天村雲高千穂牛御膳 [日本料理]

The dining page of the Takachiho travel website lists eateries located in the town centre, near the bus centre, in the Gorge.  Of which, 5 were located in teh Gorge and of these 5, 3 were run by the same group.  Talk about monopolizing the business near the entrance/end (depending on which starting point one came from) of the Gorge trail!

The bus company likely has a contract with the group, and lunch was included in the one-day round bus-trip to Takachiho Gorge.  

I had a rather extravagent lunch upon reaching the Gorge.  In all honesty, if I had not signed up for the round trip, I would not have ordered such a big lunch.

Lunch was already laid out, similar to lunches for large tour group.

On the large tray, there were small portions of miso and pickles, two pieces of chicken done nanban-style which were unfortunately at room temperature and slightly soggy, a tomaya, a dish with six pieces of takachiho beef with raw cabbage leaves, brinjal and a wedge of pepeer, and dessert of zensai in red bean.  Outside the tray was a toban, rice and endless refills of hot tea.

There were six rather thick pieces of takachiho beef which I overcooked, having underestimated the power of a tiny flame from a tealight candle.  Still the close to well-done pieces of beef were not leathery.  And I was quite surprised that cabbage leaves and brinjal tasted pretty good with a natural sweetness when they were roasted on the touban without any seasoning.  

Hidding under the tomaya roof was a slice of egg roll, a fairly large shitake mushroom, a large sweet bean, konnyaku, carrot and fishcake.

The kinoko rice had lost some warmth by the time I reached the restaurant, but it was still good and I finished it completely, being quite puzzled as to how the large group that left before I arrived couldn't finish their rice.