Ukai Chikutei Japanese restaurant

Last week I had one of the best restaurant experiences ever. I went to Ukai Chikutei Restaurant in the mountains west of Tokyo.
It's a beautiful restaurant complex set in a bamboo garden. Each private room is like it's own mini cottage. Weaving around the twenty or so cottages are little rivers, rock gardens and carp filled ponds.
It's decorated in the traditionally simple and elegant Japanese manner. Once in your room, kimono-clad staff scurry back and forth to your cottage serving dish upon amazing dish.
The chef kindly prepared an all-vegetarian banquet for us. It was a feast for all the senses. The main ingredient was matsutake - a very expensive, rare mushroom. It's succulent and juicy with a unique aroma and flavourful essence.
Each dish was like a work of art. I was taken aback by a baked chestnut in a shell made from noodles. It looked for the life of me like a real chestnut shell. I could only imagine the great skill the preparation of such a dish requires.
But I'm a simple lad at heart. For me, the piece de resistance was an assortment of vegetables in miso sauce, grilled on a magnolia leaf on a small charcoal grill brought to your table. The flavour is with me now as I type. It was that good.
Everything worked in harmony. We sat in the tatatmi room, excited at the arrival of each new creation. In between mouthfuls, we gazed at the moss covered waterwheel or artistcally backlit maple trees outside our window. And in the background delicate shamizen music accompanied our feast.
And even though it's a posh and elegant restaurant, because you have a private room, you completely relax and don't feel at all intimiated or uncomfortable.
If you ever come to Japan, I can't recommend this dining experience enough.