It's not really a restaurant, but it is about food. And I am including restaurants in Kawaguchiko at the end of this post so it counts.
Japanese Haute Cuisine (kaiseki ryōri 懐石料理) is a traditional multi-course dinner that is only served at formal occasions. It's more pricy than normal Japanese food because it requires a collection of techniques and skills and highest quality ingredients. Usually, it is what ryokan serves at night. It might not look like a lot of food in terms of quantity, but all together they will fill you up and keep you satisfied for a long time. Not to mention it's healthy.
Each group of guest is assigned to a dining room for the stay. It means whichever room you have dinner the first night, you'll go back to the same room for other meals.
Breakfast 朝食
First morning: Breakfast is pretty simple. Grilled fish, rice, miso soup, Japanese omelet, and pickled vegetables. Very Japanese. Rice can be refilled if more is needed.
Second Morning: Different grilled fish, steamed egg, rice, miso soup, pickled vegetables, and a slice of honeydew.
Japanese honeydew melon is incredibly sweet. It is extremely expensive in Japan, too. I felt really lucky to have it for breakfast. I would be happy with just rice and natto so this whole spread was over the top.
Dinner 夕食：懐石料理
First night's menu was A5 Wagyu shabu shabu and sashimi with amazing appetizers in those little trinkets, plum wine, and lovely dessert at the lounge.
The second night was a lot of meat. It was A5 Wagyu again but BBQ over individual stone grill. There was appetizer in little trinkets like the first night but I could not find photos of those.
Ubuya's brand motto is Celebrating Life and they have a whole team to cater each guest's special occasions. They even go so far to have guest photos taken professionally, processed the same day, wrapped nicely with ribbon and a handwritten note from your server, and place it on your breakfast table as a free gift. Oh, and a free bottle of wine. And yes, it was my birthday. I just checked its site, now they offer cake service with additional fees. Very. Cute. Mt. Fuji. Cake.
Ryokan does not include lunch so we went to restaurants in town to support small business. One of them was above a souvenir store, I really don't remember the name; the other one was 山彥 and it looked family owned. I liked the fried chicken and ten-don a lot.
The cheesecakes were from the Cheesecake Garden. Unlike New York cheesecake, Japanese makes them light and airy. Guilt-free.
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