The Hiramatsu Hotels & Resorts Kashikojima

Last August, we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary at HIRAMATSU's Kodaiji Temple in Kyoto 🥂 And this time, my wife had always wanted to go here, so we finally got to visit her for her birthday 🙌 First, we checked in on a sofa overlooking Ago Bay 📝 The rich Cabernet Sauvignon juice from France that we were given was irresistible, and it only made our expectations for HIRAMATSU rise ⤴ Our room, Room 104, was an executive double room in the annex, the best of the eight rooms in the auberge hotel, and there was even a hot spring in the room, making it a wonderful room, just like a hotel overseas ♨ There was a welcome dessert in the room (which is usually sold at ready-made souvenir shops), but it was homemade and the chocolate, strawberry, and other mousses were GOOD (・∀・) Great!! Before the long-awaited dinner, we went to a private hot spring... Well, I didn't have high expectations because the hot springs are not the main feature of this hotel.😲 When I entered the room, I was greeted by a lovely dresser with a double sink, and when I went to see the outdoor open-air bath, I saw that the spacious bath overlooking Ago Bay had water flowing like a waterfall from the wall next to it, and the water was stored there, making it look like an open-air bath floating in a pool. It was a wonderful design. There was also a stove installed above the shower room, which was a nice touch.👏👏👏 *The private open-air bath is available for 45 minutes in the evening and 30 minutes in the morning.♨ For meals, we had a room with a large glass window overlooking Ago Bay, where we could enjoy our meals without any hustle and bustle, and the manager was a sommelier. For drinks, we chose 4HIGH QUALITY from the recommended pairings. First, we were served POMMERY's Grand Cru Royal from 2008, a good year, and Nicolas Feuillatte's Collection Vintage 2012. First, we celebrated my wife's birthday and took a trip together as a couple. Both were delicious and we were really excited for dinner that day. Nicolas Feuillatte in particular had a completely different taste when it absorbed the air and expanded, so we really enjoyed it. For the appetizer, we had thick wakame seaweed shabu-shabu from Ago Bay. It had a very wakame taste and went really well with the homemade ponzu sauce. The ponzu sauce was so delicious that we both drank it all up (lol). Then, the ingredients for the day were brought by gondola and shown to us. Everything was fresher than fresh, and although it was a shame that the moss was still alive, I was excited to see what kind of dishes it would be turned into 🎶 The course for this day was called Treeo et Ner, "Ise-Shima - Blessings of the Sea and Land". For the amuse, we had seafood from Shima, eggplant, and a generous amount of seasoning. It contained small pieces of squid and eggplant, and the crispy glass noodles gave it a nice texture, making for a great start 👏👏👏 We then had a white wine, 2017 LOUIS JADOT Chassagne-Montrachet Abbaya De Morgeot, which was bound to be delicious ❣ For the entree, we had oysters, Jerusalem artichoke, and Perigueux, as they had some good oysters that day, and large Matoya oysters grilled rare, topped with couscous pasta and thinly grilled cheese on top. The plate was beautiful and brought out the flavor of the ingredients 🐚 This was perfect for two oyster lovers 👏👏👏 It also paired perfectly with the wine. We changed the wine to CONDRIEU La Petite Cote 2019 and the Poisson was Toshijima Spanish mackerel with koji tapenade, a black tapenase sauce made from black pepper, anchovies, garlic and capers, and white asparagus with koji foam and surrounded by a green tapenase sauce made from green olives, pine nuts, almonds, capers and pickles. I love fish but for some reason I haven't been able to eat it for the past few months, but this Spanish mackerel was crispy on the outside and fluffy inside with no unpleasant odor at all and the Spanish mackerel itself was very delicious 🐟 The two types of tapenase sauce were also very elaborate and I wanted to lick the whole plate (lol) We washed it down with bread 😆 We then changed the wine to red and chose the same 2009 LOUIS JADOT Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru as the first white, and a 2006 CHATEAU TROTTE VIEILLE Premier Grand-Cru Classe. And Viande is Matsusaka beef, Bearnaise, and Daikoku Shimeji mushrooms. This Bearnaise sauce is said to take many years of training to make perfectly, and is made by simmering clarified butter, tarragon, shallots, *yellow, chervil and vinegar until it becomes thick and creamy. The Matsusaka beef is slowly cooked and has a fragrant aroma. It is served with tartine and Daikoku Shimeji bamboo shoots, and is also served with a sauce of black sesame seeds, *yellow, and vinegar. There are truffles and black pepper on top of the meat. I don't like beef, but the Matsusaka beef here has a deep, rich, natural meat flavor that is not at all unpleasant 👏👏👏 The Bearnaise sauce is also incredibly delicious 😲 I thought it was coffee, but the consommé soup made with this Matsusaka beef had an amazing taste (・∀・) Great!! And the Specialite du pays is spiny lobster, Americana, and romaine lettuce. They generously used large spiny lobsters, which will soon be at the end of their season, and the sauce went perfectly with the soft lobster 🦐 And before dessert, we had the secret menu of mozuku seaweed and salmon roe rice, which was a great meal to clear up your mouth❣ And for dessert, we had dekopon and chiboust, and my wife's plate had a chocolate plate that said Happy Birthday 🙌 Everything was wonderful and delicious until the very end, and the staff also enjoyed a pleasant dinner time. When we returned to our room, we found an inedible birthday cake 👏👏👏 made with towels. And the fireplace on the balcony of our room was lit. The next morning, we took a morning bath in our room (this is the best part of traveling), and were guided to a private room in a different restaurant than the night before. It was raining quite a bit that day, and the Ago Bay was obscured, but the food was brilliant. The freshly squeezed tomato juice was very rich and the most delicious tomato juice I've ever had 🍅 They also served us a variety of bread, and the sour cream and honey that they made over time were a great match. I don't usually eat jam, but the berry jam was very delicious and went really well with the bread. The soup was my wife's favorite lobster bisque. As expected of lobster, it was so rich that I couldn't scoop it up with a spoon, so I dipped it in bread (lol) The salad vegetables were also thick and the leafy vegetables had a rich, natural flavor that was wonderful. And for the main course, I was looking forward to the Eggs Benedict. Eggs Benedict are my favorite food, and even when they are not on the menu at the egg station at the breakfast in a hotel overseas, I always ask them to make it for me. I know I'm a nuisance, but this Eggs Benedict was different from the ones I've had before.

A room became available at the right time, and we decided to stay at Hiramatsu, hoping to have a trip where we could enjoy delicious wine. We never met another guest during our stay, and it felt like a complete distance, or perhaps a feeling of isolation. This is the good thing about small luxury hotels. For dinner, we were looking forward to enjoying Hiramatsu's course menu in a private room overlooking Ago Bay. Starting with a presentation of ingredients from Ise, a treasure trove of ingredients, we were impressed by the local vegetables, pearl oysters, Matsusaka beef, spiny lobster, and other dishes worthy of the name of an auberge. We also asked for pairings, so before we knew it, the dinner had lasted three hours. It was a well-balanced hotel, and all the paintings on display were genuine. Although there was some wear and tear, the elegant interior and excellent service made for a very satisfying stay.