Dinner at Rakuichi (Niseko)

Cold soba with dipping sauce

Rakuichi is known for it's home made soba noodles, which are delicious! Luckily we took the advice from our hotel seriously and booked dinner here back in August, as it's full for the entire winter, and they already have bookings for next ski season!

The restaurant is located a short (and snowy) drive from Niseko. Once you arrive, you walk across a cute little bridge and into the tiny restaurant. It seats 12 at the bar from where you can sneak peaks into the kitchen to watch the sashimi being plated, and the delicate tempura being battered and fried. It's a set menu, all in Japanese, which of course we couldn't read at all. This means we had no choice but to sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey.

The couple next to us seemed to know what they were doing, so we copied them and ordered a bottle of sake with gold flakes. Pretty decadent, and very oishii.

As for the food... wow! It was all so delicious, and the stand out was indeed the soba, which we watched the Master Tatsuru Rai hand craft from scratch. First it was kneaded in a bowl before being rolled out and sliced into perfect noodles. We chose to have ours as they recommended - cold with a bowl of dipping sauce. Such a good way to enjoy the actual soba flavours and texture.

The hosts were delightful in their traditional kimonos, and we managed a few conversations. Their English is much better than our Japanese, and we had a good time working out what each other was saying through the use of our limited words and much miming.

All in all it was an amazing dining experience, and one we will definitely repeat on our next trip to Niseko.

The menu - can anyone translate?

With the lovely and friendly owners

Sashimi: fatty tuna, scallop (my favourite) and uni

Sake with flakes of gold

Tempura - light and delicious

Salmon

A super tasty fish that we can't remember the name of...

More delicious tempura

Shabu Shabu

Rolling out the soba noodles

Standing in the snow on the bridge outside