Hotel Takachiho dining
This item appears on page 30 of the August 2016 issue.
During our 6-week koyo (autumn foliage) trip to Japan in November-December 2015, my husband, Clyde, and I took many of our dinners at small, family-owned restaurants and izakayas (taverns), also exploring the side streets and back alleys where such places abound.
Only at the posh Hotel Takachiho (1037-4 Oaza Mitai, Nishiusuki-gun, Takachiho-cho, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan; phone 0982 72 3255, fax 0982 72 3257, http://h-takachiho.com [in Japanese only; for English, use Google Translate]) did we book half-board, for the dinner. We were not disappointed.
We booked the hotel online, paying ¥12,915 (near $123) per person per night for a large, traditional-style, 10-tatami (10-mat) room that had a balcony overlooking the gorge, along with a mountain view.
The nightly price included a buffet breakfast and a kaiseki dinner (creatively presented, traditional multicourse haute cuisine). We chose the basic, standard kaiseki rather than one of the more elaborate versions, which ran an additional ¥4,500-¥120,000.
In the Kagura Restaurant, the dining room for hotel guests, each dinner was excellent and included an appetizer; sushi; sashimi; a stewed dish with vegetables and either meat, fish or tofu; miso or another type of soup; something grilled; tempura; a plate of meat for each of us to cook on an individual brazier (sukiyaki) or in a hot pot (shabu-shabu) over sterno; rice with a seasonal vegetable; pickled vegetables, and, finally, a seasonal fruit or other dessert.
Our first dinner was the standard kaiseki offered to all guests, but most guests stay only one night. We had two more nights there and, thus, two more dinners, and the chef kindly prepared a different kaiseki for us each night so we wouldn’t be bored. We were not charged extra for these special meals.
The food and the plating of the kaiseki were exquisite, and the service was friendly. In fact, the waiter (who spoke some English) often chatted with us, and after he learned we liked persimmons, he brought us two as a treat after our last meal.
JANE B. HOLT
Hinesburg, VT