Mushigamaya

Onsen Steamed Restaurant

Obama Onsen in Unzen has a couple places for steaming foods with the onsen steam, similar to what you can try in Beppu, Oita. Mushigamaya is a restaurant that serves Japanese set meals as well, mostly seafood as it's at the beach. You can choose from seafood, dim sum plates, and vegetables that you'd like to have steamed. We wanted to try the local fish and rice dishes, but also the steamed cooking, so we got both. (The price shown includes two set meals plus a big plate of steamed vegetables.) The steamed veggies were perfectly cooked and really yummy with ponzu. The set meals were so good too - rice bowls with fresh fish, soup, and salad. If you don't want to steam your own food but would like to try onsen steamed cooking, this is a good option. Menus had English although it's still tricky to know how to order as this is a unique restaurant. For steamed foods, you choose what you want and bring it to the register, where you can also order from the menu of rice dishes. Prices are shown outside and on the menu for rice dishes and inside for the plates of food to be steamed. There's a ton of steam coming from the front of the restaurant. They open at 5pm and you can catch a nice sunset if you go at the right time.