Tamura Ginkatsu-tei — Restaurant in Hakone

This is a great place to have dinner in the small Goku. They close the restaurant at around 7:30pm but I last order seems to be around 7pm which is great considering the little alternatives available in the area. There are some chairs outside of the restaurant for people that are waiting for their turn to dine in. When you arrive to the restaurant, at the gate you need to get your ticket for the queue where you specify how many people and type of reservation/ table, although it looks like it may be possible to make reservations in advance. The dinner was delicious and great presentation, you can pay with credit/ debit card and the prices seems to be fair and not targeting tourist which usually means better value for price and more authentic local food experience. This place has plenty of tofu dishes that even a non tofu lover like me can find something delicious to test. Their 2 specialty dishes are based on tofu, and some pork unusual alternatives are available like the black port, a dish that it is probably inspired / imitating the black food style available in Owakudani. If you are planning to have dinner on the area I recommend you to go early because the waiting queue / time may be too much that you may not even be able to get dinner at all before they close. I have included in the photos the...

We arrived around 6pm on a Sunday. 10 groups were before us and it took us slightly more than half an hour to get in.

It worths the wait and I would definitely recommend if you are looking for a dining spot around Gora station. The location is handy, few minutes walk from the station.

As it is getting into oyster’s season in northern hemisphere, we decided Kaki fry as our entree. The burst of juiciness proved us right and we are very confident with the main coming after spending half day in the chilly and rainy Hakone.

The Todu Katsu with minced pork in the middle is nice with the sauce and beautiful cooked onion. Looking the sizzling, you know this is going to be rice killer.

The pork katsu (ロースrosu) is cooked just right and it’s juicy when you bite into it. I like rosu because of the strip of fat on one side and it adds so much flavour. There is also yellow mustard, sansho (Japanese pepper power, Japanese chilli powder on the side for you to enjoy your tonkatsu in different way.

Some small side dishes also surprised me, for example the cheese ball wrapped with ham and some bite with sauce tastes like blue cheese.

When next time you’re in Hokone near Gora and not that much in a rush, feel free to try this nice...

I stumbled on this legendary restaurant as I was wandering around Gora. There was a huge lineup outside this restaurant, and they all seemed to be local tourist. I ended up waiting for an hour an a half to get a table, the wait was way too long and unexpected for the number of people I saw but most people would grab their number and just leave and come back later and I might have not stayed for that long if I knew from the beginning. Since there were no English speaking personnel, I just went ahead with it.

The food was absolutely amazing, and it was served quickly compared to the wait time. I ordered the famous tofu katsu in a pot with onion and spiced broth, which came with miso soup and some small sides. This was my first time trying this dish, and it was very unique and mind blowingly delicous and comforting. Loved the soft texture and hot broth and onions with the crunchy katsu on the outside. I also had to try the pork katsu as well before leaving this place, which, as I expected, was also very tasty, well cooked, soft and tender and delicious. Will definitely come back if I go back to Hakone, but I will not wait there for more...