A note on the words: baikingu is the Japanese term for an all-you-can-eat buffet. Kanroni refers to fish simmered in sweet soy until glossy and tender, anago is simmered conger eel, and sazae no tsuboyaki is horned turban shell grilled whole in its own shell.
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Kinugawa Hotel Mikazuki on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. A new train called Spacia X launched on the Tobu Railway, and when I tried booking a ticket, I managed to snag the finest private suite, so I decided to take a trip to Kinugawa. The place I stayed at was Hotel Mikazuki, right in front of Kinugawa-Onsen Station. I decided to have dinner at their baikingu (a Japanese-style all-you-can-eat buffet). The setting was a large restaurant on the ground floor!
When you arrive and give your room number, they show you to a table.
So first, I thought I’d do a loop around to see what was on offer!
There is a wide variety, and coming to a buffet like this once in a while is genuinely fun.
There were dishes like kanroni of sardines (simmered in sweet soy), caprese, chicken wings, and spare ribs.
They also had Korean food. Soba inari, yangnyeom chicken, various namul, and kimbap were laid out.
I feel like carbs usually make up about 70% of these all-you-can-eat buffets, but that didn’t seem to be the case here.
Sushi: salmon, a red-fleshed fish that looked like tuna, shrimp, and anago (conger eel). Right alongside was sashimi too.
Kanpachi (amberjack), amaebi (sweet shrimp), and zuke of tuna (marinated tuna)! This sweet shrimp was great! I took three of them, ha.
Steamed tuna collar Chinese style, bang bang ji, and atsuage (thick fried tofu) in a Chinese sauce. Chinese dishes were well covered. There were also classic Chinese staples like mapo tofu on hand. With so much variety, it was hard to decide what to pick!
And then, tempura. The shrimp was wildly popular, and by the time I came back for seconds it was all gone, ha.
Gyoza. At a section that looked like a local Tochigi specialty corner, you could also have ramen or udon made to order.
Beyond that, there was miso beef tongue grilled to order by a chef, steak, and sazae no tsuboyaki (turban shell grilled in its shell), making for a thoroughly well-stocked buffet.
What’s more, an all-you-can-drink selection of various alcoholic beverages was included for one hour. Very satisfying.
In the end, this is what my first plate looked like, ha. I swung quite heavily toward the healthy side.
All in all, coming to a buffet once in a while is a lot of fun! When visiting with family, this setup where everyone can eat whatever they like is really the best. Because everything is self-service, there is none of the hassle of having to call over staff, and being able to enjoy things entirely at your own pace was delightful!
Kinugawa Hotel Mikazuki (Ryokan / Kinugawa-onsen Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.3
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
