Our trip to A Japanese Style Inn in Sydney, Australia - Ryokan Gojyuan

We were looking for an interesting way to spend our first anniversary. It has always been my wish to visit Japan again. However with a large mortgage now, it would be very difficult to. I did some research and found a great alternative - to visit a traditional Japanese Inn! And I found one not too far away in Balmain -  a suburb only 6km away from Sydney CBD. Ryokan Gojyuan.

We made booking online. We chose to do a 1 night stay and with the kaiseki (traditional multi-course Japanese) dinner to make the most of the Japanese experience. A 50% deposit via BPay or direct deposit was required to secure the booking.

We arrived at Ryokan Gojyuan in Balmain by car in mid afternoon. Their earliest check-in time is at 3pm. We found all day parking in one of the back lanes. We were warmly welcomed by the hostess, Linda. Were given room slippers to change into in the genkan (entrance way). And there was a small sign put up to congratulate us on our first anniversary.

We were then showed around the property. There were 2 guest rooms - we were the only guest that night, a traditional bath, a large common room used for breakfast and workshops. Linda and her family lived upstairs. We were ushered into our room - Matsunoma (Pine Room). The room comprises of a sun room looking out to the bamboo garden, an 8-mat tatami room and a western style bathroom all divided by shoji screens. The room was very tastefully decorated in simple lines enhanced with subtle textures. Linda made us hot genmai (green) tea and served us Japanese sweet cakes and provided us a warm towel.

 

We decided to venture out to check the shops outside and had a Thai massage. When we got back, Linda had prepared the hot bath for us. We got changed into the yukata provided before heading off into the bath.

It was great to be the only guest there that night as we did not have to wait our turn to use the communal bath. The bath did have a lock to provide us with the privacy we wanted. There were lockers to put our clothes in. There was the low Japanese shower with stool and scoop, and a hinoki bath. There was a supply of shampoo, conditioner and body wash. We bathed the traditional way by taking a shower before dipping into the bath. We were slightly disappointed that the bath could not be made warmer than 40'C as we are used to a slightly warmer bath. Linda was great, she had prepared a flask of ice water, cold plum sake and rice crackers. We decided it would not be wise to stay in the bath too long, or risk dehydration and medication toxicity.

When we got back to the room, Linda had already lit a candle in a lotus paper cup. 

Not long after, dinner was served. As per kaiseki tradition, we had no idea what would be served that night. At $150 per person for dinner, we had our expectations set quite high. The chef that night was from the Establishment Hotel in Sydney. A lovely quality hot sake was served. We also opened the elderberry champagne we had saved for this occasion. Each course of dinner was served one at a time, eventually 2.5 hours later we finished our last course. Linda kept us entertained with her chatty personality. The food itself was wonderful, each course was indeed gourmet. However, as it was served very slowly, we still felt hungry at the end of dinner.We didn't know if it was us keeping Linda from serving the next dish, or if the chef was that busy.

 
After dinner, my darling husband took another dip into the bath while I sat in the sunroom reading. Linda and her husband started re-configuring the room for a sleeping arrangement. The table was moved to the corner of the room and futons with quilts were laid out on the tatami mats. The type of futon used was a very thin type and I was not used to it. With my bad back, I had a difficult night sleeping (and was glad I didn't book a 2 night stay!).

Next morning, we got up early as the check out time was 10am. Breakfast was served in the common room.

Breakfast consisted of grilled fish, pickles and egg, together with pomegranate juice and genmai (green) tea. The breakfast was substantial and very delicious.

We checked out at 10am, we made our final payment and our host bade us farewell.

Overall impression:

Great experience as an introduction to Japanese Inn culture. The effort put into to making the architecture and finishings as Japanese as possible was phenomenal. Some of the concepts are geared to the Australian traveler - for example (not that they are negative) the bath is private rather than communal. Pricey but definitely worth checking out if you can't get to Japan!