Wellness With A Love For Gardens, Healthy Eating And Onsen Baths

The Japanese lifestyle lends itself to wellness with a love for gardens, healthy eating and onsen baths.

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The low evening light accentuates the green oasis of the famed Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo in Bunkyo. It’s postcard-perfect every season, drawing visitors who are besotted by the awe-inspiring view of botanical species from cherry trees to camellia trees and plums that bloom beautifully in the cold of winter, reminiscent of snowy scenes on ink paintings.

Day 1

If dining in the garden conjures images of a tea house nestled in lush greenery, you’re not far from it. Mucha-an, one of Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo’s first-rate restaurants, is set in the little forest on the hotel’s grounds.

The walk to Mucha-an is scenic as one strolls through the Kabuki Gate along the Kanda River, before the cobbled steps lead you to the charming soba eatery.

Here, you’ll experience an authentic dining experience within the elegant confines of lovingly restored Muromachi period (1336-1573) interiors.

Known for its homemade soba, the culinary team at Mucha-an makes these noodles from stone-ground Japanese buckwheat flour that’s carefully selected every season.

Served in cold or warm broth, Mucha-an’s soba is chewy with a slight grainy texture, and served with spring onions, radish and wasabi filled dipping sauce.

Indeed, the eatery lives up to its name with a service that’s graceful, and a culinary standard that’s refined.

Its kaiseki-style course, which is a traditional multicourse Japanese dinner – akin to haute cuisine of the West – that promises a delightful journey of textures, colours and taste.

The multi-course is carefully presented to harmonise flavours. The miso grilled salmon is exemplary, and it needs nothing more than a sprinkle of sea salt.