A carpenter’s dream of a building.
After our extensive trip around the Shonan Beer brewery, we were pretty hungry and fancied some grub. The problem though was did we fancy some bread or a proper meal with some beer? Stupid question really and off we went to Mokichi Trattoria, located on the site of the brewery and the best place to get the freshest Shonan Beer going.
As you walk into Mokichi Trattoria, the sheer size of the place is breathtaking. It’s probably about twice the same of the beer brewery and the sake distillery. Combined. There are two floors, but the most striking thing about it is the carpentry that went into building it. The head waiter commented that the carpenters used traditional building techniques used to build temples in Kamakura and other temples across Japan, that is, no nails and no screws. Plenty of light and plenty of space to stretch as well.
It goes without saying; however, Mokichi Trattoria only sells Shonan Beer on tap, but even though Mokichi Craft Beer in Fujisawa and this place are both owned by Kumazawa Brewing, the bottles available to purchase differ, for example, you can’t get the delicious Shonan Beer Belgian Stout at this location. The prices remain the same though with no table charge.
The food is equally as delicious and we plumped for the freshly cooked margherita pizza that came highly recommended and paired well with the Shonan Beer Citra IPA. The chips though were on a whole new level, resembling small new potatoes that had been boiled, chopped, and then deep fried in olive oil. Bliss though they could be dangerous weapons due to the lava contained inside of them.
The head waiter encourage us to take lots of pictures and look upstairs and part of me felt some pang of jealousy 0nce we got up there. A brilliant view of the Kumazawa Brewing complex, shaded from the sun along with a detailed explanation meant another beer and chat. Most importantly though, every year, around the second weekend of October, Mokichi Trattoria and Shonan Beer host their Oktoberfest…guess where we’re coming back to?
Mokichi Trattoria One Paragraph Review
The architecture of Mokichi Trattoria is brilliant as are the views on the second floor, though it is quite a difficult place to get to. There is plenty of to do in the area as well, with a sausage shop opening in mid-to-late 2015 though the art gallery and bakery are also worth a visit to.
How to Get to Mokichi Trattoria
Mokichi Trattoria is best accessed from Kagawa station on the JR Sagami line. From there, it is about a ten minute walk through some countryside.
1 comment
Mokichi Gardens is a vast place and quite interesting, but the service is questionable. The menu is geared toward pastas and pizza, their craft beer, and it’s good for a gathering place, but if your tastes are gourmet groomed, you will not be impressed. It is very much a tourist type spot that caters toward a western flavor, but is essentially very Japanese in execution from wines to sauces to salads, etc.
The service is for the Japanese to the point if, in example, you are there to only buy breads, you must make sure not to make the mistake of bringing a bike within the entrance grounds of the restaurant, or you will get an employee running, frantically, out from the entrance door to you, making sure you do not break a rule. It happened within a walk of 15 feet to the doorway. Horrifying.
It was a rude non welcome and could be handled differently. Mokichi is strictly Japanese, in employees and structure, although the overall atmosphere is western. I felt it was highly pedantic action only the Japanese can acknowledge, for a casual restaurant/drinking place to place such discomfort to a paying customer.
I can’t imagine a western or most any worldwide location cafe driving away customers by running at them to not park a bicycle, especially when at a 3 p.m. visit, customers on a rainy day were very few, and all I wanted was to get a baguette from their separate breads room.
They could have asked me to not park there next time, instead of doing a policing action before I got to the entrance. Service should always be about the guest first, not a rule that can be handled much better than it was.
I’ll never eat or be customer there, again. It left a terrible Mokichi taste in my mouth.