Lunch in a forest

Arrived at this carpark, finally.

Lunch in the forest was recommended by Meng. However, it was through country roads, and somewhere along the way, there was a long detour due to roadworks.

One thing about GPS: it doesn't give you an alternative route because "temporary detours" are not in its database or whatever. Just go straight, it says.

Called Lance and he said not to worry, just take the detour route, it'll work out.

True enough, driving along the detour made the GPS re-work a new route to our destination. Fierce, man.

The carpark was wonderfully quite untouched; no hard black macadam surface, concrete boundary kerbs, regimentally aligned lamp poles or parking fee signs. Just loose gravel in a clearing amongst the trees. There were even a puddle or two. Nice.











This was the Rokugo no Mori forest.

Tall trees, deep shade, sweet smell of natural greenery.

We took the path into the forest.

A restaurant inside a forest has got to be something.














Passed a couple of chalets. Perhaps they were for weekend rental?




Then we came upon a clearing with this little restaurant building, a souvenier shop and a log cabin.






Here's the little restaurant and its outside counter where orders are taken. The restaurant was famous for its soup curry dishes so much so that there were no other meal items on the menu except this or that soup curry lunch meal every day.



We gave the cosy indoor dining area a miss and settled for a table under the trees for that true lunch in a forest atmosphere.










Come in this way (above left) into the internal dining area. The little kitchen (above right) opens out to the counter where your orders are taken.



A belatedly taken photo of my order of veggie roll (lettuce around minced chicken) in spicey soup curry with rice. We forgot to take the pic before setting on the dish. Happened every meal time.










We had a look inside this preserved old log cabin which was a stone's throw from the outdoor dining area. It looked very much like a transplant from Little House On The Prairie, and I'm not too sure if it was a real dwelling of the type that were built long ago in old Nippon, considering the Japanese fanaticism for things western or European.

Anyhow, it was a cosy house, with a mezzanine floor too, including snow skis hanging on the wall outside the rear door.







Then had a look at the souvenier shop which had starkly modern lines compared to its ancient neighbour. It had its own little cafetaria with verendah tables and of course, the very delectable Japanese tidbits, candies and cakes.



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