Currently at the property post-dinner on my only night here. Summary so far: definitely qualifies as a luxury experience. The reason to come here: while the room (mine was called a western-style suite) is the food served at dinner. It is easily Micheln * quality and possibly higher. But do not, under any circumstances, order wine from the staggeringly over-priced wine list. If corkage is not possible, skip wine entirely. But the food and service in the dining room are really worth (at least) a detour.
Amanosato is located in a plain roughy at the base of Mt Koya. Views are of green fields with mountains somewhat in the distance. The suite was easily 115 sq mt in size. In addition there are three external private onsen baths that the eight rooms may use. Advance booking is probably not needed or permitted, there is an electronic system where you determine from your room which of the three baths are free
Entrance to the main lodge and dining room (sorry about the fingers!)
View of the grounds as seen from our suite.
Upon arrival, we were seated not far from the desk and offered a drink from a short list (orange mimosa, sparkling red wine, champagne, and non-alcoholic selections) while they went through the formalities. Turns out that free drinks are available to house guests at the bar from check-in until 11pm.
We were taken to the room which is large and well-appointed. A staff member explained how the onsen worked (I presume with imported bath water). The in-room large-circular bath does not have mineral water, only the onsen do. My travelling companion said that the place had a real mountain lodge feel to it. Toiletries are also the Thai brand, Thann.
A mildly unpleasant surprise was that the room ran out of hot water during my morning shower and the best it could do was lukewarm.
Guest bathroom.
View of the suite living room, not real clear to me that there would be many interesting opportunities to use that teleope.
Bedroom view. No combining beds here!
View of part of the master bathroom from the bedroom. There is also a guest toilet adjacent to the living room.
The loo is a separate small room.
Rest of the circular tub. Shower is to the right.
Last batrhoom view -- dual sinks!
OK, enough about that. On to the dinner. You have a choice of 6 or 7 pm for dinner. It is a tasting-type menu, composed of many courses, each of them small. Here is the menu from our night:
Pretty much everything was creative, tasty, and presented elegantly.
You want to have this dinner. The chef is amazingly creative at combining French and Japanese elements in interesting and delicious ways. Service and presentation are excellent as well.This is certainly the best meal, by far, that I have had in quite a while. Chef Ohigashi is worthy of a Michelin * rating at a minimum, although I doubt Michelin would ever find this place in order to inspect it.
The problem is the wine list. Everything is priced at least double what a restaurant would normally charge for equivalent quality. To pick an illustrative example, a bottle of Pouilly Fume (no vintages specified) is Y12,500. This wine would likely cost $13 a bottle back home in California and probably not much more in Tokyo at a wine shop like Yamaya.
We ordered a glass of the house chardonnay at JPY2,600 each. It was swill. I am very happy I did not order a bottle. Fortunately, other drinks are more in line with normal Japanese beverage charges.
I don't know if they would allow corkage but that is definitely the way to go if available.
Still the dinner alone is worth putting up with everything. If you don't want to stay the night, it looks like they accept bookings just for dinner.
The price for two, including dinner and breakfast, was just under JPY140,000 for the night.
And once again, I apologize for my lousy photo skills, I also again forgot to take food pictures.