1
Hermitage de Tamura

The "Cold White Peach Soup," a specialty that heralds Karuizawa's summer season, is very popular.

Hermitage" is the French word for a hideaway. As the name suggests, it is a house French Restaurant surrounded by the forest in Nagakura, Karuizawa. The first owner chef, Yoshio Tamura, retired in 2017, and his apprentice chef Tetsuya Otsuka has now taken over the delicate flavors of the restaurant. Reservations are required and only one course is available for both lunch and dinner. One of the most popular dishes among repeat customers is the "White Peach Cold Soup," a summer specialty. A regular menu item since the opening of the restaurant, the cream-based soup with the sweetness of white peaches melts into the soup, making it a unique delicacy.

Wine pairings carefully selected by the sommelier are also available

The course begins with an amuse, followed by an appetizer, fish main, soup, meat main, and dessert. It is recommended to ask for a wine pairing here. We stock more than several thousand bottles of wine, mainly from France, and of course you can also order wine by the bottle.
In addition, every year from October onward, a lavish course featuring matsutake mushrooms is offered. To match the matsutake mushrooms, they can ask for a special sake pairing as well as wine.

Hermitage de Tamura

• 820-98 Nagakura, Karuizawa-cho, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano MAP
• 10 minutes by car from JR Karuizawa Station
• From JR Karuizawa Station, take the Seibu Kanko Bus bound for "Hoshino Onsen Tombo-no-yu" (about 7 minutes), get off at the "Junior High School" stop, and walk about 10 minutes.
• Lunch (open irregularly) 11:30-15:00 (L.O. 13:00), Dinner 17:30-22:00 (L.O. 19:00)
• Open irregularly (open on national holidays, irregularly during summer, and closed for long periods during winter)
• 0267-44-1611
• Free of charge
• We do not accept reservations for children under 11 years old during GW and summer.
  During other periods, we may be able to accept reservations depending on availability.
• Reservations required by phone or on the website.

2
Bleston Court Yukawatan

The chef's desire to provide hospitality with a menu that is unique to Shinshu has led to this Restaurant, where you can enjoy carp, which has been eaten in this region for centuries, throughout the year. We recommend the carp appetizer, which allows you to enjoy two different types of carp: one with a refreshing flavor just after it has been closed, and the other with a deepened, aged taste, served with a sauce of carp consommé and herb oil, along with vinegared muscat, elderflower cream, and celery gleiche.

Delicately grilled to seal in the juices

Yukawatan's venison dish is surprisingly tender and delicately flavored with no odor. The dish is prepared simply so that the customers can fully appreciate the deliciousness of the venison. The carefully roasted venison is served with a light jus de chevreuil (fond made from deer bones and muscles) as a sauce, and is a must-try dish.

Bleston Court Yukawatan

• Hoshino, Karuizawa Town, Nagano Prefecture MAP
• Approx. 15 min. by cab from Karuizawa Sta.
• From 5:30 p.m. (Reservations required. Reservations are accepted on the official website)
• Closed on weekends and holidays
• Course from 27,500 yen (tax included, service charge not included) *Ingredients are subject to change depending on availability.
• 050-5282-2267
• Free (Karuizawa Hotel Bleston Court)

3
Pyrenees

A sister restaurant of Auberge de Primavera. The popular style is to have a variety of meats brought to your table, choose the type and size according to your taste and the number of people, and have them grilled in chunks on the fireplace. Since its opening, the restaurant has also continued to age meat, a long-held tradition in French food culture, and offers beef on the bone aged for about 60 days. Other meats selected by the chef include French duck and Chiyogen pork from Iida, Nagano Prefecture.

Terrace seating for dining with your dog

The restaurant interior is rustic, like a French country house. We recommend sharing the dishes served on platters. Pets are welcome on the terrace, and a dog-friendly menu is available.
The "appetizer buffet" is also popular on the lunch menu. You can take as many as you like from the array of French delicacies lined up in front of the fireplace, according to your preference.

Pyrenees

• 1181-8 Karuizawa, Karuizawa-cho, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano MAP
• 12 min. walk from Karuizawa Station
• 12:00-14:30(L.O.), 17:30-21:30(L.O.)
• Mon. and Tue.
• Lunch from 2,400 yen, Dinner course from 5,300 yen
• 0267-41-3339
• Free of charge

4
Musaian Ikeda

The restaurant offers a variety of dishes based on French cuisine but with a Japanese touch. A sense of seasonality is also important. For example, ayu fish is recommended in early summer. The combination with cucumber, which is a standard in Japanese cuisine, is lightly flavored with spices. It is an oriental dish that deepens the flavor of the ayu fish.

After studying in France, the chef worked at French restaurants in Tokyo and Yokohama, and also studied at Japanese restaurants. After gaining experience at a prominent French restaurant in Karuizawa, he worked as the head chef of a sister restaurant at the current location for eight years before setting up his own restaurant in 2011. In 2011, he became independent and the name of the restaurant was changed to the current name.

Large windows and chic interior

The inside of the seemingly inorganic building has full-length windows up to the ceiling, creating an open atmosphere that is dazzlingly bright at lunch time and moist and green at night with lights. As the restaurant's name "Mushoku" (meaning "colorless" in Japanese) suggests, colors are kept to a minimum, complementing the food and greenery along with the natural ingredients used throughout the restaurant.
The space is filled with what the chef himself finds delicious and beautiful, having developed friendships with producers, wineries, and art artists in Shinshu.

Musaian Ikeda

• 1891-50 Nagakura, Karuizawa-cho, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano MAP
• 5 min. drive from Shinano Oiwake Station
• 11:00-13:00L.O., 17:00-20:00L.O.
• Closed on Tuesdays (open if Tuesday is a national holiday) and during the winter
• Lunch course from 3,300 yen, Dinner course from 5,500 yen
• 0267-44-3930
• Free of charge

5
Restaurant Toeda

The chef was selected for Team Japan in the international French Culinary Competition in 2018 and was instrumental in winning the competition. This small Restaurant on the banks of the Yugawa River is gaining attention as a world-class gastronomy.

The cuisine here begins with a warm appetizer for the course. Venison rillettes are wrapped in dough and baked, and the glossy, deep red surface is a beet jelly. The leaf-shaped tuile is composed of Shinshu apple cider vinegar and spices to create an image of a forest in each bite.

Shinshu ingredients are used in every dish of the course.

All dishes in the nine- to 10-course menu use Shinshu ingredients, including not only vegetables, but also rare ingredients such as sturgeon meat, which is farmed in Chowa Town in central-eastern Nagano Prefecture using abundant spring water, and caviar made from its eggs. The chef himself prepares and makes cured ham in his workshop in Himekidaira, north of Lake Shirakaba. The restaurant is decorated with many works of art, and is a gastronomy where you can enjoy the flavors of Shinshu.

Restaurant Toeda

• 1877-1 Nagakura, Karuizawa-cho, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano MAP
• 5 min. drive from Karuizawa Station
• 11:30 - (last entry at 12:00)
  18:30- (last entry at 19:00)
• Closed on weekends and holidays
• Course 14,520 yen (both lunch and dinner)
  Reservations required.
• 0267-45-7038
• Free of charge
• Reservations required. Reservations can be made through the website.

6
Chez Kusama

The chef, who is also the name of the restaurant, trained at famous French restaurants in Paris and Tokyo, including grand maisons, before establishing his own restaurant 10 years ago. He opened the restaurant with his madam, who is from Nagano Prefecture.

The concept is "natural cuisine. The concept is "natural cuisine," emphasizing the seasonality of the ingredients and valuing their natural charms without over-working them. For example, the salmon appetizer is made by slightly smoked Shinshu salmon, which adds a light aroma to the salmon's flavor. It is served with plenty of fresh seasonal vegetables and wasabi mayonnaise as a garnish. The slightly spicy sauce enhances the unique texture and flavor of the rare Shinshu salmon and fresh vegetables.

Natural interior embraced by mountain cherry trees

As is typical of a "natural Restaurant," the theme of the interior is natural. Natural materials such as solid wood and many streamlined designs are used to create a soft atmosphere.
In front of the restaurant is a large mountain cherry tree, which can be said to be the symbol of the restaurant. It grows lush in summer and turns color in autumn, giving diners a sense of the seasons.

Chez Kusama

• 1265-15 Karuizawa, Karuizawa-cho, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano MAP
• 5 min. from Karuizawa Station
• 11:30-14:30 (L.O. 13:00), 17:30-21:30 (L.O. 19:00)
• Wednesday, Thursday
• Lunch course from 6,600 yen, Dinner course from 11,000 yen (Petit portion course from 9,900 yen)
• 0267-46-9123
• Free of charge

7
Souillarde

The "suiarde" is a stone wash basin often found in old houses in the south of France. It was located outdoors, separate from the kitchen, and was used for washing vegetables and herbs. In fact, the sous-yard at the entrance of this restaurant, surrounded by woods, creates the image of a country town in the south of France.

The chef has a background of having trained in France and then worked as a chef at high-class hotels in Japan. The main dish is a moist grilled lamb chop with chorizo sauce, while the ravioli is made with minced chicken, fresh onions, butterbur sprouts, and spring cabbage to lock in the aroma of spring.

A House Restaurant in the Forest

The chef's dream was to open a Restaurant in the forest. Located a short distance from Shinano Oiwake Station, the location is just as he envisioned, with beautiful groves of trees and a quiet location with few cars passing by. The terrace has been remodeled to resemble a sunroom, allowing diners to dine in a forest-like atmosphere all year round.

Souillarde

• 1551-2 Oiwake, Karuizawa-cho, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano MAP
• 10 min. drive from Shinano Oiwake Station
• 11:30-13:00L.O., 17:30-19:00L.O.
• Sunday dinner, Mon.
  Closed during winter season: Late December after Christmas to mid-March the following year
  The opening date of business is Please check our Instagram for the opening date.
• Lunch course from 4,400 yen, Dinner course from 8,250 yen (all incl. tax, service charge not included)
• 0267-46-2789
• Free of charge
• Reservations required by the day before.

8
E.Bu.Ri.Ko

E.Bu.Ri.Ko is an archaic general term for a hard mushroom, which is a member of the Sarinokoshiki mushroom family. As the restaurant's name suggests, it is a unique French restaurant run by a chef and madam who deeply love mushrooms and wildflowers. Having trained in Tokyo at a Restaurant specializing in wild plants and mushrooms, and having lived near mushrooms himself, he opened the restaurant in Karuizawa in order to use freshly harvested mushrooms.

Many dishes use mushrooms, and there is even an a la carte dish called "A plate of mushrooms" in which mushrooms are the main ingredient.
The photo shows a richly aromatic togaramigasa mushroom (black morilles) stuffed with Ueda horohoro chicken and foie gras paste. The finishing touch is Susquehanna mushroom (porcini) powder and iguchi mushroom puree. It adds to the natural flavor of the mushrooms.

Wildflowers and mushrooms for dessert

This crème brûlée is made with butterbur sprouts. There are male and female butterbur sprouts, each with a slightly different flavor, so the delicate taste of the two is combined while considering the balance between the two flavors. The accompanying sorbet is made with birch sap as the main ingredient, and accented with seekwasa juice. The brûlée is garnished with candied butterbur flower, the sorbet with flower wasabi, and the arrangement of the leaves is another idea of the chef's, who loves natural ingredients.

E.Bu.Ri.Ko

• 1157-6 Karuizawa, Karuizawa-cho, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano MAP
• 6 minutes from Karuizawa Station by car
• 11:30-13:30L.O., 17:30-19:30L.O.
• Closed on Wednesdays, Thursdays, irregular holidays, and winter holidays.
  Open for lunch only on Saturdays and Sundays
• Lunch 8,400 yen, Dinner course 11,700 yen and up (all tax not included)
• 0267-42-3033
• Free of charge