It was 6.30PM when an old lady staff, furthermore we called her obaasan or grandma in Japanese. She could not speak english but she is very friendly and humble. Lucky me, I have Mr. F as japanese speaker here.

She came to our room with the kitchen tray full of dinner set. When we did our booking last time, Mr. F already mention about the food preferences for both of us. It is because he is allergy to seafood and I can eat anything.

Now we realize why the coffee table is so big. It’s to occupy all the meal set on the table! Our jaw dropped as we see all of these served by obaasan alone. She brought it herself all the way from the kitchen, served them herself and helped us to turn on the stove. She did not look tired at all, worked and moved swiftly just like teenager. (*o*) Amazing!

The meal at the photo above is still part 1!! Can you believe it? We thought those were all the dinner, but after a while obaasan still come with more food! How should we finish all of them?! (*o*) I love to eat a lot but…………this is a challenge!

Let’s see them one by one :

Sashimi, so fresh!

The beef (boiled it then dip to sesame sauce) But also nice without the sauce

I think these were supposed to be the desserts, these were all delicious

I think it’s a kind of seaweed. I poured the red wine in it. It was super delicious because of the red wine

It was a fish, it was delicious too! But I don’t know what sauce is that

Not so sure what is that. It came with soy sauce below and yellow paste on top (it’s not mustard, taste similar like wasabi but not as spicy as wasabi) and some wild mushrooms

We had not finish the ‘Batch 1’ of the meal, then suddenly obaasan came with another batch. We were half full at that time!

Batch 2 :

Umm…I’m not sure what was that. I think it was a kind of meat. It was cooked with sweet glazed. I don’t share it with Mr. F because I’m afraid it contained seafood

It was soba (buckwheat noodle) with white egg on top. Surprisingly tasty!

Chawan Mushi, steamed white egg with various toppings. His came with seaweed version while mine with seafood version

Another beef, I think it was cold beef salad. The meat was so soft and juicy

It was grilled fish came with thick black sauce on top (I forgot what was the red color on the right, but I ate it)

Another dessert!! Those cakes were so soft! Mildly sweet (Japanese don’t like very sweet food)

LAST :

Nabe, hotpot dishes with vegetable, mushroom, meat

Finally! We finished it all! Our tummy felt like it’s going to explode! But we were happy. I think we were at the happiest night during the trip. Notoya really pampered us with the service. The food was top-notch! All of them was cooked well, delicious and fresh!

We took some moment to stop and rest our tummy to empty some space inside! Hahaha..there were lots of food served! We really appreciate it and want to finish it all!

(not to mention that we have paid certain price to stay here :p)

The nabe actually came with a bowl of rice for two. But our tummy has no more space to fill for the rice. Then obaasan offer to make onigiri from the rice for us! It felt like she is our own grandma pampering us like her own grandchild ❤

Not long after obaasan went out from our room, came an old man staff which we called ojiisan or grandpa in japanese. He came to tidy our room to place the futon or japanese mattress for us. He is so tidy and efficiently prepared the mattress.

Do you know that ryokan in each area, use all the food ingredients and groceries from their own area? All these food served in Notoya is actually from surrounding Ginzan itself. I never been to other ryokan before but Mr. F said each cuisine for different ryokan has different specialties depending on what they have in nature surrounding the area.

*Important note : don’t forget to tell ryokan you food preference (allergy to seafood, etc)

Have you every have ryokan experience? Is it memorable? Share with me!

 

-G-