Charcoal Kaiseki Dinner at Honke Bankyu Bankyu Ryokan

The way to dinner on Day 2 - the Honke Bankyu is way bigger than it appears, and we had no idea it had this whole extra wing with private dining rooms...

our personal charcoal grill was all set up

the initial set up of my tray, before all the individual dishes were brought in

Appetizers. Couldn't tell you what they were if my life depended on it. Not that I've forgotten, we just couldn't define what any of this was. Nicely done, though.

Can't believe I've overexposed the tofu! It's hard to describe just how out of this world creamy and silken this is - if there is anything of this sort in the US, please somebody let me know. I've never had anything like it.

I think this was fish? In sweet miso sauce w/ pickled plums?

the lovely Maki-san who took care of us, bringing more and more food

more tofu, this time fried, in some amazing clear broth

herbed and fruited jellied somethings w/ fresh herbs and grated daikon

hot sake heated over the charcoals

beef grilled at the table, in butter

ingredients for a chicken veggie hot pot that's heated at the table as well

sauce and condiments for the little hot pot

and here the finished beef...

and the finished hot pot. Loved it!

a yuba gratin! Yuba is a kind of tofu skin or soy milk skim that is created during the making of tofu.

as a gratin, it's super light and flaky. Filled with creamy-cheesy ham goodness

and miso soup as the last course. There must have been rice, too, but I must have been too full since I didn't take a picture.

fresh fruit, whipped cream and a little cake for dessert. Another spectacular dinner.

Lunch in small town Japan

After a morning hike and not quite ready yet for lunch, we whiled away a happy hour or so sitting outside a small grocery store on the main road through Yunishigawa (yes, that's the one seen below), watching the world amble on by while munching on some shrimp crackers (Ritesh had a beer) and pondering our options for lunch.

Before we knew it, we'd made a friend in an older gentleman who just came back from a fishing trip with his daughter and who decided that since I was letting Ritesh laze in the sun with a beer before noon, his daughter would have to let him, too. So he joined us and offered us some of his fresh wasabi - spicy stuff, as you can imagine.

And then the granny who runs the grocery store offered us some home-brewed nigori (unfiltered sake) on the house - and it was delicious! If we hadn't been at the beginning of the trip and dreading to schlep it all over the country, we would have bought a bottle or two. Of course, nigori is very uncool these days (it's the kind of thing that little old ladies offer you in the countryside, precisely) and I kind of made a fool of myself later on requesting some in a very hip sake bar in Kyoto where of course they didnt't carry any, but ah well, I think this is seriously good stuff.

The place we settled on for lunch, right across the street from our grocery store

Ritesh's curry rice and tonkatsu (fried pork)

My own katsudon, which is a bowl of rice w/ tonkatsu, egg and condiments. Very good, homey comfort food.

Dessert courtesy of the Honke Bankyu back in our room at the ryokan - a soft cookie with a nutty filling in the middle. Not quite as good as yesterday's sweet, which was so amazing that I went out and bought myself a whole box of it, whether I'd have to schlep it across the country or not...

Here's the box:

since we were the only non-Japanese around, this was composed especially for us :)

what you get when you remove the paper, open the lid and remove the plastic lining (the Japanese do some serious wrapping):

And here is one of the amazingly light and almost transparent yuzu (Japanese citron) daifuku. Oh wait, I've blogged about these before? I'm not surprised. Eating one of these is a quasi-spiritual experience, the mind goes still with this much deliciousness, so never mind some reiteration here...

Honke Bankyu Breakfast

the best green tea ever, in the room...

...made with these fantastic tea bags (looks like gyokuro if you ask me)...

...and water from this fantastic water heater, which keeps the water at the perfect temperature depending on what kind of green tea you're brewing. I want one of these so badly - but they're pricey and clunky and take up a huge amount of space. Plus they must use a good amount of energy as well, so probably not a good idea after all.The buffet downstairs in the breakfast room - an embarrassment of riches. The weird looking green things with the mushy brown sauce on the angular plate in the middle are actually sweet green mochi with a sweet (red bean?) sauce, everything else is savory. Grilled sardines, pickled cabbage, pickled daikon, cucumbers, pickled ume plums, edamame, stir-fried veggies...

...fabulous smoked salmon, a pickled bean sprout salad, and just regular mixed salad with three fabulous dressings .

So we would find our way back to our table from the buffet? Which was all of 10 feet away? Or maybe to prevent others from sitting at our table? We were a little puzzled by the name tags everywhere, but they sure were pretty.

my plate - favorites were the salmon, the omelette, and the sweet green mochi

fresh noodle soup w/ wasabi and some fabulously silky tofu in broth, both great

two rice congee porridgey dishes, both kind of bland and gooey and not so favorite
great salad w/ miso dressing and miso soup (loved the salad for breakfast! Who needs French toast?)

a happy camper enjoying a good start into the dayfresh pomegranate juice

The damage we did. Ahem. It seems that after all the jetlag-induced instant ramen for breakfast in the first few days and then the hiking in the fresh mountain air and the soaking in the onsen, we just couldn't get enough. They must have thought us a bunch of barbarians.

Raw deer meat at Honke Bankyu Ryokan

the last fiery instant ramen on our last (for now) morning in Tokyo

took the Yamanote line from Shimbashi to Tokyo station, left part of our baggage in lockers, and got on the shinkansen to Utsunomiya, where we had to change to the Nikko line - and managed to get lunch, right inside the train station. This is one of the restaurants where you place your order and pay at a vending machine outside, and then you go inside to get and eat your food.
here's the menu:here's where you place your order:

this was my choice - soba tempura

and here's Ritesh's curry and rice

and here's what the real thing looked like inside - not bad!

Some green tea chocolate for dessert, while waiting for the Nikko line train to Imaichi, where we had to get off and walk from the JR station to the private Tobou line station at Shimo-Imaichi, from where we took one train to Kunigawa Onsen and then another to Yunishigawa Onsen, from where we would take a bus to take us to our ryokan (trad. Japanese inn). Quite a trip, but beautiful.

a welcoming snack at the ryokan Honke Bankyu Bankyu in Yunishigawa - the best daifuku ever.

Not sure actually if these would be called daifuku as well, since they were not filled with red bean paste but with yuzu (Japanese lemon) paste, but it's the same mochi-wrapped principle. The most delicate and delicious thing ever. I ended up buying a box to take home...

And here's dinner at the ryokan - a rustic version of the traditional multi-course kaiseki, including charcoal grilled items. Kaiseki is all about balancing the taste, texture, colors and presentation of food, using fresh, local, seasonal ingredients. Sadly, I was too shy the first night to take more pictures and close-ups, so you'll have to take my word that it was delicious. I was more brazen in my picture taking the following night, having realized that the Japanese around us all came equipped with cameras and were taking pictures of everything as well...

our personal charcoal grill

ground chicken w/miso, charcoal-grilled - amazing. we couldn't even tell it was chicken, that's how different it tasted

fresh veggies w/ miso dip

sake served in bamboo containers. The big one was heated over the charcoal.

the reservation tag by our charcoal grill

the famed Honke Bankyu specialty and climax of the meal: raw deer meat. We weren't sure we could eat it at first, but it was actually very nice, soft and flavorful.

Ritesh recovering from the many courses we've had so far...

miso soup, rice and pickles is the traditional last course

and here's dessert - doesn't look like much, but we were relieved it was light. Plus it was excellent fruit. Plus if you've seen my other pictures, you know how expensive fruit is in Japan. So no complaints. Fabulous meal, and this was just the beginning of our stay...