welcome to what may be the best meal of our lives

so today we're seeing at a ryokan in Takayama yes part of the ryokan

experience is that you get to dine in your room and yeah pair you a feast it's

traditional Japanese food (Kaiseki) in a feast form yes we have the menu with us yeah

and I counted the courses earlier it's 11 courses of food this is the appetizer

well they brought a few of the different appetizers on the table yeah we've got

like four different dishes right um but yeah everything just looks so wonderful

the presentation the way it was brought out like I'm already impressed and I

haven't even put anything in my mouth yet you know so I can't wait to dig in

and I'm really excited to share traditional Japanese food (Kaiseki) on a ryokan

yes with you guys oh I know oh yes first things first we begin with the aperitif

so this is a fruit wine made with quince since so let's see smells great I

already smell that it smells very sweet it smells kind of

floral fruity fruity and floral oh my goodness good job

the flavors are just like really sweet really concentrated yeah it's also kind

of crisp and refreshing it reminds me of a very very sweet white wine between a

wine and a liquor mm-hmm this is lovely nice

oh nice bit of stir it on like this you're showing off some chest a dinner

there soon oh okay so do that so I've got a little box over here a little

trace that means Oh over here it was explaining that this is chicken

cheese can you see that cheese yeah it looks really good

these are little mochi balls on a stick mmm over here curl and then I forget

that what with this one this is canola flower

okay plant oh my goodness not good Wow all right you dig right in that's right

all we are living vicariously through you at the moment yes some of that

chicken and cheese you get edgy combo I'm going in for both okay mmm

that's a really soft cheese it's kind of like a bream and the chicken is really

tender this also meant like kind of marinated in a sauce mm-hmm that's

really good nice and soft and flavorful mm-hmm good start wow these are it they

look really small but they're quite dense there's kind of heavy in the head

mmm that has kind of like a soy sauce and teriyaki like kind of combination on

the outside please the glaze yeah that's that's what I'm trying to say these are

actually more chewy and gluttonous II remember lieutenant ma I'm worried I'm

pretty sure okay moving on to the mackerel fish that's all been rolled up

nicely I'm just going for one biter oh it's like next-level tender mm-hmm so

juicy and flavorful Tim oh my gosh number Velen to the greens hmm those are

juicy and they kind of have a little bit of a sweet taste to them too wow that's

interesting okay we have another little appetizer here again

beautiful presentation you just took a moment I know admire it you almost don't

want to attack it with like little flowers and nothing

it just looks almost too beautiful to touch I'm gonna move some of the greens

to the side mm-hmm like pine needles yep pine needles flowers yeah and this is

tofu we have a green tofu and it gets its color from these green beans it

looks like a Lima Bean oh that's off - yeah it looks

mmm Wow it's similar to a silken tofu yeah

very very smooth very soft and of course we have a shrimp yep so let's not forget

about him don't forget about the lonely shrimp so good oh nothing like fresh so

fresh what a nice way to start with appetizers that's like the perfect word

to describe this dish it was very refreshing and fresh yep freshing and

fresh yeah it was served cool yeah lovely sauce you know what a great start

this is the beginning guys just figure on so much stuff to try and sim what is

next can you hold that up for us do that mmm pork over here we have some other

vegetables and ingredients that looks like kind of like mushroomy can you tilt

it our way the bowl whoo look at that roast pork the layers are got in between

that is gonna be good I cited mm-hmm since having a moment

with it was so deliciously fatty and tender like look at the layer of fat

there's the fat at that look at that can you see that go out well and there goes

the pork bye goodbye pork no delicious oh my goodness Wow and what else was in

there you showed us some some veggies yeah there's some different vegetables I

think I see some bamboo shoots in there I believe it

mmm crunchy nests of the bamboo sugar no idea what this is what do you think that

is I don't know let's try it and you tell us

I still don't know I think it could be either like a spongy kind of fishy thing

or a tofu spongy thing mmm no idea but it's pretty good

next next steamed beef bun oh look it has character I know that yeah you know

what we were um eating some Street food today around Takayama yeah and I'm

pretty sure we ate this yeah if this is filled with Hida beef i believe it

didn't have this if it is it is hot okay I will be using chopsticks not my

fingers mmm Wow and I love the presentation as well I think it comes in

a little bamboo basket Wow this is probably like exactly what it

was steamed in mm-hmm can you see that oh yeah let's just light into it I feel

like it's very important coming in that in that tray or sorry in that basket ha

look at the filling maybe wow this was really really good really impressed with

my first bite mm-hmm you taste that beef oh this reminds me yeah I'm the kind of

thing we used to eat in Hong Kong uh-huh he's going out for steamed buns

oh the but was it like the barbecue pork bun or something yeah reminds me of that

the Hida beef is much better quality obviously I think is I can't tell if

it's key to be for if it's regularly I'm not that much of a connoisseur

mm-hmm um but yeah it's got some little bamboo shoots in there

cool just a really good it probably is Hida Beef to me if I mean would have to do that

is coming YUM. This fish is bonito. Bonito.

oh oh oh grated radish oh oh okay okay okay okay

next course it just keeps on coming to kill me nothing sashimi yeah which is

this plate over here and it is bonito fish this is a fish that's used for the

bonito flakes what should be on in the okonomiyaki that's right so yeah oh wow

and we also have a little bit of seaweed some lemon we have grated ginger and

grated radish yes and she said we should oh I knew he spelled that oh my gosh she

said we should add it to the sauce this is a soy sauce yeah headed to the soy

sauce yeah to give it a bit of flavor I put in all the ginger that's gonna be

pretty strong maybe I'll do one with just lemon juice yeah and then we can do

a couple others with um with a sauce this one here is just bonito mm-hmm with

a bit of lime juice squirt it over top I don't think I've

ever had bonito fish before like we have first

honestly it reminds me a bit of tuna Oh in terms of its color and even

consistency Wow if I didn't know any better I think this

is it so I'm gonna dip it in the sauce sauce of all their soy it with the

ginger and radish oh they're good I'll see you at butter do better uh why have

I never added ginger and radish to soy sauce is my question and you just every

light combination that is an amazing combination I'm even gonna dip my

vegetables in there oh no I've dropped them all you've got

way too many vegetables in there

discovery of the day is just lovely yeah this is great the great uh-huh all right

make it Sam what's coming up next - a kid Sam is presenting you Shabu Shabu so

the first part of shabu-shabu is of course the vegetables we have an

assortment of that we also have tofu and the second part is the meat that'll be

added later yeah the veggies take a little longer to

cook yes so we've been boiling for a while sauce yeah it's really a no like

that yeah all in at once it's like we have so grease just flopping as Alex and

cabbage there was tofu there and tofu yeah we got lots of greens and now

we just have to wait for that to cook yes so recently gonna put the lid on it

give it some time to boil yeah a few minutes and once it's boiling again

we'll also start cooking the meat seed so just wait oh right I'm seeing some

steam rising yeah this is more than ready guys we've been cooking this for a

little while all right now it is time to bring put in the beef meat the star of the

meal it's heart of the show plop that down in there guys it cooks so quickly

look at this yeah the girl told us just ten seconds isn't it goes from like that

ruby red color to look at this it's already like basically cooked turning

brown so III maybe a few more seconds yeah so they gave us salt but also a

sesame sauce I sure did so I'm gonna try mine first with the

sesame sauce because I love sesame sauce Payne oh my gosh just gonna drown it in

there guys wow it's drowning watch the right foot

too much like it look at it drip mm-hmm how's that oh my gosh that meat is so

tender have I had meat that tender before I don't know you tell us I'm not

sure how good oh my goodness a sesame sauce complements it so well it's thick

it's almost like a peanut buttery kind of sauce and let's talk about the beef

quickly so this is the Hida beef yes which is a bit marbled to a faith

and it comes from the black-haired cows from this video here in Japan it is a

specialized kind of beef that is known in this region like weird Takayama

mm-hmm it's known this is a special beef yeah when you come here heeda is on

every menu yes are you gonna try it with salt now I will so what I'm gonna do oh

great I've already prepared some salt yeah I'll cook this next one little

swish swish swish swish she's shabu shabu Schenley that's how it

gets its name it goes shh shh so this time it's gonna be coated in

salt okay got some salt going some salt action

going and I'm just gonna dunk it slightly in this yeah you can stay away

from the sesame sauce oh yeah the salt tastes so good all right guys we're

reaching that point of the meal where I'm stirring to hit a wall this has been

fine next course this is more of a western-style course yes so we have

Hida beef we do with some broccoli corn potato pumpkin and they also

brought us some rice yeah they brought us some pickles oh whoops

ooh that is like your turn to the side action

the suction anyways that's in there you know what I'll give you my miso soup and

a half years later so here you go okay there you go so we can show it yeah you

got to twist the lid yeah I've done it in the past yeah

so yeah this has the dressing you getting this are you capturing yahks I'm

sharing the action this is unfolding live everything and I just realized I

only have chopsticks for this yes like where's my fork and knife

there is no fork and knife okay should this be a one bite or should I try and

savor it as much as I can bite it one right oh this is just cold it is

hmm oh wow what about the sauce is the sauce warm yeah cool must be a cold dish

mm-hmm okay so the beef was pretty good um it's interesting that we've gone to

try Hida beef a lot of different ways over the course of this meal but and see

what the potato is all about I'm still dessert not like this yeah it's Miss

feast of feasts this has been lovely and I have my miso over here

yeah I know what kind of me so it is heat on miso soup Wow

oh that's good rich that's very rich yes please

and of course I have my rice we're just basically ever work cut out for us to

finish it all I'm pickles and pickles forget the

pickles it's poor little even looks like some pickled cabbage yeah I'm not sure

Wow a wonderful meal traditional Japanese food (Kaiseki) and desserts - come on oh

okay so we had milk pudding oh and a fruit

cake with a little piece of pineapple yeah and they also brought us roasted

green tea the houjicha would you tell yeah actually my favorite that's really

good so yeah let's dig into this show me that pudding into leaf that's

quite nice so good uh-huh it's almost a little bit moosie mm-hmm

yeah I thought I was gonna be a bit like a creme brulee uh-huh but it almost has

the most like consistency yeah like very areum I'm trying some of

that tea mm-hmm hoji cha right Cheers yes and apparently

the proper way to have the cut is it's like facing the pretty design outwards

for the person in front of you so that you can enjoy

so you're I'm allowed to enjoy your cup right now basically okay good basically

I just that's the palette of it yes it does just time to try Oh cake yes we

should say this is this is the end of the meal yeah it's a good oh that's

cherien mm-hmm cheering a little sweet a little sour yeah I like Joe I find

Japanese desserts to be pretty good in the sense that they're not they usually

not too sugary there's this more like subtleness to it huh a bit of fruit very

juicy has been lovely what a feast uh what it like what an incredible

traditional Japanese meal (Kaiseki) I feel like we need to take a moment to just appreciate

yes we do everything we've just experienced in a culinary sense like

that was an amazing meal a lot of courses I've never done that before

I just also like the attention to detail with the presentation the service was

wonderful so yeah the theme for this meal was

definitely Hida beef have that so many different ways like in the steamed

buns shabu shabu in the Western dish yeah like it was just really cool it

wasn't yeah me over stuff wasn't just a meal it was an experience it was an

experience so something we highly recommend so yeah like before coming

into this meal I was kind of thinking like ryokan stays are a bit overpriced

this is a little bit expensive but after having experienced this like I get it

because we had so much food but also having a server with you the whole time

taking care of you explaining every dish yeah

like you're really paying for what you get yeah and also keep in mind it's it's

not just the food it's it's the room it's a services it's a sauna we're gonna

have we're gonna have a breakfast which we're gonna show you in a future video

so yeah yeah we hope you enjoyed this video we are feeling stuffed ready for

bed Sammy hit the public baths yeah um but yeah that's it for today and see you

soon with more food and travel see you guys bye

you