I’ve had my share of hotel breakfast buffet in my life, and say most of them were just A-OK. Nothing too special… But, this breakfast buffet offered at Dormy Inn Express has changed my view of what they could be. It certainly has been the BEST I’ve experienced thus far, hands down. I was traveling to Shizuoka with my hubby and my gourmet foodie sister. We knew we were in for a super fun (or more like super delicious) trip with her! This hotel was highly recommended by my foodie sister, who has never steered me wrong. She told me about their breakfast buffet, and yes, I was excited about it, but I had no idea how awesome they really are, until I got to experience it myself.
The dining area was located on the ground floor next to the check in counter. It is quite large, spacious, and bright with natural light coming in from large windows. We were there during a bit of morning rush, but about the time we left, it was almost empty (yes, we stayed there for a while…). It had simple furniture, not much decor, but very clean and a good amount of space to move around without bumping into others.
The buffet looked amazing. All sorts of traditional Japanese food, local produces, and some comfort food items as well. It had really nice selection of different kinds of food, anyone and everyone can find something that they really like off these buffet tables.
The offerings included dishes that is commonly cooked in a Japanese household, or something that I grew up eating. So, you get to have some dishes that remind you of your mother’s cooking, which is really nice and sweet. They also had fresh salad if you are more into healthy options.
Fun item for me was their Green Tea Soba! We are in Shizuoka, home to all sorts of glorious green teas, we better have something that has green tea in it. And I love green tea soba, so I was very happy to see this on the buffet. They had condiments right next to it, like wasabi and green onions.
They also had some extra side dishes that goes well with, well, everything Japanese. They had a few kinds of pickles like Umeboshi (pickled plum), cucumber, and radish. Another interesting item was Shirasu (boiled Japanese anchovy or whitebait). One of the local specialty they have is their Shirasu. They are a great source of calcium and protein, not mention, very tasty!
Now, let me go back to green tea. As I was looking at the food with such love and adoration, taking photos after photos, a female staff came to speak with me, explaining little bit about each offerings. The most interesting information I received was their grilled fish. Yes, they looked delicious, but it is more about HOW they are being smoked on the buffet table. The fishes are already grilled, but they are keeping them smoked to keep them nice and hot, but with just some hot water and hot stones, but also with green tea bags!!! What!!!! Some genius soul has came up with this brilliant idea to place several green tea bags underneath, so that the fish fillets will get just a hint of green tea flavor. Wow! Oh yes I grabbed a few pieces.
As for rice, they had regular white rice, and Sakura Shrimp Rice. Sakura Shrimp is another local favorite, it is rare and can only be caught in Shizuoka. The rice looked divine, it was begging me to get a bowl-full of them…I could not say no to that.
At the end, we each got a tray full of goodness. Here are the selections of my sister and my hubby. Or should I say, the first round of selections…we had seconds (and possibly third).
And here is my tray full of yummy items. Look at the marvelous dishes! I was so excited to try them out. I didn’t know I could be so excited about the food off the breakfast buffet at a hotel… Didn’t I tell you, my gourmet sister knows best when it comes to delicious food!
I had a small bowl of Sakura Shrimp Rice (I have to leave enough room for all the other goodness), which was delicious! Better than I expected. Nice salty flavor, shrimps were not too big or too small, flavor infused in each grain of fluffy rice… I became a fan from the first bite. They had two kinds of grilled fish, Salmon and Mackerel, and both of them were excellent. The tea infused juicy fillet was flakey, with a bit of crunchy exterior from bring grilled, nice amount of salt flavor. Excellent!
Then it was time to try their Green Tea Soba. I put some toppings like wasabi and green onions, and then poured some grated Japanese Yam. It was so tasty! Loved the green tea flavor, deep, earthy and delicious. The soba noodle was cooked just right, leaving firm texture to satisfy soba craving.
I didn’t forget comfort food. I got sample of few tasty looking ones. I got a large Sausage, Fried Pork Cutlet, and Baked Squash & Tomato with Cheese. Yum! The sausage was very plump, nice crunchy exterior and super juicy inside. Pork cutlet was pretty good too, lightly fried, meaty and packed with flavor. The squash and tomato cuddled in gooey cheese was super comforting!
I took some of their special Kamaage Shirasu, which is boiled in salted water. Since they are not dried, they are soft and had just enough salty flavor. It goes great with a nice hot rice or cold soba noodle. They also had perfect cooked poached egg, which I grabbed. They had several varieties of eggs, such as omelette, fried egg, and scrambled egg.
I used the poached egg for my white rice and Natto (fermented beans). I also put some toppings, including Shirasu and green onions. I know that most non-Japanese people don’t like Natto, but I love it and is so good for you too!
Let’s not forget their baked goods and desserts! They had a small section dedicated for these items. They are so organized with the buffet, with the names and description of everything (although, some English translation was a bit off). All the counter space was kept clean at all time. The staffs here really does a great job!
They had few kinds of bread such as rolls, croissant and sliced bread. They also had small waffles. For dessert, they had some fruits, yogurt and Warabi Mochi (chilled, jelly-like mochi). They had all sorts of syrup and sauce to go with them, like maple syrup, strawberry sauce, and blueberry sauce.
We got one cute little waffle, with some strawberry sauce and chocolate syrup on top. We also got some Anglaise Sauce. Crème anglaise is basically a pouring custard cream. It is a mix of sugar, egg yolks and hot milk. It was creamy and not overly sweet, actually went great with their plain yogurt. I also god some green tea warabi mochi, which I love. The flavor, texture, everything about it was exactly what I wanted!
And if you are wondering what I am drinking to wash down all these food with, they have a good amount of option of drinks too. They had clean and organized (of course) drink section to the side. They had many cups and glasses, so I never had to look for them, which was good. For cold drinks, they had milk, vegetable juice, and orange juice.
But, I like to have a hot cup of green tea with my Japanese breakfast, and especially since we were in Shizuoka, I had to have them! They had two buttons, one that Green Tea 1, and another one Green Tea 2. I don’t know what kind of green tea they were, but they both tasted great. The funny thing is, every timer we got a refill from the machine, the color of the tea was slightly different each time. Regardless, it all tasted great!
After getting some more delicious food to the point we just couldn’t eat any more, we finished for the day (or I should say morning). The next morning, we were back to get some more delicious breakfast. I wish if I could stay here for a week or a month…
They had mostly the same items with slight variations. I was completely ok with that, since I loved everything that I tried the previous morning. I again got a small bowl of Green Tea Soba, some Grated Japanese Yam that I used for the soba and for Natto as well. Freshly grated Japanese Yam is soooo good, and is great for digestion. And with all the food I was consuming, my body needed some Japanese Yam…
On the second morning, I tried their Nikujaga. They had it the previous morning too, but I didn’t try it then. Nikujaga is a Japanese stew made with meat, potatoes, onion and few other ingredients. It is cooked in sweetened soy sauce based soup. Another dish that has the taste of your mother’s cooking from childhood. Lovely comfort food of home.
Another item I didn’t try before was the Eggplant and Shishito Pepper. The eggplant and Shishito pepper are first deep-fried until crispy browned, then soaked in a flavorful dashi and soy sauce based broth. It was really great too! Can they do any dish wrong? I guess the answer is no! They had new fried items this morning, like Onion Ring, Cheese Stick, and Japanese Fried Chicken. So good…
I did not forget all the little extras, including Shirasu. I really enjoyed their shirasu. And, the Green Tea Infused Grilled Fish. My breakfast would not be complete without these babies. It was again very flavorful, tender and juicy, flakey and perfect!
Sakura Shrimp Rice of course made it onto my tray, alongside White Rice for Natto and Poached Egg. The important thing about decadent buffet with all the amazing food is the portion size. You have to keep them small if you want to taste them all. So, even though I wanted a mountain-full of Sakura Shrimp Rice, I kept it to about half the small bowl.
Then the green teas…again, different color each time we pushed the button, but very tasty regardless. Just too funny! Everything we had this morning was just amazing. They did not disappoint. We ate so much again, as we should…taking in all the deliciousness!!!
And if their glorious breakfast buffet is not enough, they have something extra in the evening… It is Late Night Ramen, and it is offered for free!!! What!!! They are only offered between 9:30pm and 11:00pm. And, they have limited number of them, so make sure you get there early!
It is offered at the same dining room as the breakfast. You go to the counter and take a number. They only make the ramen that are “ordered” which is smart. Once your ramen is ready, they will call out your number. It is pretty fast, especially if there is no wait in front of you. We got there before it got busy, so we got our ramen quickly.
I must say, I didn’t have super high expectation for a free ramen… But, at Dormy Inn, they do really great food throughout! First of all, it was a really good size, not some tiny little bowl of ramen, but a full, real-sized bowl of ramen!
It was shoyu-based soup, and it is Dormy Inn specialty. This Late Night Ramen is offered at every single Dory Inn hotel all across the country. It was comforting, flavorful, and I was really happy with this ramen!
After staying here, I could clearly see the reasons why they are one of the most popular hotels in Japan. I heard that they actually made top 10 in the Best Hotels in the World list too. This hotel has become our favorite hotel in Japan… Not only they have high quality Japanese buffet with local ingredients and specialty, they have so much more! Did I mention they have Onsen (hot springs) on the top floor with a great view, sauna, and comfy bed? We booked our room with breakfast, since the breakfast is NOT complimentary. If you book a hotel without breakfast, you can still have the breakfast buffet for 1,200 yen, which in my opinion, totally worth it and then some. Next time we are traveling in Japan, I would love to stay at one of their locations for sure!!!
Dormy Inn Express – 3-12 Nitocho, Kakegawa, Shizuoka Japan
ドーミーインEXPRESS掛川 – 静岡県掛川市仁藤町3-12