Fine And Healthy Dining In Rural Japan

Fine And Healthy Dining In Rural Japan - As soon as the express train leaves for Yamanashi prefecture, west of Tokyo, you leave behind the suburbs and encounter forests where they say animals still roam in search of fruit.

The JR Chuo line express is a 90-minute ride through scenic gorges into inaka or rural Japan. Crossing into the Japanese fruit-producing region, you see a colourful part of the mountainous interior. The train tracks hug the side of wooded cliffs and pass over rushing crystal clear water which takes your mind away from hectic Shinjuku, the departure point.

The trip can even be a day adventure like mine; a speedy introduction, but I really should have found time to go walking, gaze at Mount Fuji or linger over the amazingly fresh cuisine. On the rail trip and driving around, I experienced autumn colours with red, burnt orange and yellows which we never see in our tropical forests, and forests a plenty there were. There are many reasons to seeing, tasting and enjoying this area, famous for its scenery, hot springs (onsen), vineyards and picking your own fruit, all within view of Mount Fuji.

After the 90-minute trip from central Tokyo, I got off the speedy and comfortable train at the peaceful town of Enzan. With my seasonal choice of late autumn, I could not try fruit-picking cherries (yes they blossom but early in April), peaches, grapes or strawberries. My friend who accompanied me (used to study in Wellington, New Zealand, where I also went to university) enjoys what we call “the countryside” and cuisine. It was a short drive from the train station for Malaysia’s “national pastime” – eating.

As we went in search of a restaurant, which was not the well-known local hot pot style, the scenery triggered memories of New Zealand’s fruit-growing areas. Taxi rides or driving distances to attractions are never very long from the numerous train stations. The drive along country roads through fields and small settlements was to a culinary attraction one would least expect in a rural Japanese setting. Finest French food with Japanese touches at the modern Restaurant Zelkova.

The restaurant is like many in Japan: focused on regional food sources, which is now trending world-wide as “locavore cuisine”. However, this was unexpected fine dining, as techniques were classic French with a seasonal menu. All in, a peaceful rural setting which even attracts Tokyo diners. The reputation of fresh vital produce driving the chef’s choice was evident in subtle spice-enhanced pumpkin flavours and the local lake trout, a fish one rarely finds anywhere. It was somewhat disorienting to dine with tranquillity, mountain views and rows of vines, not far from the bustle of Tokyo.

Product diversity was everywhere. Beverages included the local mineral water, fruit juices and cider. For this writer, the still Koshu, sparking Koshu wine, Champagne like, and the intense yet elegant power of Muscat Bailey A went well with the cuisine. The restaurant is attached to the award-winning Chateau Lumiere which was established in 1885. Lumiere is a family-owned winery which has been operating for over 130 years in Yamanashi prefecture, the most historical region for Japan’s wine production. The flagship stone tank fermented Ishigura wine is worthy of another story. The winery supports local artisanal food production and crafts a mind-boggling 36 varieties of wine, including a red wine variety rarely seen outside Japan, the Muscat Bailey A.

As an indigenous Yamanashi speciality, the Koshu grape is becoming more internationally known as a pinkish coloured white grape with a unique refreshing taste, for table wine or wine-making. Approximately 1,000 years ago, it travelled via the Silk Road from the Caucasus, across Central Asia, and finally to Japan. The grape features in many of the 60 or so Yamanashi vineyards, and is also as highly sought after for eating as are local peaches, strawberries and cherries.

The grapevines have to be covered every time it rains – and rain is often very cold at this altitude – so growing them is a labour of weather-watching and care. The Koshu grape is unique in both how it is grown and the large thin-skinned fruit itself which produces an aromatic, delicate fresh taste when crafted as a refreshing still or complex sparkling wine.

To be enjoying such distinctive tastes with French food in a rural setting was such a unique Japanese experience for me. My speedy trip concluded with a drive to a great viewpoint of Mount Fuji, but how I wish I had left time for a hot spring soak at Isawa onsen, with its range of scenic spa and hot pools. I enjoy the tropics, but there really is something cool and relaxing with the change of seasons in the shadow of Mount Fuji.

Yamanashi produce and wine can be found in Kuala Lumpur at an outlet in Pavilion and at a department store in Lot 10.