Muso-an — Restaurant in Nara

The restaurant looks amazing it feels like you are in a Rainforrest, it's a very comfortable place to be.

I had the 9 course set menu, there are 4 different set menus but it wasn't clear what the difference was so ultimately I just had to pick randomly. I'm not sure if it makes more sense when you can read Japanese.

Overall each dish was cooked / prepared very well and all the ingredients were fresh and interesting, everything looked very good. I enjoyed the wagu beef and consummate soup, the sakana was very nice. I was definitely well fed. A few dishes were very memorable but most were not so much.

There weren't many dishes that were actually cooked, most of the components of each course were cold. You cook the wagu beef yourself.

The service was quite rushed, I'm not sure if it was getting near to closure (I sat down at around 7pm) I think quick delivery of the courses is nice, but at one point I had three separate courses in front of me, and some time between courses would have been nice. Other than that the staff were attentive and helpful with limited English.

It gets 1 Michelin star and I think...

After visiting Todaiji temple and with it getting rather late, we started to look for places to eat. We chanced upon this restaurant on our way back to central Nara. While there weren't any English menus we decided to dive in. My first and only warning is that the dinner menu is very expensive. As far as we could tell it was a set menu at 10,000 yen.

We were ushered into a room with tatami mats, and a beautiful wall scroll and deer sculpture. The food really was amazing. We were not at all surprised that the restaurant had earned itself two Michelin stars.

The hosts were absolutely amazing. So kind and gracious to us, despite the language barrier - I have to say though, it really added to the charm of the evening. One of the hostesses did speak a little English though, which helped a lot. It was honestly an amazing experience. Everything was incredibly high quality....

So the basic set course is really filling to start off and probably the best value. I went with my parents in law and my wife and everyone definitely enjoyed themselves. As to if its michelin star quality I have no idea about the japanese hospitality sector, I can say its nicely presented and the taste is ok. The environment is beautiful and the service staff were all excellent. It was slightly strange seeing staff members in full length aprons I don't think I've ever seen that before but again I havent the experience to comment . I would definetly recommend this to anyone its certainly an experience to try. And it seems my family liked it very much so thank you for the...