The great outdoors and appreciating nature. It is something everyone should do from time to time. Get away from your busy work life and enjoy all the great sites that nature has to offer. If you are interested in doing that, I highly recommend going to Daigo in north Ibaraki. If you have been to Daigo before, you have probably visited Fukuroda Falls. Fukuroda Falls is the number one tourist attraction in Daigo. But to be honest, that is not my favorite waterfall in Daigo. I like to go to a waterfall where I can get close to it, touch the water and have some soba while being surrounded by the sounds of nature. My favorite place in Daigo is Tsukimachi Falls.
Careful! Steep Slope!
The wife, a few friends and I went to Tsukimachi Falls during Silver Week in September. We drove from Tsuchiura all the way to Daigo which is about an hour and a half drive. If you want to go anywhere in Daigo, I highly recommend going around by car. When you get to the Tsukimachi Falls area, there are two parking lots for the place. One is a very small parking lot by the entrance and the other is at a small apple picking farm. After parking, you then walk to the entrance and have to go down a steep slope to get to the waterfall. You will see the soba restaurant first and then the waterfall.
The Soba Restaurant Momijien
Since it was Silver Week, there were a lot of people at the falls. So we decided that we would put our name down on the wait list to get into Momijien. The staff said "it will be an hour wait." After looking around at all the people there, I figured that is how long we would have to wait. All of us decided to get some pictures of the waterfall and walk around the stream. It was so peaceful and scenic (besides all the people). We then heard my wife's name being called by the staff and started to head in. It actually took 30 minutes to get seated.
Our view
We were given an awesome table with a stunning view on the second floor of the soba restaurant. Everything in Momijien is made from wood so it feels like a huge "cabin in the woods" restaurant. All the tables were filled with customers and the staff were running around like crazy. I was admiring all the craftsmanship of the tables and the restaurant itself. We were given menus and told it would be 40 minutes until we could eat. These guys were at capacity that day so we wouldn't get our food right away.
The Menu
As I said before, this is a soba restaurant. So the main thing on the menu is soba. The left side of the menu is all the drinks and the right side of the menu is all the soba. Sorry my non-Japanese speakers, I did not see an English menu. For the drinks side there is tea, coffee, juice and alcohol. There is also sweet soba dango and vanilla ice cream on the left side. The soba menu on the right, starts off with cold soba: mori soba, zaru soba, tsuketoro soba (with potatoe), oroshi soba (with radish), juuwari soba (less flour in this soba), futogiri soba (thick noodles). Next is the hot soba: nameko soba (with mushrooms), tororo soba (with patotoe), sansai soba (with mountain vegetables). There is also oden and edamae.
Seasonal Stuff
At the time of this posting, it is October. I am sorry to say that everything on this seasonal menu is probably finished. Except for the soba soft serve ice cream. That is available till November. This place also has soumen, which is a thin type of noodle that Japanese people eat during summer. Soumen is chilled and served cold with sauce, either soy sauce or sesame sauce (I love sesame sauce). This place however, has nagashi soumen. Nagashi soumen is a super fun way to eat soumen but not ideal for our current situation. The soumen slides down a hallowed out bamboo pole filled with water and you have to catch it before it hits the bottom. I love this activity and I really wanted to do it. But my wife reminded me about the pandemic and that we will do it next year. After waiting for a while our soba finally arrived.
Maybe Next Year
Mori Soba
By the time our soba arrived I was starving. I put my negi and radish into the cold soba sauce, dipped my soba into my sauce and started slurping. After my first slurp, I have to say that I was kind of disappointed. The soba was Ok but I really wasn't into the sauce. I was in shock because I had heard this place was amazing for soba but it just didn't feel that way for me.
Zaru Soba
My wife ordered the zaru soba. It is the same thing as my soba but just with nori, seaweed on top of the soba. My wife wasn't a big fan either. She didn't hate it but she didn't love it.
My friends had the same opinion. We finished our late lunch, left the restaurant and headed to the waterfall. But before that, ice cream!
Soba Soft Cream
I know the soba was a bit lacking, but the soba soft serve ice cream is amazing at this place. You can't really order this ice cream at the main restaurant. There is a smaller old looking Japanese building to the right of the restaurant with an order window. There is where you get this delicious ice cream. The ice cream is creamy and has a strong taste of soba which was very satisfying. This is a perfect treat in summer to cool down and feel refreshed. Everyone in our group had one and we all enjoyed it. After we finished our delicious ice cream we took a few steps and we were at the waterfall.
Beautiful
My wife and I went behind the waterfall and touched the water. It was cold, really cold. Really refreshing for a few seconds but then super cold. I could only imagine how cold this water is in winter. Anyone can walk around the waterfall and the small stream in the area. If you walk behind the waterfall you are most certainly going to get a little wet. It is quite a good way to cool down during summer. One random Japanese guy asked me if I wanted to stand under the waterfall and meditate like Japanese monks do. He explained that for 5,000 yen, anyone can do it. The soba restaurant will give you a special robe you change into and you can stand under the waterfall and medidate. I politely declined. Me being from Florida, would most certainly not do well in that cold water.
After we played around the waterfall and took our pictures it was time to go. Everyone in our group really enjoyed our time at Tsukimachi Falls. Yeah, the soba wasn't great but the area, the waterfall and the ice cream was spectacular. I will probably give the restaurant another chance when it is less busy. This really is a perfect get away from the busy city life. Our day wasn't over yet though. We were off to do some apple picking which I will post about next week.
So if you are in Daigo and want to enjoy a scenic area with a great waterfall, come check out Tsukimachi Falls while having soba ice cream. Who knows, you might see me there, finally enjoying my nagashi soumen. Enjoy!
For more information on Tsukimachi Falls and the restaurant Momijien, check out this Daigo website:
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