The Hungry (Greedy) Hippo: Ukai Chikutei at Mount Takao, Japan

We had reservations made at Ukai Chikutei for a late lunch after heading up and down Mount Takao- this caused a bit of stress since we couldn't exactly stop and smell the flowers trying to rush back to the Takao train station for the shuttle bus. But all was well, and we made it in time for our bus and the reservation.

I had visited Ukai Toriyama some years ago and was pretty much floored by how beautiful everythting was, with great attention paid to almost every detail. Ukai Chikutei is run by the same folks, with every dining party housed in their own pavilion. The restaurant is spread out over what must be acres of land, with single-storey dining areas with views either to their garden, or if you're lucky (and we were), one of the many streams running through the grounds. This was our little dining area, after we were shown there and removed our shoes, we pretty much ran around the whole pavilion screaming in excitement about how amazing the restaurant looked. (this was of course after the kimono-clad waitress had left to get our drinks and after checking to see if there was CCTV)

The menu- of course we couldn't understand much but we knew enough to point to the set meal for the day, which was around ¥5000 per person, or around S$60-70 per head. Good enough for us.

The waitress came back with our drinks

That was our cold sake, in a bamboo tube

Like, seriously. Stuffed in a bed of ice. It was gonna be an awesome lunch

First course up- and my friend was trying to talk to her in English. That smile probably means "this is gonna be a long day since you don't understand me and I don't understand you".

So super pretty! This was what we saw after the cage came off

Little pieces of sushi, with white fish and minced ginger

An ikura and mushroom starter, with yam bits.

Our lovely and friendly (and yet incomprehensible) waitress hard at work dividing the portions out

This was what I got

I can't quite recall what this was, but I think it was a mixture of flower petals and pickled vegetables.

We each got a serve of chawan mushi too

Just had to take a quick runaround outside after the first course

Everything was too pretty for words

Check out the almost autumn foliage with the stream

Every angle was beautiful

Even the moss on the roof

The stream outside our pavilion with manicured bonsai

And even koi swimming around (they must have been trained to frolick around seeing a customer, knowing the Japanese attention to detail)

Another view of the pavilion

Next up- the sashimi course with maguro, another white fish and a seaweed jelly

Pretty interesting stuff

Then came along a grilled ayu fish that still arrived smoking on a bed of leaves

So pretty - yet so sad in some ways. Poor little skewered fish.

My fish

Super fresh, succulent meat

The fish was followed shortly by this bowl

Of steamed veggies with a savoury stock that had yuzu shavings

Followed by soba

And when we saw the rice and pickles and soup, we knew the end was near :(

Rice steamed with mushrooms, served with pickles and miso soup

A brilliantly lightly flavored dish.

And fresh hot tea towards the end.

With a scoop of vanilla ice cream signaling this meal was surely coming to an end

The bill for 2 people including sake came up to around S$130 - quite a steal for the amazing atmosphere. I was slightly disappointed with the menu, being a meat person, but there was nothing wrong with what I ate, which was well executed and presented.

Photos taken on our way out of the restaurant- cobblestones along the path

Managed to get a shot of the same bridge, this time with a kimono clad waitress

Another angle of the same stream

The entrance to the area where we ate - it must be that Chikutei means bamboo. There were a few different clusters of pavilions and if each pavilion is served by one person, it means that person needs to cover quite a lot of ground to bring food there and back.