Jinja and Shoga: Life in the Land of the Rising Sun: Bio-S Restaurant and Farm

Bio-S Restaurant and Farm

Posted on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 | 0 comments

       Last Thursday we headed to nearby Fujinomiya for lunch at an organic restaurant, Bio-S, that we recently learned about. (It's pronounced Bios, so I'm not sure why there's the dash?).
   I've been attempting to buy mostly organic vegetables and fruit for Keila, which has been a feat in itself, seeing as there just aren't very many organic farms around Japan. I first learned about this particular farm and restaurant while talking with a friend, and the very next day I happened to see a sticker with the farm's website address pasted onto a 336 yen organic zucchini at a health food store. (For those of you not up to date on the current exchange rates, I paid about 4 dollars and 15 cents for one little zucchini. Grumble).
Figuring that buying directly from the farm would be cheaper, we looked their address up online after deciding to have lunch there and make a day trip of it. Yuki called ahead to make reservations (and request that they hold some zucchini for us). The hostess seemed rather surprised that we wanted 8 zucchini, since most people don't have big freezers here and therefore don't tend to stockpile and freeze produce.
Here's where things got a bit confusing....there's both a Bio-deli and a Bio-S restaurant in Fujinomiya. We first ended up at the deli, a cute and definitely casual little place, before realizing that we needed to be at the restaurant. Which was quite definitely NOT casual. Luckily, this is Japan, where dress codes don't really exist. Still, I was glad that I'd at least decided to wear a new shirt that day! Yuki was feeling a bit out of place in shorts until a single woman in hiking boots and jeans strolled in and took a seat at her reserved table. The rest of the crowd, however, was much better dressed than we were. At least Keila was fancy enough for the occassion!
The owner of this organic enterprise, Mr. Matsuki himself, was hard at work showing guests to their tables and waiting on them, too. I'm not sure how long he's had his farm operating in Fujinomiya (Bio Farm Matsuki), but he told us that the restuarant had been open for about a year now.
Ever the gentleman, he didn't say a word about us hauling Keila in for lunch, although it is rather obviously not a restaurant suited for children or babies. Thankfully, our little Pooper behaved herself beautifully and even entertained a group of elderly women seated at the table adjacent to us. Score One for Little Billy Shatner!
Lunch was, of course, all organic. We opted for the smallest course set, which included: an appetizer of raw corn and wild boar bacon; fish carpaccio over onions and spring peas, which was topped with mushrooms and served alongside cherry blossom salmon; roast chicken with spring vegetables; lemon granita over panna cotta; and finally, tea with tiny sponge cakes and macarones. Needless to say, it was all excellent, and we had a pretty small dinner later that evening! Ok, I'm lying about the small dinner. What can I say, feeding Keila gives me an appetite equal to that of a herd of hippos. Half-starved hippos. Snort snort.
Next time, we'll probably try lunch at the deli instead so as not to push our luck with Keila a second time. If you're interested in finding out more about the farm or restaurant and deli, here's their website: www.bio-farm.jp

                                                  Bio-S Restaurant. They do weddings, too.

The Dining Room

Organic Carrot-Apple Juice

Appetizer: Raw Corn With Wild Boar Bacon

Carpaccio Salad And Sakura Salmon

Roast Chicken With Zucchini, Onions, Potatoes, Beans, and Burdock Root With A French Dijon Sauce. No, that's not a stick; it's burdock root. Completely edible and quite tasty.