渚館きむら 唐津茶屋(Nagisakan Kimura Karatsu Chaya)

We stayed at this ryokan in early November 2021, when the fourth wave of COVID 19 was rapidly subsiding. It was pouring when we arrived at the ryokan in Karatsu, close to the castle and facing the beach. I had thought that it was a restaurant offering lodging, but I understand that it was the other way around. In any event, a lady came out, showed us the car park, and brought us umbrellas. We went to the small reception, and it didn’t take us long to complete the registration. The receptionist, who I thought could be the owner as well, asked us if we had brought vaccination certificates, which we had forgotten to bring with us. “We ask because we are offering free drinks to guests. But let me see what we can do.”she said. With that we were shown to our room upstairs on the second floor. We were told that the public bath was on the ground floor, but it appeared that the bath was busy at the moment with some families. We decided that it would be better to wait till closer to dinner time, which was the right decision as I had the entire bath for myself and was able to relax from the long day. I was looking forward to dinner, as I had ordered a course including squid sashimi from Yobuko close to Karatsu and famous for its fresh squid. Dinner was served in our room, which I guess has now become standard practice with the pandemic. Luckily the ryokan gave me the free sake. The squid came first after the appetizer. The squid was still transparent, testifying how fresh it was. It was really delightful. This was followed by a sweet simmered head of seabream, some Saga Beef cutlets and fried blowfish. I must say it was one of the best (mainly)seafood dishes I’ve ever had. I really recommend travelers to try seafood dishes on the Saga coast. It was a most enjoyable dinner. The ryokan however did not accept credit cards, and I had to pay cash.