[Vlog#5]山形3泊4日のグルメ旅[ひとり旅]

[Vlog#5]山形3泊4日のグルメ旅[ひとり旅]

Hello. This is Danny.
This time it’s a gourmet trip to Yamagata Prefecture for 3 nights and 4 days.
Yamagata Prefecture is a prefecture located on the Sea of Japan side of the Tohoku region, and is a fruit kingdom that boasts one of the highest yields of fruits in Japan, including cherries, pears, grapes, and watermelons.
Yamagata Prefecture is also blessed with the highest quality brand of Yonezawa beef with its beautiful marbling, as well as a wide variety of seafood and wild vegetables.
You can also enjoy local cuisine made with these ingredients.
In addition, hot springs gush out in every city, town, and village, so you can easily enjoy hot springs, and there are many hot spring accommodations.
I visited Yamagata Prefecture in winter.
I would like to share the charms of Yamagata while enjoying gourmet food and sightseeing.
Day 1, Friday, January 12th.
For this flight to Yamagata Airport, I took a bus from the gate to the apron and boarded the plane.
I think this is rare at Haneda Airport.
My flight departed safely without any major delays.
The flight time was short, about 40 minutes.
I arrived at Yamagata Airport, collected my luggage, and took the shuttle bus to Yamagata Station.
I arrived at Comfort Hotel Yamagata about a 2-minute walk from Yamagata Station.
The room looks like this.
My room this time was a rather small single room, but it’s not a problem if you’re just staying overnight.
In an eco-friendly approach, only the bare minimum of amenities are provided in the rooms, with hairbrushes, razors, loungewear, etc. only available to those who need them from the amenity corner in the lobby.
I decided to have dinner at Hanazen, where you can enjoy local Yamagata cuisine.
It was cold outside and it was raining a little, so I wanted to warm up.
The first thing I ordered was ”Dashi Tofu”, which is tofu topped with ”Dashi”, a local dish from the Murayama region.
It is made by finely chopping cucumbers, eggplants, ginger, etc. and seasoning them with soy sauce.
It is said to be a dish that is mainly eaten in summer.
The next thing I ordered was "Imoni".
The seasoning and ingredients vary depending on the region.
What I received this time was a soy sauce-flavored imoni with taro, green onions, mushrooms, and beef.
In Yamagata Prefecture, people enjoy imoni parties on riverbeds throughout the prefecture in autumn.
Since the plan included breakfast, we had it at the hotel.
I want to break the habit of overeating at buffets.
I was planning to travel quite hard that day, so I left early in the morning and headed to Yamagata Station.
First, we will head to Zao Onsen to see the frost-covered trees.
Purchase a round trip bus ticket and ropeway ticket to Zao Onsen at the bus information center at Yamagata Station.
Quite expensive!
As you approach Zao Onsen, the scenery outside changes rapidly.
It takes about 40 minutes by bus from Yamagata Station to arrive at Zao Onsen Bus Terminal.
It’s about a 10 minute walk from the bus terminal to the ropeway station.
Zao Onsen is characterized by its abundant amount of hot water and sulfur springs, and you can see steam everywhere.
There are several day trip hot spring facilities, so you can easily stop by and enjoy the hot springs.
In winter, Zao Onsen Ski Resort, one of the largest ski resorts in Tohoku, and the frost-covered trees known as snow monsters are attractive.
Take the ropeway to see them.
Walking while being careful not to slip, I arrived at the Zao Sanroku Station of the Zao Ropeway.
The ropeway was already full of ski resort users and I waited for about 20 minutes before I finally got on.
By the time I got down the mountain, there was a two-hour wait, so if you want to ride the ropeway, it’s probably best to get on it right after it opens.
Well, first, take the Sanroku Line and head for Kogen Station, which takes about 7 minutes.
After that, you will need to transfer to the Sancho Line and go to Sancho Station.
Visibility is clear on the Sanroku Line, and you can see the snow-covered mountains and skiers skiing in the distance.
At Juhyō Kogen Station, transfer to the Sancho Line.
The summit line was different from before, and there was heavy snow outside.
The windows of the ropeway vehicle are also frozen.
It takes about 10 minutes to reach Sancho Station.
It’s going to get pretty cold from here on out.
The temperature at the top of the mountain is expected to be below -10 degrees.
Arrived at Sancho Station.
The altitude is 1,661 meters, which means I climbed about 800 meters by ropeway.
I immediately decided to go outside and look for frost-covered trees, and there they were right next to me.
Frost-covered trees are rare nationwide and can only be seen in a limited number of areas.
It is said that Zao’s frost-covered trees grow when seasonal winds containing mist-like water droplets at sub-zero temperatures hit the trees and freeze instantly.
It’s truly an art created by nature.
It is lit up at night and you can see the beautiful scenery.
However, it was a blizzard that made it impossible to see several meters ahead.
If you want to enjoy the view at your leisure, you will need to prepare some warm clothing.
Next, let’s go see Zao Jizoson.
It was quite difficult to get there due to poor visibility and bad roads.
This Jizo statue was created in 1775, and after that the number of people lost in the mountains has decreased.
It is said that if you pray to it, all your wishes will come true and you will be able to avoid unexpected disasters.
Since it was extremely cold and I had other plans, I left the summit and took the ropeway down the mountain.
The view from the ropeway as you descend the mountain is beautiful, and the city gradually comes into view.
After descending the mountain, I decided to have lunch at Robata, where I could eat Zao’s famous Genghis Khan.
Speaking of Genghis Khan, Hokkaido is famous, but it is said that the modern version of Genghis Khan, which is cooked using an iron pot, was born in Zao Onsen.
It was a refreshing and delicious Genghis Khan without any bitterness.
By the way, this restaurant has a footbath that you can enjoy freely at the entrance.
Since I came all the way to Zao, I decided to take a hot spring bath after lunch.
There were several options, but I went with Genshichi no Yu, which was close to the restaurant.
There is an indoor bath and an open-air bath, so I decided to take the opportunity to go to the open-air bath.
Taking an open-air bath in the middle of a lot of snow, my head was cool and my body was warm.
After bathing, I returned to the bus terminal and headed to Yamagata Station.
After returning to Yamagata Station, I had some time before the train to my next destination.
I ate a seasonal fruit parfait "Hatake style" and waited.
The soft serve ice cream has a pear flavor and is rich in aroma.
Also, the parfait rarely contained mandarin oranges.
The next destination is Ginzan Onsen.
Take this train to Oishida Station and take a bus.
After about 40 minutes by bus, I arrived at Ginzan Onsen.
My destination, a hot spring town, was about a 5 minute walk from the bus stop.
Ginzan Onsen has a retro scenery.
When the sun goes down, gas lamps are lit and you can enjoy a nostalgic atmosphere.
Actually, the reason I traveled to Yamagata at this time was because I wanted to see the snowy scenery of Ginzan Onsen.
It looks great in photos, and I thought it was a very valuable experience to be able to walk through such a beautiful hot spring town.
I would like to come stay at Ginzan Onsen someday.
At dusk, there are many tourists and it’s noisy, but as the night goes on, it’s sure to become a quiet hot spring town.
Well, since I had a lot of time before the bus came, I decided to have coffee time at "Izu no Hana".
This soft serve ice cream contained buckwheat flour and was fragrant and delicious.
By the way, the bus from Ginzan Onsen to Oishida Station ends around 6pm.
If you are planning to go sightseeing by bus, be sure not to miss your bus.
It’s best to head to the bus stop early, as there’s bound to be a line.
I returned to Yamagata Station from Oishida Station.
I was a little happy to be able to ride the Shinkansen for the first time in a while.
For dinner, I went to Tokiwa, which is about a 3-minute walk from Yamagata Station.
This is a long-established Yonezawa beef specialty restaurant where you can enjoy the highest quality Yonezawa beef in sukiyaki, shabu-shabu, grilled meat, steak, and more.
This time, I ordered the sukiyaki special.
This is Tokiwa’s signature dish, where you can enjoy sukiyaki made with a secret sauce that includes a little miso.
The staff will make it right in front of you, so you don’t have to worry even if it’s your first time.
The Yonezawa beef was beautifully marbled, not greasy, and so tender it almost melted in my mouth.
The rice goes well with the sweet and salty seasoning.
It was a dinner that soothed my body after working so hard all day.
Return to hotel and sleep.
Third day. Sunday, January 14th.
On this day, I came to Sendai, which is an hour away by bus from Yamagata Station.
I’ve been to Sendai before, but I wasn’t able to do any sightseeing properly.
First, I bought a one-day ticket for "Loople Sendai" at the bus information center.
"Loople Sendai" is a bus that circulates around tourist spots in the center of Sendai city.
I got on the bus and headed to Zuihoden.
After walking a little bit from the Zuihoden-mae bus stop and climbing up the steep slope and stairs, you will see the entrance.
Zuihoden is the burial place of the three Date clan lords, including Date Masamune of the Sendai clan.
It is a gorgeous mausoleum that conveys the legacy of Momoyama culture, and there is also a museum on the premises.
After leaving Zuihoden, I took a bus to Sendai Castle Ruins.
The castle has already been destroyed by fire, and the ruins now include an exhibition hall, an equestrian statue of Date Masamune, and a food court.
At the museum, you can see reconstructed images of the castle using computer graphics.
You can see the city of Sendai from the equestrian statue of Date Masamune.
On this day, I decided to have lunch at Date no Gyutan Honpo.
This is a restaurant where you can enjoy Sendai’s famous beef tongue.
The fragrantly grilled beef tongue had just the right texture and strong flavor.
After lunch, I took the bus back to Sendai Station.
I decided to have dessert at Zunda Saryo, located in the basement of Sendai Station.
Here, I ordered a Zunda shake made with Sendai’s specialty Zunda.
Zunda is a green paste made from ground edamame, and zunda mochi made with this paste is a specialty in Sendai.
Edamame and shake was an unexpected combination, but it was rich and delicious.
After eating dessert, we boarded the bus again to return to Yamagata and rested at the hotel until night.
I went to Hirata Farm near Yamagata Station for dinner.
Hirata Farm is a tonkatsu and pork restaurant with locations in Tokyo as well.
Its roots are said to be in Yamagata.
Here I ordered the Kinka pork rib roast katsuzen.
It is a luxurious part that is also used in steaks and other dishes.
The thick pork cutlet had many layers of lean and fatty meat, and was sweet and delicious.
Last day. I checked out the hotel
They just kept my luggage and I went sightseeing around Yamagata station.
The first place I visited was an ”Oyatsuya-san” where you could try Yamagata’s specialty, ”Dondon-yaki.”
Dondonyaki is a type of okonomiyaki that is wrapped in a roll on disposable chopsticks and dipped in sauce.
At Oyatsuya-san, in addition to the regular Dondon-yaki, you can enjoy many other types of Dondon-yaki, including cheese, mayonnaise, and curry flavors.
I ordered cheese dondon.
Dondon-yaki is usually eaten by holding it in your hands, but the one at this restaurant is quite large, so you put it on a plate and eat it with chopsticks.
The sauce is quite thick and sweet, so if you like something light, I recommend ordering the soy sauce Dondon-yaki.
The next place I visited was Kajo Park.
This park is located in the center of Yamagata City and is located on the ruins of Yamagata Castle.
Some parts, such as the Honmaru Ichimonji Gate, have been restored and are part of the park’s charm.
It is said to be a famous spot for cherry blossom viewing, with 1,500 cherry trees in full bloom in spring.
The park also has facilities such as a Budokan, a local museum, and a museum, some of which can be entered for free.
Next, I headed to Yamagata Marugotokan Beni no Kura.
There are restaurants where you can enjoy local Yamagata cuisine, a direct sales store for traditional vegetables, an information center, and a souvenir shop.
I mainly bought Yamagata souvenirs here.
The last place I headed to was "Kincho Honten".
I decided to have lunch here.
This is a long-established restaurant where you can eat soba and ramen, and it was crowded with many customers.
Although the temperature outside was 0℃, I ordered "chilled ramen".
There is ice under the noodles.
The taste was a little bland, and the soup felt a little salty probably because it was cold.
This is great to eat in the summer!
I think I’ll get addicted to it.
After this, I returned to the hotel, collected my luggage, and took a shuttle bus from Yamagata Station to Yamagata Airport.
Although there was a slight delay, I returned home on a plane bound for Haneda Airport.
How did you like the Yamagata/Sendai trip?
There are scenic spots such as Zao Onsen and Ginzan Onsen, and Yamagata has many attractions in terms of gourmet food, such as local cuisine, Yonezawa beef, and Genghis Khan.
However, it was a long 3 nights and 4 days.
If you just want to travel around Yamagata City, I thought that 2 nights and 3 days would be enough to see the sights.
Now, I have reached 27 out of 47 prefectures.
I will do my best until I conquer it.
Next will probably be a trip to Hiroshima.
See you next time.
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おっさん一人で山形・仙台グルメ旅行に行きました。
山形でオススメのお店があったら是非コメントで教えてください。

食べ歩き(主に海外料理)や旅の記録 | Records of gourmet food and travel.

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