We went to breakfast at 7:30. Both of us cut back the amount of food. Suzette had a couple of Shu Mai (wheat wrapped pork dumplings) and a bowl of yogurt with fruit. The yogurt here is better than Kurosawa.  I ate several slices of Japanese omelet, 1/2 of a sausage, a square of French Toast, 1/3 of a cold poached egg (awful), sautéed mung bean sprouts and ham (my favorite), and a bowl of yogurt with orange and pineapple wedges.

We then walked to the onset and soaked for thirty minutes in the outdoor pool.

We walked back to the room at 9:30 and napped until Noon when we ordered a taxi and traveled to Itsuki’s Archeological Museum.

We chose not to visit the museum because there was no English guidebook and the exhibits looked rinky dink. So we walked the long block to the restored historic village and toured it.  There was a covered exhibit building showing a middens covered with volcanic ash dating from 874 A.D. when a volcano erupted nearby.

We then walked about 1/2 mile to the train station. I was getting sore and Suzette was getting grumpy with me as we tried to find a restaurant for lunch.

at1:30.

 across from the train station we noticed an Italian flag and discovered that we were standing across the street from Casa Vecchio, an Italian Trattoria.

It was still serving lunch, so we split a four course menu for 2800 yen with an appetizer plate, a pasta dish, a fish main course, a dessert, and tea or coffee.

We also ordered and drank four glasses of wine two red for Suzette and two white for me. Soon the appetizer plate came, a platter filled with a wedge of vegetable terrine, a pork terrine, a meatball with a black olive in the middle, a slice of salami, a small round of focaccia, and salad. 

Then came the pasta. I had selected Puttanesca pasta with octopus instead of anchovies.

Puttanesca is a classic, quick, and flavorful Italian dish from Naples made with a zesty sauce of tomatoes, olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, and chili flakes. It is a popular, budget-friendly meal often made from pantry staples. 

It was fabulous. The octopus was chewy but digestible and the tomato sauce with capers and a picante zip from chili flakes was delicious

Then came the main course, a slice of salmon breaded and sautéed in olive oil, with garlic, capers, parsley, and a variety of mushrooms including oyster and shiitake garnished with arugula.  We loved it especially with a second glass of wine.

Finally dessert was excellent also, a square of tiramisu and a slice of fresh persimmon.

We love lunch and the price of 5950 for the lunch and four glasses of wine was less than the bottle of wine at Fenice.

We then walked to the bus stop for the hotel and the bus was waiting even though it was 2:45 and the bus was not scheduled to leave until 3:15. The bus driver let us board the bus and wait in a seat.

By 3:30 we were back in the hotel. We rested until 5;30 and then walked along the promenade along the bay about 1/3 mile and then went to two bars in the hotel looking for a whiskey for Suzette but only finding a cup of sake.

At 7:30 we returned to the room and ate the leftover Sushi lunch from two days ago, the fruit provided by the hotel, and finally the wedge of chocolate brownie saved from dessert at Fenice two nights ago.

Then the most fun of the day. We took a soak together in our private wooden enson tub in our room and got in bed by 9:30.

Bon Appetit

November 17, 2025 Breakfast Resort Hotel , Lunch - Udon with egg Dinner - seven course banquet at our hotel.

November 17, 2025 Breakfast Resort Hotel , Lunch - Udon with egg Dinner - seven course banquet at our hotel.

We woke up and went to breakfast on on the Seventh floor dining room.

I was excited when I saw so many American food items. I ate pancakes with syrup, a croissant with butter and orange marmalade, Japanese omelet, and a sausage.

I then went to basement to the men’s bath room in the basement.

Then at 11:00 we met in the lobby, and were driven to a lovely udon restaurant next to the railroad station for lunch. I had pre-ordered a bowl of Udon with a nicely poached egg and a wonderful fried fish cake roll floating in the bowl with a pile of udon noodles submerged in a pleasant broth. 

Suzette ordered a pork cutlet bowl filled with slices of pork cutlet and sautéed onions on top and rice in the bottom. We both drank beers.

 It was a pleasant meal. Then we all got back on the bus and drove to the coast to the hot sand Enson. Neither Suzette or I took the sand bath where they cover you with geo thermal warmed sand from the beach. Everyone said it was tingly, but Suzette did a regular water soak and I sat outside and read my book.

Then we drove to a Bonita flake processing plant that produces 75 to 85% of the Bonita processed for dashi in the world. The facility is immense with wharfs were frozen Bonita are unloaded from ships and stored in -50 C degree warehouses until the day of processing. They are then sliced into four sections and thawed and deboned and then smoked and covered with a mold four times over a six month period until they turn solid purple and hard . At that point they will last forever, but our guide said they begin to lose their flavor after two years. There are 20 processing plants in the area that each process 1000 4 lb. Bonita each day.

At the end of the tour we each cranked a Bonita shaver and made miso soup with the shaved flakes in a cup with a bit of miso and rice. We bought flakes at a store and hope to make miso soup for our Christmas party.

We then returned to the hotel and rested until dinner. I am walking about 6000 steps a day regularly, especially since distances to the dining room and enson are so long.

We net in the lobby for dinner at 6:25 nd proceeded to a private dining room set wit trays on wooden platforms. After a bit of shuffling to make sure each person received their designated dinner tray, the 9 course banquet began.

First Course, Appetizers and plum wine. It was a good tasting almost clear plum wine. In a small bowl were a slice of wheat tofu spread with a spinach paste stacked on a piece of freeze dried tofu. Beside that was a persimmon leaf wrapped around a slice of Kirishima salmon sushi with kumquat paste on it. There was a small bowl with a chestnut fritter and two smaller fritters that may have been lilly buds. On a piece of paper was a slice of fried sweet potato, and next to it was a slice of puffer fish with small wasabi ball on it. In another small covered dish was a cube of pork covered with black sesame paste and topped with a goji berry.

Everything had been prepared ahead of time, so was room temperature and not very toothsome.

Second Course - Crab Meatball Soup- the broth was hot and deliciou, but the cranb meat had been mixed with potato flour and was doughy, like a matzo ball. I loved the slice of fresh black wood ear and green seaweed.

Third Course - Sashimi - this was delicious. A raw shrimp, two slices of Blu fin tuna, and three slices of a type of white amber Jack (hamachi) on a shiso leaf with micro greens a thin daikon threads with a small tower of wasabi on a lovely Imari ware square bowl.

Fourth Course -  Takiawase Course. Overview

Takiawase is a Japanese dish of simmered ingredients, like vegetables, seafood, or meat, that are cooked separately and then combined in one bowl or on one plate, often with a dashi-based broth. The name means "simmered-together" or "to combine by simmering". It is frequently served as part of a formal meal or a multi-course kaiseki dinner, with the specific ingredients changing seasonally. 

This evening the bowl contained a piece of braised pork belly, a sweet potato in the shape of a maple leaf, a slice of cucumber, two sliced of pickled radish and a bundle of fried tofu there was a thick sauce from a reduction of the cooking juices of the pork belly. I loved the tightly wound ball of tofu.

Fifth Course - Grilled Course - This was our least favorite dish. The grilled mackerel was hard to chew, the crab and miso were dried out also and the sweet potato tempura seemed cold to me and there was no dipping sauce. The only thing I liked was the miso wrapped with a perilla leave.

Sixth Dish - Mai Course - Black Pork Hot pot. This was the most fun dish of the meal, a bowl of broth heated by a stereo, with a dish filled with thin slices of local black pork, a bundle of enoki mushrooms, a few oyster mushrooms, two slices of scallion, a pile of bean thread noodles, and a pile of green sprouts. We cooked the ingredients in the boiling broth and ate them as they cooked. The dish was a delight and clearly the main dish.

By this point everyone was satiated and few ate either of the last two courses.

Seventh Course - Vinegared. Dish - Two slices of fresh Bonita in a bowl filled with sliced radish, red onion, and green onion and red fish roe in a light sauce.

I could only eat one slice of Bonita and it was a little tough.

Eight Course - rice and pickled vegetables and miso chicken and potato soup. I may have been the only one who elected to take this dish. The one bite of rice was nice. The miso was thick and filled tith cubes of chicken and potato and tiny cubes of carrot. It was hot and pleasant.

Ninth Course - Dessert - Large Grapes and persimmon slices. We were told that the grapes are bred to increase their size. They were the side of a good sized apricot and the persimmon was creamy and delicious.

Another massive meal that seemed to include recycled leftover items from the breakfast buffet in many cases, with a couple of high points, sashimi, pork hot pot and dessert.

Bon Appetit

November 16, 2025 Breakfast at Hotel Lunch - unagi bowl on train to Ibusuki and Italian Dinner at Fenice Restaurant at Hotel

November 16, 2025 Breakfast at Hotel Lunch - unagi bowl on train to Ibusuki and Italian Dinner at Fenice Restaurant at Hotel

We awakened and went to breakfast in the hotel at 7:30. Today I tried the dish Suzette ate yesterday, clams in corn soup. The soup was bland but the clams were wonderful. I also ate a couple of slices of Japanese omelet, a sausage, and a croissant with butter and strawberry jam with a whole strawberry in it. At the end of the meal Suzette brought me a cup of plain creamed yogurt that I flavored with the last bit of strawberry jam.

The group then assembled for our trip to Kagoshima on the south coast of the island that included a 41 minute trip by electric bullet train and a 1 hour trip by a local train with a 1 hour stop in the middle at noon.  The bullet train was fast and fun and the slow local to Ibusuki was along the coast was beautiful as we rolled into its tropical ecosystem through areas of palms and citrus trees.

At the intermediate stop there was an aggregation of food courts and food stores. We bought a tray of BBQ’d Unagi with rice and a tray of sushi to eat on the second train. 

The hotel was located on a huge property with beautifully landscaped areas. It reminded me of the large spas in Europe that have declined in popularity lately but hang on due to their unmatched elegance.

When we were assigned our room it was a small Japanese style room with chairs on the floor and no beds. We requested and paid for an upgrade to a corner suite with a Japanese sitting room, a Western sitting room, a western bedroom with two single beds, and its own soaking tub area with a wrap around balcony with views of the ocean on one side and the manicured arboretum on the other side. Very elegant for $265 extra.

I rested and Suzette soaked in the outdoor and indoor bath areas before dinner at 7:30.

We then walked the short distance through a garden to the Fenice Italian Restaurant Where we were seated at two different tables. I perused the wine selection and then we were joined by Deborah and Kaz, which was lucky because they could explain the menu. Dinner was a seven course dinner. The amuse-bouche was a small of chopped liver served with a small kernel of gelatin and a round cracker.

We selected a bottle of 2022 Chianti Classico for $46.00 when the appetizer plate arrived with a slice of mortadella, a fried fish, a slice of black pig, and a slice of wagyu beef, two slices of blue fin tuna, and a lovely small bowl of Caprese salad with mozzarella cherry tomatoes and basil infused olive oil.

The Chianti was a little rough at first but smoothed out as the meal progressed and was delicious with the main beef course.

The second course was called minestrone soup but it was an onion and cabbage soup that was quite delicious.

Two types of bread were served with olive oil; a slice of baguette and a dark brown bread slice.  It was a thrill to have fresh bread.

Third Course - Then came the pasta primi, which I loved. A small pile of cassarecce pasta in a creamy tomato sauce with three or four types of beans, garbanzo, peas, and one or two others. I asked for and was brought a small ramekin of grated Parmesan cheese that I shared with the table.

Fourth Course - Grilled Grouper with a sesame mushroom sauce.

This was the best dish of the meal for me. The fish was incredibly tender and I had never eaten a Mushroom sesame sauce so it was interesting to me. I particularly liked the sauce’s nutty creamy consistency.

Fifth Course - Wagyu Beef in a red wine sauce - The wagyu beef has impressed me. In the U.S. it would probably grade higher than Prime due to its intense marbling. The beef was the star of this dish. The sauce was not memorable.

Sixth Course - Dessert - A real chocolate Torte. I can not believe it. Plus an interesting sweet potato ice cream, a slice of cantaloupe, and a very lovely wedge of sweet satsuma.

It was a very satisfying meal. Kas was drinking whiskey and suggested that we try the limoncello, so we did and it was slightly less citrusy than our homemade limoncello, but very good.

After dinner we retired to the bed. The mattress was too firm so around midnight Suzette placed a duvet over the mattress and I added another pillow to raise the support for my head and we slept soundly after that.

Ibusuki is a warm, pleasant town with tropical foliage.

Bon Appetit