A note on the words: hoya, sometimes translated as sea pineapple, is a briny, distinctively flavored sea squirt that’s a Tohoku regional delicacy — an acquired taste, but a beloved one up here. Negitoro is a paste of minced fatty tuna mixed with chopped green onion, usually eaten over rice. Denbu is sweetened, finely flaked fish, often dyed a soft pink and used as a rice topping. Myoga is a mild, fragrant Japanese ginger bud, eaten raw or pickled. Shochu is a distilled Japanese spirit, often served cut with soda as a highball.
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Taikanso on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hey, this is Hangover Meshi. So, I’ve come to Matsushima, and the place I’m staying this time is Hotel Matsushima Taikanso. It’s a long-established hotel up on a hill. There’s a shuttle bus from the station, so that’s the easy way to get there. Why did I pick this place? The view of Matsushima Bay from the ocean-side rooms! And if you request “Isana” for dinner, you get an all-you-can-eat buffet of fresh seafood! It’s a hotel right on the water, so I have high expectations here! So, off to Isana we go!
You reserve a time slot at check-in, and when you arrive they seat you in something like a semi-private booth.
Once you’re seated and they walk you through how it works, it’s time to dig in.
By the way, there’s an all-you-can-drink option too, but I figured I probably wouldn’t drink that much, so I went with ordering drinks individually instead.
Taikanso Dinner Buffet “Isana” Menu
Food
The full spread felt like it easily topped 100 dishes. Both the freshness and the quality were flawless.
Bluefin tuna, sea bass, whelk, yellowtail, salmon, kombu-cured horse mackerel, and more. The sea bass had glossy black eyes — a sign of top-notch freshness.
Flounder, bonito, yellowfin tuna, and more.
Denbu (sweetened flaked fish), shiitake mushrooms, negitoro, green onion, and grated yam.
Myoga ginger, eggplant, shishito peppers, shrimp. Fried horse mackerel too.
Grilled fish skewers, grilled scallops, and hoya, a Tohoku regional delicacy.
Doughnuts and more.
Drinks
There’s an all-you-can-drink option too, or you can order individually (barley shochu with soda, sake, and more). The wall of sake bottles is a sight to see.
*This reflects what was available during my stay in September 2024. The lineup changes daily. The dinner buffet is available when you select “Isana” for your stay, and pricing depends on your room plan.
This is where you grab soft drinks. Check out that wall of sake!!
By the way, I went with a barley shochu soda and took a lap around to see what else was on offer.
There’s simply so much, so this is just a small taste of it!
There’s bluefin tuna!
Sea bass sashimi! Look at those eyes on the sea bass — glossy and black, you can tell right away how fresh it is!
There’s also whelk, yellowtail and salmon sashimi, and kombu-cured horse mackerel.
A build-your-own seafood rice bowl station. Denbu, shiitake mushrooms, negitoro, green onion, and grated yam.
Freshly fried tempura! Myoga ginger, eggplant, shishito peppers, shrimp. There’s fried horse mackerel too.
Of course there’s sushi too! It’s seriously lavish!
Flounder, bonito, yellowfin tuna!
Steamed vegetables! And salad.
Doughnuts for dessert too.
And hoya, that Tohoku delicacy, too.
Grilled fish skewers!
And that’s honestly nowhere near all of it. If you counted every single dish, I’d guess it easily tops 100.
And on top of that, this level of freshness and quality. It’s easy to see why Taikanso is so popular.
So here’s round one of what I picked out.
First up, an assorted sashimi platter!
Bluefin tuna, sea bass, whelk, scallop, salmon, yellowtail, yellowfin, and more.
Plus octopus, something that looked like akamoku seaweed, hoya, grilled scallop, and more.
Start with this, plus a shochu soda and some sake — perfect! Mmm, every bit of the fish is genuinely fresh and delicious.
After that I kept grabbing little bits of everything I hadn’t tried yet until I was stuffed to bursting!
By the way, breakfast is a buffet too, and there was a huge spread of delicious food! Great hotel.
So, all in all, I’d recommend Taikanso. The bath isn’t actually a hot spring, as it turns out, but between the incredible view from the ocean-side rooms and this seafood buffet, that alone makes it worth the trip! You can actually get from Tokyo to Matsushimakaigan Station in about two hours — roughly 90 minutes by shinkansen plus another 50 minutes or so — which makes it a great quick getaway out of Sendai. I’d love to come back when I get the chance.
Taikanso (Hotel / Matsushimakaigan Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
