This Amanemu dining and breakfast review is from our recent Virtuoso stay at the resort, the most luxurious in Ise-Shima. It's an ideal onsen getaway, paired with its sister hotel, Aman Tokyo, the first “vertical” Aman in a major metropolis.
TravelSort Clients enjoy complimentary daily American or Japanese breakfast at Amanemu, as well as a $100 equivalent food and beverage credit that can be used towards a sumptuous dinner.
Amanemu Restaurant
Amanemu's main restaurant is off to the right, after passing through reception. It's handsomely finished in light wood, with arched ceilings, and I was surprised at the number of tables, given that there are only 24 suites and 8 villas.
Here's Amanemu's Restaurant at night, followed by a daytime photo:
Amanemu Breakfast Menu and Food
Since we'd eaten somewhat lightly the previous evening, we were hungry for breakfast. And that was just as well, given how delicious the offerings were, and the generous servings. Here's the Japanese breakfast menu. As you can see, the usual price is JPY 4200 + tax/service, so ~$40 per person, but complimentary for two daily.
And here's the American breakfast and continental breakfast menus:
There are also a la carte choices that can come in handy if you're traveling with a child who doesn't have an included breakfast:
My husband and son chose the American breakfast, while I opted for the Japanese breakfast. We were all started off with delicious fresh squeezed orange juice:
Fresh fruit, including orange, grapefruit and pineapple, and also yogurt, were included in the American breakfast:
Interestingly, salad, served from a trolley wheeled to our table, was also a part of the American breakfast. Clearly the Japanese have reimagined a healthier American breakfast that would astonish most Americans 🙂
My son, who normally orders scrambled eggs, decide to try poached eggs. These came with a silky, excellent hollandaise sauce served on the side:
My husband chose the scrambled eggs, and made short work of them:
But if you haven't tired of Japanese food yet at this stage in your trip, I highly recommend the Japanese breakfast, which was my favorite breakfast of our entire trip. Here's the entire tray, followed by close ups of the different components:
This Amanemu dining and breakfast review is from our recent Virtuoso stay at the resort, the most luxurious in Ise-Shima. It's an ideal onsen getaway, paired with its sister hotel, Aman Tokyo, the first “vertical” Aman in a major metropolis.
TravelSort Clients enjoy complimentary daily American or Japanese breakfast at Amanemu, as well as a $100 equivalent food and beverage credit that can be used towards a sumptuous dinner.
Amanemu Restaurant
Amanemu's main restaurant is off to the right, after passing through reception. It's handsomely finished in light wood, with arched ceilings, and I was surprised at the number of tables, given that there are only 24 suites and 8 villas.
Here's Amanemu's Restaurant at night, followed by daytime photos:
Amanemu Breakfast Menu and Food
Since we'd eaten somewhat lightly the previous evening, we were hungry for breakfast. And that was just as well, given how delicious the offerings were, and the generous servings. Here's the Japanese breakfast menu. As you can see, the usual price is JPY 4200 + tax/service, so ~$40 per person, but complimentary for two daily.
And here's the American breakfast and continental breakfast menus:
There are also a la carte choices that can come in handy if you're traveling with a child who doesn't have an included breakfast:
My husband and son chose the American breakfast, while I opted for the Japanese breakfast. We were all started off with delicious fresh squeezed orange juice:
Fresh fruit, including orange, grapefruit and pineapple, and also yogurt, were included in the American breakfast:
Interestingly, salad, served from a trolley wheeled to our table, was also a part of the American breakfast. Clearly the Japanese have reimagined a healthier American breakfast that would astonish most Americans 🙂
My son, who normally orders scrambled eggs, decide to try poached eggs. These came with a silky, excellent hollandaise sauce served on the side:
My husband chose the scrambled eggs, and made short work of them:
But if you haven't tired of Japanese food yet at this stage in your trip, I highly recommend the Japanese breakfast, which was my favorite breakfast of our entire trip. Here's the entire tray, followed by close ups of the different components:
Miso soup is of course a staple, not just for lunch or dinner, but also for breakfast, and this was clearly a freshly made version.
The “appetizers” included tuna, Japanese pickles, and small bites such as broccoli wrapped with smoked salmon, and other tasty seafood bites.
The sashimi was fresh and delicious, as were the vegetable sides, one of them topped with fresh crab:
To round out the meal there was tamago (Japanese omelet), rice, and a separate hot casserole of creamy tofu:
And as if that weren't enough, there was a separate dish of two types of broiled fish, and tender pork–all of them exquisite.
Somehow, just after we'd ordered our breakfasts, my husband spied pancakes on the a la carte menu, and managed to swap something in his menu, perhaps the breakfast pastries, for an order of pancakes, with ricotta. The pancakes were cakey, served with raspberries and ricotta and maple syrup, and we all enjoyed them.
Amanemu Dinner
I'll have to add Amanemu's dinner menu later, as I've misplaced my photo, but a variety of Japanese-influenced but creative seafood and meat dishes are offered, as well as some Western dishes. There was also a kid's menu.
We started off with a lobster bisque, which was small in size, but very delicious, even though I'm not such a fan of the foam finish that was on top.
Our son ordered a burger and fries, and was very happy with it.
My husband was in the mood for something light, so he chose a tempura appetizer as his main. I barely got a tax bite, but the batter was light, crispy, and not greasy at all.
I'd been intrigued by a dish that included uni (sea urchin) and barracuda (something we actually saw live under our overwater bungalow at the Four Seasons Bora Bora) so I'd ordered that. But somehow there was a miscommunication with our server, and he instead brought me a salmon dish. I pointed out that it wasn't what I'd ordered, and there was some consternation–the server and manager apologized, and promised it would be taken off our bill. And the salmon dish was good, it just wasn't what I'd ordered.
In fact, not only did they remove the salmon dish from our bill, the chef did manage to make the dish I'd ordered, so we were able to try it as well, and it was the highlight of all the dishes we ordered at Amanemu. Barracuda may be a fearsome looking fish, but it is also extremely tasty, at least when prepared correctly. And the uni was a wonderful complement to the Spanish Mackerel.
To finish, we decided to all share the chocolate cake with ice cream and matcha cream. Green tea is excellent paired with dark chocolate.
Here are the other dessert menu choices:
Amanemu Complimentary Afternoon Tea
A lovely feature at many Aman resorts is complimentary afternoon tea, featuring local specialties. It's held in the Amanemu Bar and Lounge, which is to the left after reception.
Amanemu's afternoon tea from 3-4pm is more Western in style, at least in terms of the food served, but very good. We especially enjoyed the quiche, lemon tartlets, and green tea cookies.
And as my son doesn't drink tea, he was thoughtfully offered fruit juice, which was possibly the tastiest offering–an artisanal pressed apple juice.
The Verdict
I think I'd seen some early reviews of Amanemu that panned the food, so I had tempered my expectations. But, while we did encounter a misunderstanding with my dinner order that resulted in my being brought the wrong dish, all the dishes we tried for dinner and breakfast were at least very good, and several were fantastic. I highly recommend ordering the Japanese breakfast at least once, and also highly recommend the barracuda and sea urchin dish at dinner, if still on the menu.
If you've recently dined at Amanemu, what was your experience?
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