Funasaka Sake Brewery — Attraction in Takayama

This restaurant had absolutely fantastic food! We went for lunch. We did not have another high-quality cut of beef like this anywhere else in Takayama, other than a street vendor set up towards town, a slight ways away from that bridge with the weird statues. Those cheap skewers beat this restaurant, hands-down.

But, this brewery restaurant and gluten free: I handed them my "I'm allergic to sesame, wheat, barley, and rye" card, and the waitress took it to the chef. She came back and apologized that there was nothing for me to eat there (I'm Asymptomatic Celiac).

Due to the nature of this food (cooking it yourself), I had a feeling my sesame allergy was throwing it off--also because I read a review of another celiac having them cater an entire meal for her (which might also have been during dinner, whereas mine was lunch).

The meat was seasoned with pepper and maybe salt (I cannot remember), but nothing else. There were dipping sauces (which my husband gladly took from me). The veggies were fresh, raw, and also unseasoned. I avoided the miso soup because miso in Japan can have gluten (and I'm intolerant to soy, anyway), and I picked some veggies out of the salad bowl that did not have the dressing on them. I 100% took a gamble on whether or not the rice vinegar they used had barley in it, and ate the rice. Same with the pickles. The custard was savory, -not- sweet, and I have no idea what it was made out of.

Since I'm asymptomatic, I cannot guarantee that it was celiac-safe. However, if I was glutened, it must have been very little because my usual difficult-to-determine-symptoms/I've-learned-what-my-asymptomatic-symptoms-are did not appear.

We were all a little overwhelmed at all the cooking we had to do, but it was fun and delicious! Be aware: while this flame lasted a good amount of time, it does eventually go out! (Cook your meat first, then veggies.)

My gluten-eating husband enjoyed his udon bowl set, but it was too much...

My partner and I had an excellent time here tasting sake at 100 yen apiece.

The system is pretty elegant: first you pay 100 yen for a capsule that dispenses a sake cup (which you can wash and place in provided bags to take home as a souvenir). Then, you exchange yen at a nearby machine for special tokens (100 yen = 1 token, 1 token = 1 sample) and use them at the dispensers with tasting notes on the front. It's great if you're on the fence about sake or not a big drinker in general.

Some of the sake varieties weren't available at the time we were here, which was a little disappointing, but that didn't detract much from the experience when the variety on offer was still great! They also have a shop with a range of Hida region souvenirs and sweets that seemed a little more distinct than the repeating souvenir merchandise we'd seen elsewhere...

Worth a try if you are a tourist in the area. For 100yen, you get a sake cup from a gacha machine. You will be able to take home the cup. They have little plastic bags for you at the counter.

For 1000 yen, get 13 tokens to try almost all the different types of sake in the shop. There are many people in the shop and most were just trying to figure out the process. Many tourists there too.

Also, don't forget that there are some drinks available at the counter instead of the machines, which are sweeter and will be good to end your sake tasting session if you prefer to end your tasting on a sweeter note.

Apparently, you can identify shops that provide sake tasting by the chestnut looking leaf that they have...