The Japanese Alps - Takayama
We bullet trained to Takayama via Toyama. When looking at the route I thought, how lovely it will be to see the countryside speed past - however I forgot, we're in Japan, not the UK - when there's a hill they just go through, not around. So most of it was speeding through tunnels...
Having said that, the train ride from Toyama to Takayama was a local train (and very comfy, I must say) so I got my beautiful mountain views in the end.
The host at the place we were staying was wonderful, and when he was recommending places to eat, I showed him my GF card and he then rang around a few places and booked a reservation with a place that could accomodate me! Such a relief to have some help to save us wondering the streets for hours trying to find somewhere!
I know you're probably thinking, I'm in Japan I want Japanese food! But believe me, do not miss out on eating here!
Hiroshi and Naoko run this lovely cosy resturant and they were the most welcoming people we met in Japan! We loved it so much here, we had dinner both nights we stayed in Takayama.
First meal
Naoko helped me find something suitable to eat, I was a bit limited as to what I could have - I didn't mind at all because at least I could eat something!
We were given boiled new mountain potatos dripping in a sticky tamari sauce and courgette just as an appetiser, which was free! Naoko told me that the tamari sauce was safe, and showed me the bottle.
For my main meal, I naturally went for rice noodle soup, it was snowy and cold outside so anything comforting and warming was what I needed!
A massive bowl of hot steaming soup full of veg, chicken and rice noodles landed in front of me, and I actually worried I wouldn't be able to eat it all... I needn't have worried, it was so delicious, with a hint of spice and so very warming that I eat the whole bowl. Sadly, I didn't take a picture as I just jumped straight in!
Our nextdoor neighbours on the bench made the most amazing "oh my god this is SO delicious" sound, we were naturally curious to see what could cause that reaction and saw that they had meatballs. They offered us one, I sadly had to say no, but Kane happily ate one and made the exact same sound - so if whoever you're with likes meatballs, they should order those! To accompany our meal we had some very good local saki - this was our favourite - kusudama.
Second meal
Even though I REALLY wanted to eat the noodles again, I thought I'd try something new. I went for the soy stir fried rice noodles with veg and chicken - again so delicious and basically is the definition of super comfort food! I felt so happy and content after each meal, and Naoko was so great to chat to.
Kane was collecting stamps as we travelled around Japan, and when she saw his little book she disappeared for a while, when she came back she had a box full of stamps!! What are the odds?!
So she set Kane to work on a fabric poster, and translated our names into Japanese that she then wrote on the fabric.
They were such wonderful and generous people who made us feel so welcome and quelled any fears I had so I felt safe and secure in eating everything they gave me, they sent us off at the end of each meal with a chocolate bar (for Kane) a rice cracker for me and the lovely Naoko wave from the door til we were well down the street! If we're ever back in Takayama we will definitely be back again ☺️
Hida Takayama Museum of Art If you fancy yourself a walk to the otherside of town I'd recommend heading to the Hida Takayama Museum of Art, it's a private collection of artworks from around the world. We're big fans of Rene Lalique and Rennie Charles MacIntosh so naturally we took a stroll that way. We got chatting to the shop assistant who said they can do gluten free lunches in the restaurant, so we checked it out. They could offer me the vegetarian lunch which would be safe, hoorah! This big plate with a medley of different food stuffs arrived, I happily tucked into it. It was very filling, and I felt nice and content - they were very attentive, the food was great and the location was beautiful. It was very chilly so they seated us near the heater with blankets!
Ice cream when it's snowing!
It became quickly apparent that the Japanese eat ice cream all year round, and there was abundance of cute dessert cafes we had to give it a go, even though it was snowing!
I had yummy matcha green tea ice cream - I can't deny it, it's a bit weird but it's gluten free - providing you don't have the cone (sometimes they hide cake in the bottom, so always check!) and of course don't eat those biscuits.
