On a Saturday morning, we head to a cafe called Fukamido (深見堂) after being invited to their opening the previous night at an English conversation meet-up. Our ears perk up when they mention coffee, and we don’t want to miss the opportunity to try out good cafes. It’s pouring out, a perfect day for a coffee indoors.
The café “Fukamido” is housed in a traditional Japanese house built over 120 years ago, with a featured menu specializing in western sweets and game dishes. The owner, Noriko Kurasumi, used her experience making pastries and cakes while working at an Italian restaurant in Fukuoka to create Fukamido’s savoury dishes of simmered wild boar and beautiful dessert dishes. These are so popular that people trek out to this remote countryside spot in Ajimu and just eat the food here, myself included.
One of the things that makes Japan so wonderful is its business zoning laws, allowing small business owners like Fukamido to set up a residence. The cafe is set up on the main floor of the building in a traditional style home, complete with tatami, paper sliding doors, and tokonoma (床の間), a built-in recessed space where artistic appreciation is displayed).
We order coffees but quickly notice the selection of dessert sets and give a few a try. Desserts don’t normally drive me to any location, but I’ll make an exception to Fukamido.
If you’re visiting during Oita’s grape season, you may be in for a treat of Fukamido’s Shine Muscat cakes, topped with Oita’s famous Shine Muscat grapes, one of the tastiest grapes I’ve ever tried. The Kabosu lime soda is the perfect complement to wash down your dessert and another opportunity to sample Oita’s many regional fruits.
How to Get to Fukamido
Visitors will find it easiest to reach Fukamido by car, as there are little public transportation options that’ll take you through Ajimu town’s expansive network of country roads. From Beppu Station, it takes 40-50 minutes via car and 30 minutes from Usa station. While it may be a bit of a trek to reach Fukamido, the destination is well worth the effort for its tasty local cuisine, exquisitely simple sweets, and relaxed atmosphere, especially on a rainy day.
What an awesome cafe! I love the illustration ? how did you get the photo to blur out the employee? I think that’s a cool feature!
It really was a lovely café. Really good coffee too! I took the picture with a low shutter speed, meaning that it was open for long enough to capture movement. You have to stay still enough so that the whole image isn’t blurry, so steady hands needed here!