Lunch in Hakone

Last Tuesday while Glenn was on duty on the ship, I went to Hakone with my friend Akiyo. Akiyo is in the Japanese American Friendship group that I am a part of as well. We went with two of her friends Mie and Sumie who are sisters.

I met them at Ebina station and we drove to Hakone from there. Since they were a bunch of chatty adorable women, we missed our exit on the Tomei, but no worries, we took Hydrangea road instead which was a wonderful mistake! The entire road was lined with blooming hydrangeas and a view of Mt. Fuji as well!

We got to Hakone and went to Kaiseki Kadan for lunch. The restaurant was originally built as the summer residence of Prince Kan-in-no-miya who was an inner member of the Japanese Imperial family. He would have been third in line to become emperor if there had been no direct heir. It was built 80 years ago and for the last 20 has been a restaurant. There is also a beautiful hotel attached to the restaurant that is more expensive than I could ever afford.

The lunch we had was a traditional o-bento style lunch (lunch box) that had beautiful presentation. Let me see if I can remember what we ate. From the top left teal dish, moving clockwise:

• Pickles- radish, cucumber, seaweed
• Sashimi (raw fish)- tuna and squid
• Burdock root and carrot salad
• Jellyfish and cucumber salad
• Some sort of greens in a sweet goo
• Flatfish
• Sweet potato in green tea
• Fried okra and shrimp paste tempura
• Pork Belly, green peas and some white vegetable
• Rice with Mushrooms

It may not sound like it, but everything was delicious and so beautifully prepared. We also started the meal with a tiny shot of plum liquor unique to the restaurant. Kampai! I like it! After lunch we had coffee and tea in the salon of the hotel.

Oh and dessert! We had an amazing almond jello with a melon layer on top. It was so refreshing!

We drove through Hakone afterwards and saw a few things before we headed back to Ebina. I had an English class that afternoon so I couldn't spend all day with them, but I can't wait to go back to Hakone again. Maybe with Glenn next year when he's home.