Thanks, Leslie for your timely info on the Fujiya Hotel - we're setting out next week for Hakone!

As we'll be staying there for 2 nights, we're looking for restaurant suggestions. There doesn't seem to be too much restaurant info in English. Has anyone been to any of the following restaurants? How's lunch and/or dinner?

- Yama de Hotel - Vert Bois (French)
- Yama de Hotel - Salone de Rosage (desserts)
- Le Petit Prince restaurant (not the cafe)

How about restaurants around Lake Ashi?

Thanks a lot!
Kat

Bonjour Kat,

I'm confused ... Why would one go all the way to Japan in order to eat French food, especially since it will most likely not really resemble the real thing ? (I'm French ... :-&gt

Unless the hotel is very isolated, you will find all manners of local restaurts and the Japanese being fond of their food, you can in general trust any place where you'll spot some people over 16 ...

Bonjour Florence,

Hahahaaa... I didn't realize all those 3 were French restaurants until you pointed it out!!! Yes indeed that was really queer of me...
Actually, I listed them because they are the only 3 restaurants I knew in Hakone.

Oh wait, I know one more - does anyone know about Amazake Chaya (teahouse)? It seems to be listed on a lot of those Hakone web sites and I wonder if it's really that good.

Thanks,
(still laughing) Kat

Hi, Katkat

I canyt comment on Yama-no-Hotel (on the English page, they somehow translated it to Hotel de Yama in a sort of French way) nor itys Salon de thy Rosage and the restaurant Vert Bois. But if you are going there (for Japanese lunch and not French y Good point, Florence　 - , the Hakone Jinja (Shinto shrine) with the red y torii y gate nearby on the lake will be on the way if your are coming from Moto-Hakone so you can visit the shrine easily. It's like a 5- 10 min.walk to Hakone Jinja.

Also starting from Moto-Hakone, if you go to the opposite direction (to Hakone-Machi) along the lake, in 10 min or so (you will pass by the pier where departs the clolorful "Pirate Boats&quot, you will get to the entrance of Onshi Koen park (there used to be a holiday residence of a Japapanes emperor there). Walk in the Japanese garden is nice + there is a great view of Mt.Fuji behind Lake Ashino from the top of the park. On the way to the park, you will see not many but a few restarants. If you continue after the park along the lake, there are some more restaurants including the one in Hakone Hotel (a sister hotel of Fujiya Miyanoshita) where I stayed one night.

Amazake (Ama-Sake) means sweet sake and it has a color of milky white. One amazake chaya(tea house) could be found if I remember correctly along the walk after Onshi Park I mentioned above.

Bonjour again,

some help, I hope: the book "What's what in Japanese restaurants" http://www.bento.com/what.html

katkat - I should have mentioned that just around the corner from the Fujiya Hotel (on Hwy 1) were two restaurant options mentioned by the front desk clerk, as we were concerned about the cost in the hotel dining rooms... One is a tempura restaurant (but it was closed on that Friday night) and the other a sushi place. The both looked fine, but since my daughter and I don't eat sushi, we went back to the hotel. We ate at the Wysteria Restaurant in the hotel and it was sort of Japanese/French/Italian but quite good and not too pricey (about $80 for a family of 4 without alcohol) - then we had a $50 breakfast in the main dining room, but this was very special and memorable - we again opted for western food, but that's just me. Can't eat fish for breatfast! We had lunch in a tiny little mom & pop place down the street (right hand side) from the Fujiya in the direction of the Miyanoshita rail station...

Be sure to see the Hakone Open Air Museum if you like outdoor sculpture and breathtaking scenery!

Thanks, a lot, Florence, Hike and Leslie!