One of the special feature of the ryokan is that the building itself was designed by the famous architect Kingo Tatsuno, who also designed the Tokyo Station. The rooms overlook at the beautiful Japanese garden outside. But this time we decided to go for the special Seiryu-tei, an annex outside the main building, to enjoy some seclusion and privacy.
The annex is very spacious and good for a family up to 6 people, so for the two of us it is too big. There is the traditional in-house stove and firepit, with heating on the floor so it would be ideal for the family to gather around the firepit to enjoy some conversation over some hot tea.
Adjacent to that is the anteroom which got a small writing table, and for the night it was converted to become our bedroom. The ambiance is comfortable, cozy and warm, with us falling asleep virtually immediately in that evening, have a good sleep throughout. Either I am now more used to sleep on tatami or this place has its special charm for me...
Next to the anteroom is the main living room, where the Japanese low table was set for our meals. Again, it has the same cozy and warm ambiance and throughout the meals we both felt peaceful and relaxed.
Connecting all the three rooms and with windows facing the Amamigawa River is a balcony corridor, and there is also a wooden balcony outside the window as well. Listening to the sound of the running river is like a smoothing music and that I now think is one of the reasons why we slept so well on the night.
Of course our requirements for a ryokan is always a good onsen bath, preferably private outdoor bath. The room certainly delivered on that. But before going out, there is in fact an indoor shower room with a western bathtub, equally impressive.
The outdoor onsen is really the highlight of this room. It is huge and easily of the size that you would find for family onsen room for rental in other resorts. With non-stop running hotspring, facing the river, feeling the cool breeze, fresh air and music of the nature, it is a true pinnacle of relaxation.
After a nice bath and rest the dinner is served in our room. The appetizers are grilled Inunaki pork pre-marinated in Saikyo miso garnished with spring onion, pickled Amaebi prawn in salt with salmon roe, and steamed Ebiimo paste stuffed with pate de foie gras with miso dressing. All of them are quite nice but at the same time not overwhelmingly good as in a lot of the kaiseki I had in other ryokan.
The third dish is the sashimi with slices of young tuna and flounder, with a garnish of shredded radish. The fish are very fresh, with the tender tuna and chewy texture of the flounder providing an interesting contrast. My only criticism is that the amount of sashimi is rather small, not matching what such high-priced ryokan should offer.
The fifth dish is grilled Spanish mackerel pre-marinated in Saikyo miso with pickled Japanese ginger. When I have this dish in HK most of the time it is cod that was used, but with mackerel I found it is also of good match, being less oily and with a firmer meat texture.
The sixth course is an egg custard made from mixture of egg and stock with some seafood and vegetable steamed in a cup called chawan. The egg custard is silky smooth and of good taste, with the seafood and vegetable providing the bite to complement.
The seventh course is the grilled marinated duck which is a seasonal cuisine. The duck meat is tender and not rubbery, marinated well and then grilled with sauce. Accompanying with shiitake mushroom and some leek, the taste is phenomenal and this is the best dish on the meal in my opinion.
The eight course is seafood paste tempura sandwiched with slices of lotus roots, bay scallop tempura, and broccoli tempura. The seafood paste is interesting, with the paste sandwiched by the crunchy lotus root which got a great bite. But overall the tempura was a bit oily for me.
The ninth course is pickled jellyfish, white meat, mushroom (Jew's ear) and cucumber cut to resemble pine needle in vinegar. This is something similar to what we would have for Chinese cuisine. Seasoned quite well, the cucumber and everything are cut very finely to show the chef's skill.
The tenth course is tofu mixed with chopped mushroom, spring onion and wakame in a reddish miso soup. Quite tasty but the soup got a bit cool after the long distance from the kitchen apparently. This is one of the challenges of dining in-room and in the annex a bit farther from the main building. The rice and pickled red turnip, green vegetable, and Japanese radish are very filling and is always my favorite comfort food.
Overall the dinner is quite satisfactory, with only a general temperature challenge for the dishes as I have pointed out, and some of the portion may seem too small.
After a good sleep the next morning we were woken up by the rain, and unfortunately we thus have to cancel some of the activities which are outdoor. Finishing a bath the staff came to clean up the room and serve our breakfast.
The overall price for the stay is quite expensive at 124,236 yen for two, including a half-bottle sake I ordered for the dinner. Yes, the hotspring is nice, location is close to Osaka and the building itself is from renown designer, but if considering value for money there are other ryokan I would recommend instead.
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