Indeed. The other part of your Ryokan experience is that you get to enjoy a traditional Japanese ‘Kaiseki’ feast for dinner….both days…
We were encouraged to come down to dinner dressed in our yakata (light kimonos) and so we did, despite being a bit chilly about the gills. On the second night I put my thermals on which looked absolutely ridiculous combined with the strange socks provided. Happily this lead to the invention later, when we were giddy, of the ‘lizard toes’ song and dance. Never to be repeated.
Joyce and I had apparently opted for the vegetarian menu whilst Jane and Enid went full on meat and fish. Joyce was very unhappy that us veggies were made to feel like 2nd class citizens. Jane and Enid were given full printed menus of their feast whereas us veggies just had to go with the flow.
The dinner presented to us when we came down looked absolutely beautiful but somewhat daunting. It’s fair to say that during these meals we really were now trying Japanese foods. Joyce was not impressed at all – leading ( on the 2nd night) to the hilarious ‘Not more f’in tofu’ outburst as she lifted the lid on yet another serving of the slimy stuff! At least they had a decent bottle of local red wine from Nagano and Jane and I really didn’t mind that it was served very cold!
Whilst Jane and Enid were tucking into their self cooked ‘Shinshu’ premium beef steak and fish off it’s stick, us veggies were left finding our way around an assortment of weird looking veggies and yet more tofu. I think it’s fair to say we all gave it our best shot and it was definitely an experience. But two nights running was pushing the limits.
I must admit I was really looking forward to my buffet, carb-loaded breakfast and I could smell bacon cooking when I came down. Imagine my surprise when we entered the dining room to find no buffet selection but an equally beautiful meal waiting for us as last night. And boy was it similar to last night….miso soup, rice, salad bowl, pickles, tofu and yes we were still pretending to be veggies so no sausage (or bacon) for Joyce and I!
Despite all of this being daunting, I think we adapted really well and the only thing I really, really didn’t like was a curly thing that looked like a ribbon of cucumber but had a slimy, jelly-like texture which was just disgusting!
And tofu….nope despite being served here 44 ways, I’m still not a fan!
