Sekireibasi Kawakamian せきれい橋 川上庵

Excellent food, ambiance, and service

On a visit to Tombo no Sato, the onsen resort complex north of Naka-Karuizawa Station, we gave up on the shokudo next to the onsen because the wait for a table was over 90 minutes on a summer weeknight. So we wandered along south along the river path where we discovered Kawakamian. The house specialty is soba which we supplemented with some small dishes. My traveling companion had chestnut dipping sauce with her soba, and I had oroshi soba, the meal finished with sobayu. The recommended jizake was served chilled in an elegant flask. The flavour is fruity and umami. Even the hojicha at the end of our meal was delicious. Servers are more than polite, accommodating to diners who are not fluent in Japanese. We even got talking to our server. We got to the resort by bus and stayed a bit late, so we had to go back by taxi. Check your transit connections if you're not driving. Pay parking accommodates 200 vehicles.