✨ Experience Kawadoko Near Tokyo - Luxury Dining By The River In Hakone

Have you guys ever heard of kawadoko dining? It's a type of unique Japanese dining experience that involves eating on a tatami mat either next to or sometimes even on the river in the summer months. Usually you might think of Kyoto for a kawadoko dining experience but there is one place near Tokyo where you can enjoy this experience and that is here in Hakone. Hakone is a really popular travel destination for both Japanese locals and foreign tourists alike and it's really well known for its incredible nature and of course its wonderful hot springs. So I'm going to explore the Hakone station area, look for a few bites to eat, maybe even find a hot spring somewhere and then let's try kawadoko dining. But before we go don't forget to subscribe because it's free! So what are you waiting for? Alright let's go explore Hakone! While Hakone is known for their many traditional shops there's also a brand new shop that I just found and it's called Hakone Tiramisu and they have none other than tiramisu which looks really good. They have four different flavors between the original, strawberry, matcha and brandy and I think I'm going to get some brandy tiramisu and also some ice cream because they have a really great looking tiramisu ice cream. So let's go inside and get some sweets! Here we go! It looks so good, nice and cold and delicious and the ice cream is already melting. It's really really hot out here today. Let's dig in! So what's really nice about this tiramisu soft serve ice cream is that they use a mascarpone ice cream and it's got it's mixed with their espresso ice cream and it's topped with cocoa powder so it really is like a tiramisu in ice cream form. Here we go! I have to say it's worth it. This ice cream is so smooth, so creamy. The cocoa powder is a decadent touch and it really does taste so espresso-y. That's a tasty ice cream. Another cute thing I want to mention about this shop is that all of the men that are featured on the front in the store and even on each of the products are actually famous Japanese historical figures. This is Yuki Chi. He's on the 10,000 yen bill in Japan and he's a famous philosopher, educator. He also founded Keio University. So yeah a little nod to some famous Japanese individuals. I think it's a cute touch. Okay I'm gonna open it up. It looks good. It's nicely dusted with cocoa powder on the top. All right and I picked the brandy flavor so let's see how it tastes. That is so good! That is a great tiramisu. Really really smooth and creamy mascarpone cheese. It's very fluffy and then at the bottom you get to the the cake. The lady fingers or the sponge cake that are probably soaked in brandy. I didn't quite get to the bottom so I'm gonna dig inside. It actually doesn't taste too strongly of alcohol. It's more the fragrance is very brandy like. Worth a try. Hakone tiramisu. This is a very tasty bite to eat around here but I'm getting a little thirsty so I'm gonna go find something to drink. See you guys over there. All right it is now time for a drink and I'm gonna stop by right here at the Deli and Cafe Mitsuki. It's here on the third floor of this building along the main street right beside Hakone station. It is a little tricky to find. You just have to hop in the elevator inside of this store and then you can go upstairs and we're gonna try a very popular drink. Let's go. I am now in the Deli and Cafe Mitsuki. It's right next to the river. It feels really nice out here and I decided to get the tofu shake because this is quite a popular shake right now. I've seen it on a famous Japanese TV show and the most popular flavor is the black sesame. It just looks so thick and delicious. Let's give it a try. Oh interesting. The first flavor that hits you is of course the black sesame and then the aftertaste is very distinctly either tofu or soy milk. So if you like soy milk or soy milk drinks and you enjoy the taste of soy this is a very good milkshake for you. It would be nice if it was also dairy-free for the lactose intolerant people but people in Japan just love soy so that's why they make tofu shakes. It's very thick, creamy, nutty and very refreshing for a hot day like today. This is where I will be doing Kawadoko Riverside Dining. This restaurant is called Gyunabe Ukon and they specialize in beef hot pot also known as beef sukiyaki or gyunabe and it's going to be a wonderful experience where I get to eat alongside the river. So let's go inside and check it out. This is so beautiful. Oh my goodness we're right next to the river and Kawadoko dining is traditionally a way to cool down in the summertime so you get that fresh air but this particular restaurant is really unique because you can enjoy all four seasons here. So you can enjoy wintertime, autumn and see the red foliage or the spring cherry blossoms. All of the seasons can be enjoyed here so I'm really glad I discovered this place. Let's go for maybe this one. Looks nice and traditional. Let's take a look at the menu. They specialize in beef and they have a bunch of different course menus to choose from. I think I'm gonna have to go with their big course. This course looks so good they have a giant sukiyaki gyunabe hot pot including beef sushi. That's gonna be really good. All right let's get this. All right it's now time to start my Kawadoko dining experience. Let's start with the first item which is a soy drink. Cheers! That's so good. Unexpectedly savory. I was expecting maybe a sweet drink. There's little bits of meat in it I think. It tastes very savory and like there's a wonderful like beef broth and something in there. All right so next I'm gonna try the beef cutlet tortilla and it's got all of the great fixings on it. This looks so good. I'm gonna dip it in the sauce. Kind of a Japanese style tortilla. Here we go. Succulent and crisp beef cutlet and it's complemented by the tomatoes and the various herbs that are on top. It all comes together very beautifully in this like really refreshing summery flavor. Very tasty. All of these beef sushis look so good and some of them might be a little daunting for people who are worried about raw meat but don't worry they are cooked and Japan has really really high standards for maintaining beef and making sure that they are strictly sterilized. But I'm really, I love a good aburi which is like a nice blow-torched seared sushi so I want to start with this one which is the seared beef with the ikura salmon roe. It looks amazing. Itadakimasu. That was a good first choice because it's been seared it has this ever so slightly smoky aftertaste. You just get that smoke it's like you put liquid smoke on the top. Smoky and so juicy it just kind of melts in your mouth. I'm not gonna lie I do find beef that looks like this thick and this raw to be a little intimidating but let's give it a try. I'm sure it's gonna be amazing. That was remarkable. The uni was almost sweet. If you don't like uni normally you might like this one and the beef was really chewy and soft. It goes really well with the like fresh wasabi. Blended so well together. Impressive. Anyway I'm gonna finish this off and then it's time for the star of the show which is the beef hot pot gyunabe. Here we go. This is the tororo imo that took three years to grow with a brand egg and we're use this as a dipping sauce for the sukiyaki. Traditionally for sukiyaki which is also known as beef hot pot you would dip your beef that's been cooked in the soup in a raw egg that you've mixed up. In this restaurant they have an original style which is to mix the raw egg with this tororo yam. So this is not something that's commonly eaten in any other restaurant it's really their original recipe and I've never had it before obviously so can't wait to see how it tastes. Oh my goodness that is fantastic. I thought I loved classic sukiyaki but since I love tororo and just that gooeyness and the thickness from the yam this might be my new favorite way to enjoy it honestly. It is so good. You have to be okay with the gooeyness but it is so delicious. You get that starchiness from the yam, sweetness of the egg. It's a delicious bite. This looks incredible. I love the presentation on the lily pad and the miso manju is a really classic Japanese dessert. This was popular on social media for a while as a teardrop cake but it's actually a Japanese traditional dessert. It's a type of mochi called mizu manju or water manju and this one has red bean paste and a cube of fresh peach inside for the summer. Looks amazing. Let's go in one bite. Here we go. The mizu manju is so cold. It's like a cold jelly with red bean paste. It's really sweet and smooth and the fruit gives it this wonderful juicy freshness, balances out the sweetness of the red bean paste. Great summer dessert. This meal was absolutely spectacular and it was all elevated by the fact that I got to sit outside in nature. I can just feel the breeze. I can see birds flying by. I saw like multiple herons fly by. It's just the most decadent exquisite experience. It's just pure luxury and another great thing about it is that everything changes seasonally so every time you come here you can enjoy different dishes, different seasonal ingredients and of course a different scenery to match the season. So maybe you can come here in the autumn and see red leaves outside. I hope you guys enjoyed following along with me on this Kawadoko experience and if you want to try it you can actually book it on buyfood.com and the links are gonna be down below. If you guys enjoyed this video make sure to give us a like comment and don't forget to share and subscribe. I'll see you guys very soon in another video. Thanks guys! Bye! Hi! I'm still here in Hakone enjoying a beer and some ashiyu. You want to join me? Come on in! Woo! Kanpai! Yeah!