Best eateries in Azumino - a local's Top 10

1. Auberge la vie tranquille Azumino 

“Marvelous French dishes with great views of Azumino. The first and only Auberge in Azumino”

“You can enjoy fancy French food”

2. Okina (Japanese Soba)

“You can enjoy some very good soba in the restaurant with a wonderful view of Azumino and Japanese Alps “

“It’s really popular and kind of a famous soba restaurant”

“In the restaurant, most of time, full of people”

3.Teatime Garni

“It’s a cozy cafe in the woods”

“My favorite place in this cafe is the terrace seat” 

“The morning plate: omelette and mushroom sauce and garlic rice or muffin, baked vegetables and fresh salad, is lovely!!”

4. Nishiya besso (accommodation and restaurant, shop)

“Amazing old house!!”

“You can enjoy the very traditional Japanese course dishes. They are beautiful and tasty. The rooms are really interesting old style “

“You can also enjoy hot spring. There’s a outside bath, which is fantastic “

5. Soup Curry Hanjiro

“Original soup style curry. Tasty and volume with meat and lots of vegetables”

“Really popular one. Most of the time, there is a queue in front of the restaurant “

6. Suehiro

“A Japanese style barbecue cooked in front of the customers. Traditional Japanese food, yakitori ( barbecue chicken) and karaage ( fried chicken) , cold or fried tofu…everything is good!!”

“Very old restaurant relaxed atmosphere”

7. Stagione 

“Nice Italian restaurant. They cook excellent food with their own vegetables from their garden. Especially antipasto plate in amazing!! “

“Nice, charming interior and a good view of the garden and mountains.

8. Cafe Olika

“It has just opened in this early summer. A kind of stylish cafe. You can enjoy some lunch plate. “

“ There’s a charming garden”

“On the weekend, sometimes it’s full of people. There’s parking “

9. Gappidou Seipan

“Excellent home made campagne bread and some hard bread. They are really tasty”

“The shop is in wood. It’s really nice place “

10. Azumino milk 

“There are some interesting products and food made by their fresh milk. Pudding, Ice cream, drinks. Fresh taste is unforgettable”

Eating out in Azumino

Traditional food
Regional specialities-There are some restaurants where you can try regional food such as soba, mountain vegetables etc... Soba is plain buckwheat noodles, served hot or cold, with soy sauce and fresh wasabi(Japanese horse-radish). In spring, you can also enjoy variors kinds of wild mountain vegetables, especially tempura is popular. There are lot of soba restaurants in Azumino, so it is interesting to try soba at a choice of different restaurants.
Fast food-Traditional
Azumino fast food is Oyaki,which is a vegetable filled dumpling, usually steamed but sometimes baked.

Cafes
In Azumino, there are plenty of unique, individual cafes. Most of them are hidden away in the woods and constructed with local materials. You can relax with lovely birds songs, and take in the relaxing atmosphere and views. Bakeries are particular about natural ingredients, baking homemade cakes   and bread which are really popular and unique to each bakery.

Special nights
There are some good restaurants which you can go for a special night out such as someone’s birthday or anniversary. You can choose French, Italian or Japanese fare. They offer fine full course meals, most chef are well trained and have plenty of experience. Get dressed up and go eat out in style!

Location
In the town-the majority of restaurants in the town are casual, such as chain family restaurants. They are cheap and convenient.
Country side-these tend to be unique, interesting family-owned restaurants and cafes. In general these restaurants are tucked away, rustic unique and interesting interior, countryside decor and tend to be reasonably priced.

Teruki

Festivals around Nagano prefecture, Japan - by Ayumi

Ayumi's after reading "Festivals around the World" poster

My holiday report - Rukiya

Dear Jim,

Tempura soba

I ate soba at a restaurant in Matsumoto in the Golden Week. It was around 11 a.m. but the restaurant was crowded. We went by car.

It was cold because it was on a high mountain.

There was tempura, not only soba. The food was very good.

Posted for Rukiya

My home town

I live in Matsumoto city which is commercial city in Nagano prefecture. It's has poplation 200000 people. It's near The Japan Alps and old castle. So.a lot of tourist visit here all year round.

My home town is beautiful and safe. Important tourist attractions are Matsumoto castle and traditional street name is Nakamati close castle. You can also see The Japanese Alps. The most famous peak is Jonen. It's 2880meters high it looks like Mt.Fuji.

The weather is severe, summer season is hot and humid, winter season is terribly cold.

It's famous for Matsumoto Castle constructed 400years ago. It's almost all black, It looks like a crow so it's called Crow castle.

The best things about Matsumoto are it has good soba restaurant, and kind people. I love Matsumoto.

Miyuki's local (Matsumoto) restaurant reviews

Reizan

I've never had Chinese food as tasty as this. Everything on the menu is cooked to perfection. This long-established restaurant is popular with families. If you prefer quicker service, try it on a weekday or week-night, when it isn't as busy as the weekend. It's a little expensive, but you get what you pay for.

Reviewed by Miyuki

More info at Tabelog

Misato

I don't eat at soba restaurants as often as at French and Italian ones. This soba restaurant has a beautiful Japanese garden, so you can enjoy your meal and a romantic view. The house is historic and peaceful, and has a nostalgic atmosphere. The staff are friendly and do everything to make your meal as pleasant as possible.

Reviewed by Miyuki

More info at Tabelog

Plenty to do in Matsumoto: Karen's report

Matsumoto City Museum of Art

What can visitors do in my home city?

• You can visit Matsumoto City Art Gallery because it has a lot of pieces of work by Kusama Yayoi and other artists. You can see her art outside, a spotty Coca Cola machine, and a spotty bus too.
• I recommend Joyama Park because it has a lot of beautiful cherry blossom trees, and you can see wonderful views of Matsumoto and the tall mountains.
• I recommend eating soba in a restaurant called kawa-fune, near the castle. Soba is locally made grey noodles. You can eat them hot or cold - I prefer them cold.
• You must visit Matsumoto Castle, because it is a National Treasure. It has a long history, and there are many events there eg an Ice Festival in January, a Kendo competition in November, a Craft Beer Festival in August...
• Nawate Street is next to the Metoba River, and is good for shopping, eating Tayaki (from the Furusato shop), and beautiful views. You can have a coffee & pastry in Sweets, a bakery.
• Nakamachi is good for souvenir shopping in unique stores, there's a morning market on Saturdays, and it has a lot of restaurants.
• The film 'Orange' was filmed at the historic Agata-no-Mori building, where there is also a lovely park.

Karen

Where I live ~ Shinshu, Japan

 Matsumoto Castle Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Shinshu is about 170km north of the capital, Tokyo. It is one of the most beautiful regions in the country.

There is a historic old castle, beautiful blue lakes and large peaceful forests. The historic old castle is one of the most famous castles in Japan.

Our region is famous for it's apples, watermelons, lettuce and peaches. We have some of the best ski mountains in the world, and we also have some of the most relaxing hot springs in the country. Our soba noodles are some of the most delicious in Asia.

Our winters are cold and wet, and it's quite snowy, but our summers are hot, with temperatures around 25
degrees C.

I hope you will have a nice trip.

   Best wishes

Yuya

Matsumoto information - food

19th June

Dear Hannah,
It's great that you're coming to Matsumoto. It's a lot smaller than London, and it's cleaner than Tokyo. It's in central Nagano, central Japan, about three hours from Tokyo. There are four seasons in Matsumoto, and typoons come in June. There are many famous foods in Matsumoto. For example, apples are the best harvest in Nagano, and Soba is very popular, and also Sake, bee larva and sanzokuyaki are very famous.

Mori soba by jetalone in Tokyo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Write soon, and please write letter if you have time.

Love,

Akiho

We're going on a ....castle hunt

Yes, I have to admit that location sometimes trumps everything.

Pre-school this morning, and one of our trademark fabulously cloudless early autumn skies on display...the mountains marking the skyline beautifully and just a hint that the trees are starting to turn. What would you do?!

Well, we went through the motions for a little while, but after snacktime the day really was looking to inviting to ignore anymore! Hats on, jackets on, shoes on - let's go on a castle hunt! And what would you know, we found one about half a mile from Luna. It's black, and over 400 years old. Today, the workers were preparing the grounds for the soba matsuri coming this long weekend - it will be rammed! Can you really do a long weekend based on buckwheat noodles? (Personally, will be yelling at England to beat Les Frogs in New Zealand!)

We had a picnic under a tree, then nearly fell into the moat with the fish (submarine-sized). On the way back, sleep attacked the weary walkers and we had a nice little nap time together :) That is the recipe for a very jolly day!

The place where I live - Matsumoto

I live in Matsumoto, which is a city near the Japanese Alps. It has a population of 228400 people and it’s the second biggest city in Nagano.

It’s a castle town. There is a beautiful black castle in Matsumoto. It is very famous, and it is one of Nagano’s most famous sightseeing areas. There are a lot of people who do sightseeing here every day.

The weather here is very cold, because Matsumoto is very high. It is about 600 meters above sea level. There is a lot of snow in winter, so Matsumoto’s car drivers need studless tires on their cars.

Matsumoto is famous for buckwheat noodles (Soba). People in Matsumoto like buckwheat noodles more than wheat noodles(Udon). There are more buckwheat noodle restaurants than wheat noodle ones.

I hope that Matsumoto becomes bigger. I want to go shopping. There is a lot of nature and a lot of spas, so I can go skiing and to spas easily.