzu starch sauce with eel.
- ★★★★ sashimi -- sea urchin, sea bass, tuna, scallop, sea bream, asparagus dressing. This is the best of the best. The uni and tuna especially were SO GOOD. The asparagus dressing was also especially delicious.
- ★☆☆☆ pike conger with kudzu starch with plum sauce -- flavor is nice and light but this is impossible to eat, the pike conger has so many small bones
- ★★★☆ white asparagus wrapped in bacon
- ★★☆☆ marinaded sweetfish
- ★★☆☆ shrimp & vegetable rolled by yuba
- ★★★☆ edamame bean with cheese
- ★★☆☆ myoga ginger sushi
- ★★☆☆ quail egg with loquat motif -- quail egg shaped into a loquat, really interesting
- ★★☆☆ eggplant dengaku -- miso-glazed grilled
- ★★☆☆ parboiled octopus with plum sauce
- ★★☆☆ Amber Aspic with Hydrangea Motif -- dashi flavor is excellent, the dish itself is a little odd, jello-like texture with little crunchy bits
- ★★★★ Sesame Tofu with Adzuki -- surprisingly, one of the best dishes I had, sesame flavor is really pronounced, texture is excellent.
- ★★★★ homemade orange liquor -- not a food, but this was INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS. The orange flavor shone through without any of the acidity, and the liquor was super smooth