Granted, it’s a bit weird to want to go for an overnight trip to a town that you’re pretty sure is going to be boring. I just wanted to get away for a day, and resolved to find someplace that was close but felt far, then wrestle all the interest from it that I could. Thus, Takasaki. (I really wanted to go to Nagano, but do you know how much the train is?! I couldn’t justify it). But I was up in the morning and headed to Takasaki, arriving with plenty of time for a 2-hour walk before lunch. Strangely, the best option in this medium-sized country town (300k people) appeared to be a French place…the locals agree – it was near fully-reserved, and the remaining seats filled up immediately.
Look at these stylish women coming to dine.
A table in the center was pleasantly covered with glasses and loaves of bread. And a hat. And me!
That bread turned out to be walnut-oriented. It was decent, in a home-made sort of way (i.e., made by the chef instead of made by a professional baker – much better than you could do at home, not quite as good as can be done).
The carrot soup was OK, a little lumpy. At least the lumps were carrot, and at least the soup wasn’t a bland salad (the other option).
The roast leg of pintade (guinea fowl) was from France and was decent. Perhaps a bit dry, but the sauce covered for him.
I shan’t go on and on. Because you shan’t go to Takasaki. No hard feelings.