Kurochaya — Restaurant in Tokyo

About 5 minutes by bus from JR Musashi-Itsukaichi Station in Akiruno city (where you won’t believe is still a part of Tokyo). The restaurant/café/treats etc. complex is located around an old folk house, built 300 years ago, where nowadays is the location of the “main” fancy restaurant.

Entering the café/restaurant, you’re going to be asked if you want to have your Obento (lunch box) or coffee inside the restaurant, or if you want to take it down by the river, where many tables and viewing spots are available.

Highly recommend taking your meal to the river or one of the terraces, the view is stunning and you get to walk by the complex, try other small treats, view the souvenir shop or just enjoy the major Spirited Away ( Ghibli movie) vibes of the place.

The garden, koi pond and water mill are also stunning, if you’re at the place by late afternoon make sure to stay just a little bit longer to see them light up when it gets dark. The staff is very friendly, and offered to take our pictures a few times when they saw our faces mesmerized by the beauty of...

Exceptional. 4.4 rating? I don't get it. That's a clear 5.0. The service is so kind even though we're foreigners with two young kids (6 and 8). We made the mistake to eat shortly before not knowing about this place, but the staff kindly allowed us not to order one set for every one, which was terrific and very unusual anywhere in the world. We are so full! We cleaned every plate. We will definitely come back and arrive famished next time. Because that's a LOT of extraordinary food you're getting. Don't worry, even the stuff i usually don't like is absolutely superb. All the dithyrambic comments you will read, all the superb pictures, none of it is fake. It's even better on real life. How did we find the place? We were walking on the trail, then we saw some mystic illumination with bamboo trees, and decided to take a look (many many people do) and that's how we found the place. If you love the movie spirited away from ghibli's Miyazaki, then you will not want to miss this place. It's a MUST GO. Strongly...

This restaurant is an absolute gem for several reasons. It gives you a great feel of old Japan. The building is an actual residence of a town "mayor" in the 1700's that was relocated to this spot. The building and the grounds give an incredible atmosphere of the serenity of old Japan. The food is quite tasty. Everything is fresh, and a lot of the foods are from local farmers and fishermen. It would DEFINITELY be worth having a Japanese person go with you to describe the different foods. A little secret. You don't necessarily have to go to the main restaurant to enjoy the scenery. There is a little footpath near the parking lot that leads away from the main restaurant that takes you to a little cafe overlooking the Akigawa river, where you can just relax and enjoy the view with a nice drink. Highly recommend the Yuzu Juice (citrus) and Ume (Plum) Juice. The coffees are...