Mirakuen Japanese BBQ, The Pungency and doing the laundry

After we got back from our stroll to the castle I grabbed a couple of beers for beer o'clock drinks. I thought they were beers. The Suntory was obviously a beer but "The Pungency" was something I took a punt on. "The Pungency" is probably not the most enticing name for a drink in history. I'm still not sure what it actually was. I think it was milk tea.

There's no Michelin Guide to Matsumoto so we're at the mercy of hotel receptionist recommendations or the Lonely Planet for dinner. I can't recall if this Japanese BBQ place was a recommendation or if it was something we just stumbled upon. Either way it was awesome. Of course no one spoke English but the staff were extremely friendly and helpful. The menu has Yakiniku written across the top of it. It could be the name of place but I have a feeling it means something like grilled meat because we have hit the jackpot by the look of it when it comes to meat. Whatever this place is called it is a Izakaya style food joint. The menu has pictures and is bilingual but the descriptions are beautifully vague - "Beef of Ribs" and "High Quality Beef of Ribs". From the pictures the "high quality beef of ribs" looks like delicious wagyu. And it was. We tried a few different plates of meat and we cooked them on the grill in the middle of the table. Extraordinarily good it was.

All this was washed down with sake. Georgy had a ball and even posed for some photos. Nothing quite like getting some great food in your belly to make you happy.

I painstakingly searched for pictures of yakiniku places in Matsumoto so I could get this wonderful place's name. I finally found a picture of the front of the restaurant that matched my photo. It is called Mirakuen. They're on Tabelog here and have their own website here.

Doing the laundry is one of those painful things you have to do when you're travelling. We usually try and book a hotel with a coin laundry. The laundry does build up after a few days to a week. The laundry tonight took a number of loads, and I was still doing it way after midnight. I sat on a stool next to the clothes dryer making use of the free hotel WiFi and catching up on emails and eyeing off the beer vending machine to my left. There was some sake in the vending machine. Or, I was hoping it was when I pushed the button. Some bloke came in as I picked it up and laughed and said "Japanese sake'. Waiting for the dryer to finish wasn't as boring after that.

Horse Meat Sashimi - Kura

For dinner had some of the local speciality, bashashi, raw horse meat sashimi at Kura. Delicious. Well, the two small pieces I had were. Georgia wolfed down half the plate. Only pausing long enough between bites to say "sushi".



Technically smoking is allowed in restaurants in Japan. In practice we haven't seen it much. Not in Kura though. When some people smoke they chain smoke. Pain in the arse. Thankfully it was only one person. Obviously pregnant Michelle was really impressed (see photo below).



Otherwise we had some excellent sashimi, sushi and tempura. I've seen some horrible reviews on TripAdvisor for Kura but on the whole we thought it was pretty good. I think we found Kura in the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide.

Ethical crisis averted, no bear soup this time for dinner

No bear soup this time but still a feast. After a quick explanation of how and when to cook what where from our hostess it was down to business. Georgia, again, got the kids meal that would feed a small army of toddlers let alone one.



Shabu shabu was on the menu tonight. Thinly slice pieces of steaks and veggies. There was a foil "pot" simmering over a candle of some sort of milky white soup. All we had to do was dump the veggies in, wait till it boiled and then "shabu shabu" the meat. That is, dip the meat in the soup for about the same time it takes to say say "shabu shabu" then dip it in one of the 3 or 4 sauces and eat. So tender. So delish.


Georgia didn't know where to start. Rice, soup, fried things and fruit and chocolate eclair to finish.


You really could just fill up on all the appetizer thingys. Raw fish things...


Deep fried things...


Cold things in sauces...


And a seafood fish soup thing just to push you to bursting...


But there is always room for sake. Always.

Bear soup?

After a dip in the Onsen, more on that later, we got back to our room just in time for dinner. A woman brought a trolley loaded with trays of food and started laying the trays on our low table. We have to sit on the floor, but we have seats of a sort. Basically a chair with the legs cut off and a cushion. Not the most comfortable seating arrangement in the world depending on your flexibility. I have the flexibility of a chair. The word dinner does not give justice to this meal. It is a feast. I felt full just looking at it. It was intimidating. As each dish materialised I regretted having that Kit-Kat earlier, then lunch, and then breakfast seemed an overindulgence. As a matter of fact I was starting to wish I'd left some room after dinner the night before.
 

There was the usual vast variety of food you get in Ryokans. Cold foods, soups, veggies, meats, fish (sashimi and dried), sauces, dips, tofu and rice. There was a cooker to cook something, probably the meat and veggies. It is all exquisitely prepared and the attention to detail is amazing.

I started with a broth containing some kind of tasty but unrecognisable meat. It was quite delicious. Later we were chatting with someone in the onsen and they asked us if we enjoyed the bear soup. Bear soup? When I'd read about Osenkaku I'd thought that bear soup, a local speciality, was some kind of euphemistically named dish. Like buffalo wings. Oh dear god. That delicious soup with unrecognisable but tasty meat was bear. Local bear hunted in the mountains. If I was at a restaurant and they served bear I would be horrified. I certainly wouldn't order it. But what is done is done. And it was tasty. Poor bear.

There was nothing in the way of ethical dilemmas for the rest of the meal. Unless you're vegan of course. Georgia was served a kids meal. The kids meal was as overloaded with tasty goodness as the adult meals. In fact an adult could have been well and truly satisfied with the kids meal. The kids meal also came with a gift pack. A bag full of goodies. Toys, lollies, puzzles. Georgy was extremely happy with her gifts.

Yoro-No-Taki, Nikko

When we drove up the main street of Nikko we saw a sign advertising a bakery so we decided to walk up the street and look for it and also see what sort of restaurants were available. We didn't need anything fancy but more Yuba would be nice. Nothing immediately jumped out as "you must eat here" but there were a couple of bars that seemed to serve food. In the end we chose Yoro-No-Taki.

I would like... SUSHI!

Tuna. Yummy.

Fried Tofu.

Yoro-No-Taki is a pub / restaurant. I think it is part of a chain or franchise. We were seated and handed big glossy menus. One was even in English. It was all pictures anyway.  Yoro-No-Taki seemed to have just about every Japanese cuisine covered from sushi to yakatori and everything in between including some western style dishes. So we decided on a bit of this and a bit of that. It was essential though to start with some sashimi for Georgia. And beer. Beer for me.

Pork

Hello little guy... Fried prawn.

Chicken Yakatori.

Like any casual dining places that serve everything it comes out with mixed results. Nothing horrible. Just standard fare with a couple of highlights. Very inexpensive. Dishes range from about Y200 up to maybe Y1000. We ended up getting a few dishes. Sashimi, fried prawns, bbq pork, chicken yakatori, fried tofu and two delicious desserts. Creme brulee ice cream. Exactly what it says. Creme brulee on ice cream. And mango ice cream.

Rice.

You're looking at me...

You're still looking at me...

Unfortunately the couple next to us were smokers and lit up between and during courses. That's the problem with some Japanese restaurants. Smoking is still legal. They were what we've found to be typically nice Japanese though. Always willing to try their limited English on us and chat to Georgia. As usual Georgia was too shy to respond. She just stares. It is quite funny really to see someone making faces or talking to Georgia and her just sitting there with a blank look on her face wondering who this strange person is. Georgia will generally say good bye and wave to anybody who has tried to talk to her though. She relaxes when we leave so she will smile, say bye-bye and wave.

Do you want dessert Georgia? Um...

Creme brulee ice cream.

Mango ice cream

If you're looking for something reasonably priced in down town Nikko you can't go wrong with Yoro-No-Taki. Cheap, good food, friendly service and good country ambience. Except for the smoking.

Yoro-no-taki

As we neared our hotel we noticed somebody still had their light on. I wonder what idiot had done that considering there are signs up saying turn off the lights when you leave. Ah... Oops.

Viva Hotel lit up like a light house. Oops.

Oh, and we never did find that bakery again.

Gyoshintei, Nikko

Most of the guide books have Gyoshintei as the top joint in town for a feed and is classed as high end but worthy of splashing out on. By most guides books I mean two. We have the Lonely Planet and Rough Guides.

Armed with the address and the tiny next to useless maps in the guide books we set out to find Gyoshintei. I head in what I hope is the general direction. If we turn left here does that look right? How about this way? I'll keep going because I can't turn around yet? Does that look like a Ryokan? Is the restaurant in a Ryokan? Ooh, big hotel, let's ask there.

I asked the concierge at the hotel if he knew where Gyoshintei was. It was getting a little late for Nikko now so I was worried we were going to miss our window. The concierge indicated to a car park and I took him to mean the building behind it or possibly the building behind that one. We were in a dark forested part of town so it was hard to find or see anything but I managed to find the entrance to the car park. I ran up a path to the first building and then on to the second. The path was steep and made up of large stones. In daylight it might have been a delightful Japanese garden. In the dim light I was sure I was going to break my leg. Thankfully the second building had the ubiquitous restauranty curtains hanging from the door so I was pretty sure I was in the right place. I poked my head in and asked the hostess if it was Gyoshintei, were open and could they take a child too. They always seem to be surprised to see you but she quickly said "hai" and I said I would go get my wife and child.

Considering it looked like a very traditional style restaurant with tatami mats I expected to sit on the floor but we were lead into the main hall of the restaurant with proper tables and chairs. My knees were grateful. We were also the only customers. This Nikko closing early thing must really be true. If they'd already had customers tonight they'd already gone. Remember this was a Friday night in a big tourist town. Maybe the tourists don't arrive till Saturday?

We were given a choice of set menus. I think the price ranged from Y3900 up to Y8400. I think we settled on the Y5700 (about $60) kaiseki course.

The speciality of the house is Yuba. Strips of yummy soy bean curd. It has a similar consistency to the layer of skin on milk after you boiled the milk; a little thicker though. It came served a couple of ways, rolled up like a roll of sticky tape and shredded strips for example. Man, I am sold. It is delicious. It has a slight milky creamy flavour. Georgia thought it was yummy too. Yuba is regional speciality. I think we have found the best place in Nikko to get it though.

Away Daddy, no photo.

If this is the top-end "worth a splurge" restaurant in town how cheap are the cheap to mid-range restaurants? The meal was superb. Each course couldn't have tasted fresher or have been tastier. And for 60 bucks it was a steal. I'm almost embarrassed to have paid so little. It is not the done thing to tip in Japanese restaurants so how do express your delight with the meal? I generally bow and say over and over "totemo oishi" (very delicious) and "arigato gozeimasu" (thank you very much).

Again we shared with Georgia and she loved the Yuba and rice. Sashimi disappeared quickly too. No sooner has she picked it up and it is seemingly inhaled.

We seemed to fly through the courses. It was a little over an hour from the time we sat down to the till our hostess brought us the bill (okanjo). By the way, I say hostess rather than waitress because the hostesses in restaurants like this are more than servers of food. They welcome you, they serve the food, they are maitre-de and sommelier. They make you feel at home.

When it was time to go we put on our shoes and Georgia waved goodbye. Our hostess even brought the cook out to say bye bye to Georgia.

 

Update: I've since read a review in Fodors that said the restaurant closes at 7pm. We got there a little after than. Hopefully our little faux pas hasn't set back Nikko Australian relations too much. Almost every review says it is a Buddhist vegetarian restaurant. Holy shit. They're right, almost every course was veggie. Except for the fish. For some definitions of vegetarian fish is probably a a vegetable. How did I not notice on the night? Maybe it was the shear deliciousness of most of the dishes. I can't tell you enough how good that Yuba was.