HOTEL FORK & KNIFE Miyajima

The Hotel feels like an art gallery, with artworks displayed throughout, making it fun to explore. The Hotel makes generous use of wood and stone, creating a comfortable space, and the welcome and staff were very warm and reassuring. I was happy that the bathroom amenities were from uka. However, it was disappointing that the rooftop bath is mixed-gender and requires swimwear—I wanted to enjoy the view from the rooftop. I would appreciate it if there were designated time slots. The meals were also delicious and carefully prepared, which was great.

The moment I entered, an eye-catching object immediately lifted my spirits. Check-in was done on a tablet. I was offered a welcome drink, but I was surprised by how tiny it was. The Room was, of course, clean, and the wood-themed design was obvious at a glance. The bed, sink area, bath, and toilet were all fine individually, but perhaps because the Room is small, the layout is poor and not very user-friendly. There was only one floor chair as well. No matter how you look at it, this Room feels designed for single occupancy.\nI headed to the top-floor spa. After changing into the designated swimsuit, I went in and enjoyed an Onsen bath with transported hot spring water. Unfortunately it rained that day, so I couldn’t use the outdoor deck chairs. Since I didn’t use the sauna, I moved straight to the changing area—but my swimsuit was still quite damp and I wasn’t sure what to do with it.\nThen came dinner—the highlight I had been looking forward to. The dishes were beautiful and thoughtfully prepared using many ingredients from Hiroshima. They were tasty, though they didn’t particularly move me overall. However, the anago rice dish wasn’t the standard sticky-rice style; it was highly original and absolutely outstanding.\nFor breakfast, I had a Japanese set meal.\nService felt almost perfect overall, but one young female staff member in the restaurant never smiled and seemed almost robotic.