Gubigabu — Restaurant in Toyooka

Note: this place has a semi-English menu. The menu items are in English but the descriptions are not. The staff in the restaurant is nice and considerate too.

Arrived into the town early so after we checked our baggage in our very awesome ryokan, we took the short walk back into town to scope out the foodie scene.

I was stopped in my tracks walking past this restaurant as it offered their locally crafted beers. Now, the restaurant offers a range of Italia-western style dishes on their menu but I came for the beer! They offered four different kinds: pilsner sky beer, stout black beer, wiezen river beer, and the kani snow beer.

With the time that we had before going back to ryokan to get ready for our hot-spring hopping, I ordered the pilsner sky beer and the kani snow beer while my YEA looked through the menu and selected the crab pepperoncino.

Both beers were delightful, crisp, and refreshing on my tastebuds. The snow beer and sky beer each had their own nuances that are characteristic of their beer style. It was the perfect moment where we were sitting at the window people-watching in a small town away from the urban jungle of a Japanese city and the fall foliage all around us. To sum it all in a single word, it would be “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”

Although the pasta took a little while to come to our table, we noticed that our dish was literally cooked to order. We peered into the open kitchen and saw them boiling the pasta and preparing the other ingredients for our dish. The smell of the dish permeated through the air that even we could smell it on the other side of the restaurant.

When the dish arrived at our table, it was piping hot and one the few instances where it actually looks like the menu picture. There was a generous amount of fresh crab mixed through the pasta that had a good firmness to it. There was also mushrooms, some greens, and a good handful of spicy chilis. The dish helped warm us inside and get ready to face the crisp autumn air again.

If you are in Kinosaki, I recommend coming here to try the local beer and enjoy...

The food was filling and delicious. I got the carbonara, my partner got the hamburger steak. We also got the garlic bread and curry hashbrowns which were great starters. The only thing i will mention, it was slightly unnerving to have the 5 staff kinda looking at you if you're the first customers of the night 😅 but once more people arrived it felt more warm and jovial. I recommend this place, the prices are mostly fair (slightly dearer, but its an onsen town and tourist hotspot, so I'd say they're actually cheap compared to other places), the food delicious and served quickly, and the...

This is only a review of their simple “beef” curry which was delicious! Except there was only one small sliver of beef in the curry. Seems really stingy if they’re gonna call it beef curry. Also we were disappointed that they didn’t have the pickled veggies that’s normally eaten with curry.

However it was very lovely sitting by the window watching the beautiful scenery and people walking by in Kinosaki Onsen. The overall flavor and atmosphere was pleasant. I probably will not come back to this restaurant for the curry but maybe I’d try...