BIG Breakfast @ Beniya Mukayu Ryokan

Early morning rise and shine~~~~

Such a beautiful stunning tree outside the terrace. But it was too cold to go outside to admire this pine tree, so we just did it inside the comfort of the dining hall. I couldn't remember what was the temperature but enuff for ice to form. And if it rains, there will be snow~~~ brrrrrrRRRRrrrrr

we don't call it BIG breakfast for nothing...definitely bigger than the usual BIG BREAKFAST @ McDonald's. Anyway I'm not a fan of McD. The only consumptions were mostly done at international airports or if there's some special burger like the one I had in Switzerland *click here to read about it*

The staffs here actually took the trouble to draw this with explanation. Hahahahah. Japanese breakfast definitely beats any other big breakfast in the world that we had :))))

We were offered fresh juice for breakfast, and it's cold pressed. It has become a craze these days to only consume cold pressed juices for this process retains the vitamins instead of killing them with heat. We selected 2 shots each, of Oba Leaf with green apple, and grape fruits with oranges. Refreshing way to start the day especially we were so hungry after jumping into the hot onsen early in the morning.

Do not underestimate this tiny platter of vegetables. It was powerpacked with flavours, from the super sweet tomatoes to the delicious radish and OMG the carrots....I've never tasted carrots like this, except in Japan. The sweetness and flavours intensity were so amazing it left u wondering how? why?

and u don't eat ur vegetables without dressing....here we have the ponzu, miso and vinaigrette dressing for us to choose. All were homemade, and Beniya Mukayu only uses local ingredients, sourced from their trusted organic suppliers, and finally cooked with love of course. 

Here we have homemade pickles, served on such a beautiful plate that resembles a traditional musical instrument.

mushrooms and other roots vegetables that were so umami and delicious...just makes u wanna have a big bowl of rice with it.

Chirimen Sansho
These tiny white baits with the greenish peppercorn was JS's favourite. He lurve it so much that he got crazy and bought quite a bit back when he first saw it in Kyoto. The white baits were cooked with japanese rice wine and some soy sauce with this special green peppercorn. The end results were delicate yummy tiny fish with the strong peppercorn that leave a good length in ur mouth.

Next, a beautiful ceramic box was presented and unveiled....to a beautiful kaleidoscope colors of local vegetables!!!!Here we have locally grown broccoli, sweet potatoes, cherry tomatoes, leeks, pumpkins, carrots and radish. 

All were steamed accordingly and my oh my the sweetness and flavours were so different from what was expected. No sauce were needed to consume these, u just want to taste the original beautiful flavours. If only we get produce this good, I don't mind eating my vege everyday for 5 meals!!!! oh yes I do eat 5 meals a day :D:D:D 

Beautiful and yummy local koshi hikari. I like it that they boiled their rice this way, with a claypot. Somehow the rice has got a delicate sweetness to it. Now I understand how Japanese could consume rice plain on its own, bcoz it's so tasty!!!!

A wooden box with beautiful nori on top, it's heated at the bottom...so that ur nori seaweed would be crispy and warm. If u like it, u can wrap the rice with these. Anyway we have no idea and etiquettes of japanese breakfast dining....we just ate and nom nom nom as we wished :)))

Grilled fish!!!

I lurve this size...coz we can't possibly finish everything but at the same time we lurve varieties >.< Really greedy buggers. So when everything was presented in small portion, it just make it less guilty hahahahaha...especially for not finishing our food.

perfectly made japanese egg omelette and freshly grated daikon. The eggs!!! omg why are eggs here so yummy???

a piece of cured cod roe - mentaiko. Fukuoka/Hakata is famous for mentaiko and a year ago when we were there, we could almost find it everywhere.

a hearty bowl of miso soup with fresh seaweed and aromatic japanese herbs.

after Monkey has gone go-go-ga-ga over the breakfast and the not-so-brief explanation by our room attendant, JS threw me this look....LOL

like how are we gonna finish our big breakfast??? Come on, u are a man!!! This should not be a problem for you.

Monkey gave the "instructional" look....NOW EAT~~~~
and finish every piece of vegetables there!!!

but seriously it wasn't a problem bcoz at the end we mopped everything clean off all the tiny plates. Plus JS had to add more rice bcoz it was really really seriously extremely delicious. Wahhhh looks like we can skip our lunch when we headed to Kyoto *not!!!* after this.

Mr. Nakamichi the owner of the property, eppy JS, Monkey and Mrs. Nakamichi

So nice of them to send us off. Seriously Japanese take hospitality really really very seriously. As in serious SERIOUS. but it's such a novelty to us. :))))

Good bye for now Mr and Mrs Nakamichi. We will definitely return and thank you so much for everything!!! We had an amazing time at Beniya Mukayu :)))

and Happy Monday to my dear readers :)))

Beniya Mukayu

The 20 minutes journey from the Kaga Onsen station was very pleasant as our driver drove past a straight road full of nice quaint local sundry shops and Pachinkos. Pachinkos are arcades almost like casinos. Japanese lurve this....it's noisy with all the sounds emitted from these arcade game machines, and smoke fr cigarettes. Smoking is allowed inside these pachinko parlors and during weekends, we see ppl queueing up to get in to play. We tried it once and didn't like it :P but these arcade machines are being updated frequently to attract users. They have banners and announcements on the "new specs" of their games. Yep it's big business, something worth a case study on their one which we may wanna explore in the near future.

Anyway back to our lil pleasant ride to Beniya Mukayu, the pick up was very friendly with a lady driver. She took out a pretty cute wooden steps for us to hop into the MPV. Little did she know that Monkey can't be compared to those dainty beautiful well mannered Japanese women whom needed such wooden steps to get into the MPV. I just haiiiyeaaak and hopped into the car. :P While JS was helping her with the luggage. Well u can't just let a tiny japanese women in yukata hoist your huge luggage into the car don't you?



when we arrived at the property, the waiting area was so beautiful with huge windows to let in plenty of natural lights. Clean lines and integration of wood works and concrete, it's a marriage of men and nature. Kind of gave us some inspiration for our next home. :))))

We were then served some refreshments with hot towels while the concierge was preparing our registration and identification. We got a south american room attendant *obviously for his strong command of numerous language including english and japanese* 


then we were being shown around the property including its various facilities from the spa to the restaurants, reading rooms, a souvenir shop, its garden and finally our room :)))

Beniya Mukayu is a rather modern ryokan so u don't get to stay in a cottage. There are also more modern rooms available but we chose a japanese style room instead. The modern rooms were more raw with more concrete and looked even more like Benesse House museum in Naoshima Island. Read about it *here*


We have an area here overlooking a stunning view and served as a tea room. Then we made ourselves some tea and munch on the snacks, basked on the view. Lurve the textured flooring of bamboo strips. It also has got a lil garden for the hobbits.

yippeeee this is our lil corner.
Notice Chip & Dale on top of the zen stone? It was their first trip and Berr was upset that it's such a big entourage right now at every travel. He's no longer exclusive and this JS reminded me everynite as he shove Berr into my face. My dear JS though Berr is not exclusive u are very much exclusive to me OK? heeeeeee

From here there's the sitting area with dining table. This room is seriously huge!!!

it has got tatami-mats flooring :))))

From here there's our walk-in wardrobe and our bags were already there. Jackets hung nicely with our scarves :))))

As we walked past the living area to our bedroom, we caught a glance of our outdoor onsen :))) the smoke looked so inviting and it's zero degrees outside.

bedroom is on the other side of the room. Seriously this room is like a home!!! As usual, the decoration are minimalist very zen :)))

Bathroom was in a bamboo theme as well. Beniya Mukayu has their very own beauty and skincare products. Including toiletries. It has been created with no chemicals and very soothing for your hair and skin. If you would love to purchase it, it's available at the shop too :))) 

I lurve how each ryokan has their own lines of products from toiletries to food items and beautiful handicrafts that you can find in your room. Basically all the things you see, tableware, cups, glasses and foodstuffs that u eat here are available at the shops.

Hahahaha must always have a pic of the toilet.

with a pair of straw slippers :)))

the bath area is neat with the usual stool and a bamboo bucket. In-house shampoos lined up on the wall for our usage. They smelled so good :)))

Monkey's main draw of stay at Ryoka = onsen *that natural hot spring water bath*
JS's main attraction at Ryokan = kaiseki dinner served every nite

okie actually I love it all from its unique kaiseki dinner to the enormous breakfast and service and view and everything about any ryokan that we stayed in. :)))) This is wat I call a vacation within a vacation :)))

The modern wing is just below us :)))
and we saw some hot steam indicating someone is inside the onsen :)))


and that lil japanese tea house :)))

Soon we got a map and moved down to the town for some lil exploration.

When we got home, it's almost dark, time to shower, hopped into the onsen for some relaxation and prepare for our kaiseki dinner :))))

Monkey in her yukata.
Yeah this is wat u wear during your stay at any ryokan - yukata. Sometimes u get to choose the design and colors, sometimes everyone wears the same.

this is also wat u wear to the huge onsen downstairs for ur communal bath with the rest of the guests here. U wear this for your dinner ur breakfast and everywhere u go to at ur stay. :))))

I lurve yukatas, it's so versatile and comfortable :)))

We've only stayed here for a nite, as there's another city we need to move on to for more amazing food. Would love to return for a much longer stay and exploration at Yamashiro.

Mrs. Nakamichi the proprietress on the right, with her team members. The service here is so personalised and Mrs Nakamichi conducts yoga class every morning overlooking the stunning garden.

errrr we couldn't wake up to the early class after feasting a nite here with the amazing kaiseki dinner. That one would be in our next posting. :))) stay tuned.

For more info on Beniya Mukayu:
http://mukayu.com/english/

Yamashiro Onsen town

Strong and tall. Bend but don't break. Hardy and grows continuously. One could learn so much from Bamboo tree. Hence it's one of the most important symbol in Japanese culture and everyday's usage. They said find wisdom in emptiness, as bamboo is empty on the inside. It is also able to spring back even after heavy snow and new leaves grow come every spring.:)))

So I guess we should take bamboo is a metaphor in life. Never be defeated :)) unless u get chopped hahahaha. But that's another story. Prollie I should get a bamboo plant on my new desk here at the office :))

This is like a semi-horizontal elevator from Beniya Mukayu. The property was built on the slopes of the mountain overlooking the stunning Kaga town and Sea of Japan. So to get down, there is a special access built just for guests.

There are only 17 rooms in this property and booking the one you wanted could prove to be a challenge especially during the peak season. The room we wanted was not possible because there is only ONE!!!

*pic taken from Beniya Mukayu's website*

\We wanted this Wakamurasaki Suite which was one and only one at the property. The view is so stunning isn't it? Since the snow has melted the day we arrived, so I guess it's OK. Eventually we got a room with a view too :))))

The lift shaft from the top. Yeah it was a rather weird ride but so so convenient. We reached the town centre in less than 2 minutes :))) But JS said he prefer to hike up and take the long way up, which we almost did on the way home.

JS: "Monkey where are we? Where are u taking us?"

actually I have no idea. Just hang around, visit some temples, have some ice creams and climb some trees I supposed? hehehehehe

The snow were melting everywhere . Seen in this pic, there were still remnants of snow on the sidewalk.

Monkey: "follow me JS and as usual you won't be disappointed, though I have no idea where we are goin."

I guess it's the company that matters right? Hehehehehe. He will be eppy and I will make sure there's "subjects" for his photography.

we strolled around this little onsen town and watched sunset over the little hill. Yamashiro was discovered 1,300 years ago by a monk who was on his way to Mount Hakusan at the Japanese Alps. The high natural mineral content of the hot springs here are known to relieve muscle and joint pain.

This is the public bathhouse at the centre of the town. Seriously right smack in the middle of the town. Built around the edo period, it's called soyu. It has undergone a recent refurbishment and renovation.

We were so glad we made this "pit-stop" between Kanazawa and Kyoto. As my friend always said, we do need a vacation in between our vacations just to relax and let time passed. :))