Beppu, 17.05.24

While Beppu offered some real sights with the hot springs and the 'Hells of Beppu' we did an excursion into the hinterland of Beppu, right into the mountains to a place called Yufuin. A bus trip. In a guidebook I was reading mentioned that there was a cafe at Yufuin serving the best Creme Brulee in the world. A good enough reason to travel there. 

The bus left right at the back of the railway station. At first I thought we were on the wrong bus because it was almost like a city bus, frequently stopping and commuters getting on and off, but then the houses and streets all thinned out and gave way to forest and hills and a winding road led up to a pass where for the first time in Japan we actually got out of the forest into the open mountain terrain with green pastures. No cows were to be seen but wide-open spaces leading up to a prominent peak, Mt. Yufu. It was tempting to get out of the bus and go for a walk. 

Main Street Yufuin

Yufuin was very touristy. We arrived on the local bus but there must have been thousands of other coach buses on sightseeing trips. The town was swamped with tourists. Mainly Chinese we thought and lots of Indian too. The main road was lined with the usual tourist shops but here there were many cafes offering sweets and cakes. A pancake sandwich, 'Purin Dora' filled with a creme caramel custard pudding is apparently famous all over Japan. 

Countryside Yufuin, Mt. Yufu

It was a lovely sunny day, and we took a little side road to go for a walk into the countryside following a stream which led, according to our map, to a small lake and a temple not too far away. It was delightful to stroll along the waterway lined with rice fields and an occasionally a farm house all quite deserted. But then we got to the lake, Lake Kinrin and a shrine next to it, Tenso Shrine, and the tourists caught up with us. Nevertheless, the lake was beautiful and so were the surroundings, all lush and green with tall trees giving much needed shade and cooling. 

The Shrine

The Lake

Along the river

Along the river

We followed the river again to get back to the main street where we wanted to indulge in that famous creme Brulee, but alas the particular cafe we were looking for no longer existed. Maybe that creme Brulee was not all that good after all? Needless to say we found another one and had our fill of sweets. Indeed a creme Brulee for me, a long kind of puff pastry baguette filled with cream and a cheese cake! Plus two great flat whites. What a treat. The desserts were all made with milk and cream from cows in Yufuin. Stunning it all was. Through a window we could even see a machine making doughnuts!

Sweet treat!

Back at the railway station we got another treat. More a treat for me than for Christine, myself being a train enthusiast if not a train spotter. There in the station was huffing and puffing a unique piece of railway engineering. An almost historic relic of old railway technology. There it was: 'The Yellow One Man Diesel Car'. It was cute, it was amazing, it was a working train unit and it was shortly going to take off! I just had to wait and see it trundling off along the narrow-gauge track which was all overgrown with weeds and hardly visible at all. It makes me smile just thinking of it.

The Yellow One Man Diesel Car!

 

The bus waited and we were off again back to Beppu where I had a good soak in the footbath and watched the sun going down. Christine went for a little walk along the shore and met two men who started to talk to her. One was a European speaking English the other his Japanese friend. Somehow they started talking about food and they recommended a restaurant in Beppu, So-Coo, doing teppanyaki food. 

What a stroke of luck. We found it after a while near the station and got a table without reservation. It was a rather modern kind of restaurants with a long teppanyaki grill on one side and about four or five tables in the dining side. Two chefs worked behind the grill and one of them, the owner, came over to us with the menu. No Japanese spoken but the menu was in English. A kind of degustation menu. Fine by us. 

The restaurant filled slowly and a waitress, Hinako, started work. She was delightful, a student working part time. She spoke a little English. The food that followed must be one of our highlights in Japan. Among the three best meals we had. It might not have been purely Japanese as there were many influences of French cooking. Like the salad starter with Spanish ham or the pumpkin soup. But then the bowl of rice, topped with garlic, was classic Japanese with a personal touch by the chef. 

When we left both the chef and the waitress stood at the top of the stairway and bowed to us. Luckily I turned around and saw them and could return the bow myself. Some courses pictured below.

Salad, Serrano Ham

Pumpkin Soup

Sea Bream

Beef

Rice

Dessert