As you head towards the sea down Route 437 with its exotic palm trees, you’ll see a fantastic building on your right. Coloured pink and yellow, it has a distinctly un-Japanese look, with multiple sharply pointed gables. Aside from some southeast temple architecture in Ishite-ji Temple, this is the only other building of its kind in Matsuyama. It’s the Four Seasons Thai restaurant. It stands beside the concrete channel of the Miyamae River in Mitsu, and if you squint, you can just about imagine yourself on one of Bangkok’s canals, although the water here is much cleaner.
I recently dropped in for dinner on a very hot night in August. As you open the door, there’s an appealing aroma of authentic Thai food and incense. Thai pop music plays in the background, and by the end of my meal I was thinking I should get some of this very listenable music. Much work has gone into the interior to create a southeast Asian atmosphere. There’s a lot of carved wood including an elaborate gateway, and the chairs are comfortable cane.
The menu is very easy to understand, with photos, the names of the dishes in Japanese and English, and little rows of chili peppers indicating how hot your dish is going to be. I ordered the Tom Yum Shrimp Ramen, which merits two chili peppers. I spotted a fearsome red dish marked with five peppers. The pleasant and attentive waitress asked in Japanese if I was okay with hot food—a gentle warning that even two peppers means “Hot”! As I waited for my noodles to arrive, various sizzling meat dishes were served to the table behind me. It smelled fantastic, and there were some oohs and ahs from the ladies at the table.
After a longish wait, my noodles arrived, preceded by a wonderful complex aroma. The waitress beamed when I exclaimed, “Gosh that smells good!”. The Tom Yum soup had plenty of vegetables and Thai herbs, as well as three tasty shrimp. It was highly piquant, and I was fairly gasping. The vegetables included a good few chili slices. Fortunately the waitress swung by frequently with iced water. I was very satisfied.
Four Seasons offers a wide choice of Thai beers including Tiger, Singha, Beer Lao, Chang and Phuket, as well as Thai whiskeys. There’s also a good selection of exotic cocktails and juices.
Mitsu has many restaurants offering cuisine from around the world. But the fortifying qualities of Tom Yum and other Thai food is sure to help you get through a hot summer day of exploration in this fascinating area.
Name in Japanese
フォーシーズンズ Four Shee-zunzu Four Seasons
