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The Ritz-Carlton Nikko is one of our favorites among newer Ritz-Carltons, thanks to its unique setting by the picturesque Lake Chuzenji, its onsen (natural hot spring) bathing experience, and the high quality service from its team. We'll have a review of the resort soon, but this post will focus on its restaurants and dining offerings. TravelSort Clients enjoy STARS benefits at the hotel, which include top priority for an upgrade if available at check-in, welcome amenity, daily breakfast for two, and a $100 equivalent credit that may be used towards dining at any of the restaurants, in-room dining, or spa services.
Ritz-Carlton Nikko Breakfast at The Japanese Restaurant
The Japanese Restaurant serves breakfast 7-11am, and it's advisable to request your preferred breakfast dining time in advance. Each morning there's a choice of a Japanese or Western breakfast set, with a number of small dishes included bento style. Here are the menus for the two mornings of our stay:
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While waiting for their breakfast set to be prepared, guests can help themselves to a selection of juices, yogurts, and bircher muesli. We especially enjoyed the Tochigi pear juice and the bircher muesli.
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Each guest is also provided a set of two house-baked pastries and a bread (stamped with the hotel's name), served with strawberry jam, marmelade, and butter.
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Salad appears on both menus, which was strange for my husband, but having lived and worked in Japan, I've come to appreciate the inclusion of salad with breakfast. Why not start the day with more vegetables than is common in typical Western breakfasts?
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My husband, despite his reservations about the salad and amount of fish/meat, enjoyed his Western breakfast, although he liked the egg benedict, fresh fruit, bircher muesli and juice the best.
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I adored the Japanese breakfast both mornings, especially the grilled mackerel with salted malt, miso-marinated silver cod, sashimi, scallops, and yellowtail with yuzu chili paste.
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The Japanese breakfast is accompanied by rice, miso soup, and a soft boiled egg (or natto if you're feeling adventurous).
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Afternoon Tea at The Lobby Lounge
The Ritz-Carlton Nikko's Lobby Lounge serves afternoon tea daily in the afternoon (last order at 4:30pm). It's one of the better afternoon teas we've enjoyed, not least because of the choice of Japanese teas and high quality of the accompanying treats.
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We were by the window, with a view across the grounds toward Lake Chuzenji.
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Our tea started with a delicious flute of chilled green tea.
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We were able to choose from a variety of Japanese teas; we opted for the Fresh Roasted Green Tea from Shizuoka.
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After the initial welcome tea and cold green tea, it did take quite some time for us to receive our tiered set of afternoon tea treats, though we were also a bit time pressed as we were scheduled to go on a hike in less than an hour. Ideally, leave a good couple hours to enjoy afternoon tea. The wait was worth it, however, with a delectable assortment of both savory and sweet treats. First came the plain and apple scones, served with the traditional clotted cream and Tochigi strawberry jam, which my teen proclaimed delicious:
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Particular favorites from the tiered presentation were the maitake mushroom cheese wrapped and fried with Nikko yuba; the vol-au-vent with chicken; the fantastic sake lees cheesecake; the strawberry tartlet; and (for my teen) the strawberry mousse in the shape of a strawberry.
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Lakehouse Dinner
The Lakehouse serves Italian cuisine for dinner nightly from 5-10pm (last order: 9:30pm). The striking artwork at its reception depicts Lake Chuzenji, with the gold representing the Ritz-Carlton Nikko.
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We chose from the a la carte menu for our dinner, although there's also a course menu.
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We started off with delicious house-baked bread, presented in a bread bag. It would have been easy to fill up on it, but we tried to save room for what we ordered.
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We shared an appetizer of Citrus-Marinated Nikko Trout with salad and caviar, which was superb. Its presentation reminded me a bit of the Cathay Pacific First Class caviar and balik salmon appetizer, but this was even better.
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For our mains, we shared two pizzas and the carbonara pasta. My absolute favorite was the truffled maitake mushroom pizza; this is a must-order if you like mushrooms and pizza.
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The pizza margherita was good, but not remarkable.
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The carbonara was textbook-perfect and my husband greatly enjoyed it; I'm not as big a fan of carbonara in general, so I still preferred the maitake mushroom pizza.
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The Verdict
We greatly enjoyed both our breakfasts at the Japanese Restaurant and dinner at the Lakehouse, as well as a sushi lunch at the Japanese Restaurant and afternoon tea at the Lobby Lounge (photos and description to be added). Highly recommended for a unique luxury onsen experience within reach of Tokyo.
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