Izukogen Yutopia (東京機器健康保険組合伊豆高原ユートピア)

For our trip to Izu this time, stayed at Izukogen Yutopia (東京機器健康保険組合伊豆高原ユートピア).

Website: https://izukogenyutopia.com/access

We applied online and did not know which room we will be placed in till we got there.

Our room is very spacious. Right at the entrance is the genkan. Next to that, we have the sink and toilet.

It was nice to get our own private toilet even though we did not have a bath in the room. There is a common shared bath area on the ground floor.

Here is the living area which will be out bedroom at night.

I believe this place is popular with families which is why the room is big and can easily sleep 4.

Next to that, we have another living area that sits 4 too.

Here, we have the fridge and pots to make tea with.

Inside the closet are our yukata.

This is how the place look like on the inside. These stairs here led us up to our room on the 2nd floor. There is also a lower ground floor with many rooms for indoor activities. There is also a reading room and meeting room here. I believe companies use this place for functions too.

This is main lounge area where you can just sit and chill. There are also 3 massage chairs for guests to use. 

Right next to the lounge area is the dining area. Meals are served at fixed time and when it is time, the hall quickly fills up. Each group is assigned their own table and the food is already on the table before they allowed guests in.

This here is the dinner. There were many dishes and they were all good.

I like how we had sashimi and tempura.

This abalone here is not part of the standard meal set. I added this when I made the reservation for this place. It was interesting to grill our own abalone.

The abalone was nice and not tough to chew on.

There were so many dishes. Cold appetizers, salad and beef.

The meal also ended with desserts!

Overall, we were very satisfied with the food served. We also had 2 bottles of Pepsi. Honestly, I haven't had Pepsi in a long time. This we added at extra cost. While other tables were having alcohol, we had soft drinks!

After dinner, the futon was already prepared for us.

While it looked welcoming, we did not immediately go to bed. We went out for one of the best illuminations we have seen that night.

Akao Herb & Rose Garden (アカオハーブ＆ローズガーデン)

Dropped by Akao Herb & Rose Garden (アカオハーブ＆ローズガーデン) on the way to Izu.

Website: http://www.garden-akao.com/

At the ticket area, there is a bus that will bring you up the hill.

On top of the hill is this beautiful zen garden and a magnificent view of the bay.

There are of course many nice gardens toos.

As we are on top of the hill, we can slowly walk down to enjoy the different gardens there.

Right next to the zen garden is a cafe where you can buy drinks and cakes to be enjoyed outside or inside.

Other than just beautiful flowers, there are also some interesting installations there for pictures.

One can also just enjoy sleeping on a hammock while enjoying the nice sea breeze.

The way down is nice because every garden is different.

The scenery completely changes in each of the gardens.

I would love to revisit again for more pictures.

Though we did have to be very careful because we spotted a green snake in one of the garden.

Otherwise, it was really.

As it was early summer, we didn't have to worry about spiders yet.

Spring and summer would be a good time to visit as many of the flower are in full bloom.

Also, other than at the top of the hill where many people gathered, there were not many people on all the other gardens because there were so many of them so you can enjoy each one peacefully.

This last one here has a beach resort vibe to it.

I assume this place would be really nice for those who are interested in pre-wedding pictures too.

Hanamaru Yugawara shop (回転寿司花まる湯河原店)

Another road trip to Izu.

First off, lunch at Hanamaru Yugawa Shop. We actually wanted to get ramen but the ramen shop that we wanted to visit was not open. I think we need to try again a third time next round.

But I am happy with Hanamaru too as their sushi is fresh and delicious.

Look at the size of the neta!

The crab miso soup was huge too! There are pieces of crab in it too and if you don't mind spending sometime to break the legs apart to get to the crab meat, this bowl of soup is worth it.

Anago~

One of my favourite - ebi!

Even the chawan mushi was good. Very happy with all the food served and it was good that we got to order directly to the sushi master, instead of getting sushi from a conveyor belt during this times.

 

だるま きわ味 銀座店 (Kishikatsu Daruma, Ginza SIX)

Lunch at だるま きわ味 銀座店 (Kishikatsu Daruma, Ginza SIX).

Came to Ginza for lunch after a long time. As we were still worried about dining out, we booked a private room for lunch. 

This kushikatsu lunch course costs 3,520 yen.

The lunch course came with rice, tuna marinated in sesame soy sauce, salad, miso soup, pickles and 10 kushikatsu. The marinated tuna was super delicious. That itself was enough to cause you to finish your rice.

This is fried beef with truffle mousse sauce.

Fried clam in a homemade sauce.

Corn and onion saute

Pork and asparagus

There is also fried hokkaido scallops

This here is sea urchin and gouda cheese gratin.

Lastly, a sorbet. Overall, all the kushikatsu were delicious and very different from what you can find in other shops because they each came with a special sauce of it's own. The skewers were all very well made and not oily. We were also able to dine comfortable in a private room. 

After that, we went shopping around Ginza before deciding to grab early dinner at a Malaysian restaurant there called Rasa Malaysia Ginza (ラサマレーシア).

The place was empty when we arrived.

We ordered fried kuey teow, hokkien mee and fried squid.

The kuey teow is better at Malay Asian Cuisine but this is the only place that serves hokkien mee. The fried squid is really good, but this place here is pricy and they have a cover charge for dinner. 

It is comforting to know that we can get Malaysian food easily when we miss food from home.