じき
Encounter with Kumachan at a hot spring in Shibuya "Hokkaido Menkoi Nabe Kumachan Onsen Shibuya Miyamasaka Store" I had been wanting to visit this restaurant that I saw on TV (lol). Even though it's always fully booked and hard to make a reservation, I got lucky this time and was able to secure a reservation for four people. The main branch is in Sapporo, but it is currently relocating and not open for business, so you can only enjoy it at this Shibuya store. The restaurant has an atmosphere where it seems like it's not suitable for entering alone (lol), but when I looked around, there were two other men besides me, so I felt a bit relieved. There are seven types of hot pot with green tea added for a limited time, and the colors of the bears bathing in each pot are different. Each person is supposed to order one pot, so we each ordered something different. I chose the "Longevity Hot Spring" with sesame soup, while the others ordered the "Seasonal Hot Spring" with green tea, the "Beauty Hot Spring" with chicken collagen, and the "Health Hot Spring" with pure rice ginjo miso. We also selected a set of ingredients such as beef, pork, chicken, and mix. The drinks were around 500 yen, but since we were planning to drink a lot, we opted for all-you-can-drink. There were various condiments and dipping sauces that you could help yourself to. Personally, I liked the sesame sauce and curry the best. When the Kumachan came out, it was adorable just to look at, but when heated on the IH stove, it rolled over in the pot in about 2 minutes, which was also very cute. We got excited like kids (lol). Although the age group was a bit older than the other customers, we had a great time, and even though the time limit was 90 minutes with last orders at 75 minutes, they extended the all-you-can-drink for us a bit since we were the last group, so we ended up staying for about 2 hours. I thought the portion might be small, but the collagen-rich soup filled me up, and even with the all-you-can-drink, the total bill was reasonable at 5000 yen. The hot pot was quite elaborate and delicious for the price. By the way, you can also buy the Kumachan itself online, but it's even harder to get than making a reservation at the restaurant. I would like to try purchasing it during the hot summer months.