Plant rice in the paddy field first, then pick vegetables and order a meal - this is how you visit this MUJI

Two weeks ago, Shaoyao and her colleagues were on a business trip and saw the newly opened MUJI restaurant in Shanghai. Although they had long heard that MUJI had opened a restaurant, they never had the chance to try it. The two walked into the ordering area and looked for a long time. The set meals were so rigid that they actually could not understand them! They did not know how to order! It was not just them - other first-time customers also looked completely baffled.

Japanese logic is truly strange. They finally managed to order with great difficulty, sat down at their seats, and while complaining, began eating with some doubt. Halfway through the meal, I asked the young woman: "Would you buy this again?" The young woman thought for a moment: "...Yes." After another minute, I said: "After finishing this, I want to pack another portion to take home." The young woman said: "...Me too!"

That is how MUJI won us over... Because those unassuming dishes really gave a solid sense of happiness when they entered your mouth. Actually, MUJI has long ceased to be the "furniture seller" in our impression. They have opened restaurants, opened food markets, and even recently, they actually built a farm, further returning to rural life and carrying the natural lifestyle all the way through.

Shaoyao's good friend Abu recently looked into MUJI's new farm, and after reading about it, was really tempted - it feels like being one step closer to "Little Forest."

{Shaoyao Guniang Vol.735 }

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Japanese-style farm stay

Every time we see a promotional video for MUJI (Mujirushi Ryohin), we know they really care about returning to nature.

Whether it is food, housing, or clothing, it must all be simple and comfortable. In recent years, they have been playing even bigger.

Look,building MUJI huts in the suburbs, selling vegetables in flagship stores, and even directly opening a vegetable market in Osaka as big as 6 basketball courts。

As a home brand, selling houses and also selling vegetables, it feels like they want to wrap up our entire lives.

Abu was just about to say, surely they would not directly buy land and build a farm, when MUJI's "farm stay" in Kamogawa City, Japan, announced it was open for business!

The name of this new store is "Sato no MUJI Minna no Sato," which roughly meansEveryone's Village。

Kamogawa City faces the sea, has a good climate, and is full of farmland and orchards. It is itself a place suitable for relaxation.

However, aging here is serious. The original reason MUJI opened a store here was also because it wanted to make good use of the surrounding farmland.

The site of MUJI's new store was formerly a place where residents of nearby villages gathered daily to chat, and they would also exchange their own farm products here, giving it somewhat the feel of a market.

After MUJI took over, it renovated the two existing houses.

One houses the daily necessities and clothing everyone needs, while the other is the vegetable market and MUJI Cafe.

Walking through the houses is the most impressive part: a lush green field appears before your eyes, with high skies and light clouds. Just standing there looking at it relaxes both body and mind.

Look carefully - there are sparkling greenhouses, terraced fields, and ponds. It really is "Everyone's Village."

Usually at MUJI, we do no more than carry a basket, buy, and eat. So how do you enjoy this upgraded version of a farm stay? Abu will now show you.

Put down your phone, roll up your pant legs, and go into the field to plant rice.

The terraced fields here are all open to customers. After planting rice in spring, every month you can come to your own plot to learn weeding and make rice balls.

Watching the rice you planted with your own hands grow taller bit by bit gives a great sense of accomplishment.

Spring plowing and autumn harvest - when the rice matures, you can even harvest it yourself and eat it yourself. Is that not much more interesting than stealing vegetables on your phone?

Relax the tension brought by a fast-paced life, and have a complete weekend with family members you have not talked with in a long time. It does not matter if your feet are covered in mud - being happy is what matters most.

However, each rice season can only accept 40 people or fewer to plant. If you want to go, you can first register onmuji passport app.

The registration fee is not expensive either - 200 yuan renminbi for adults, and free for preschool children. Friends who take part in planting can alsoenjoy lunch at the MUJI restaurant for freeoh.

Think about it - a single meal at their restaurant is already not cheap, so eating for free for a season looks like a great deal no matter how you see it (Chinese babies say they want it too).

The village is scenic everywhere. Even if you do not plant rice, the rapeseed flowers, peach blossoms, and cherry blossoms in spring are enough for everyone to enjoy for a whole day.

Let life slow down，slow enough to have enough time to enjoy scenery usually missed. That is what MUJI wants everyone to feel.

The vegetables and fruits in the greenhouses are available in all four seasons. The strawberry season has just passed, and the first batch of cherry tomatoes has turned fully red. Everyone is welcome to pick them and pop them into their mouths.

From branch to mouth directly, without the jolts and dust of transportation. Because they are clean enough, even washing with water is superfluous.

Wipe them on your clothes and eat them together with the breath of nature - who would not like such ease and comfort?

If you do not know how to choose or cook these vegetables,the vegetable farmer uncle will explain it to you。

For example, for small cucumbers, you must choose ones with evenly sized ends. The kind that is big on one side and small on the other is not tasty.

After you have had enough fun in the fields, you can go back indoors to browse. Although MUJI stores all over the world are arranged similarly, this one still has some differences.

To fit the "farmhouse" theme, the roof is decorated with all kinds of winnowing baskets and bamboo baskets. The fresh scent of bamboo beats all aromatherapy scents.

All kinds of sealed jars for beans and dried goods hang from the roof beams, making a simple and bright beautiful scene.

On one side are the daily necessities and clothing everyone is familiar with.

On the other side is the vegetable market that makes homemakers and food lovers unable to walk away once they see it. The vegetables, fruits, and even flowers and plants sold in the store are all grown and delivered directly bylocal villagers。

The people of this city have deep feelings for the land. They take great care in every part of the growing process, and the vegetables and fruits sent to MUJI are also cleaned so thoroughly that they can be eaten with the peel.

Even more thoughtful is thatnext to each crop, the recommended cooking method is written, so even kitchen beginners can find a cooking method that suits them.

Next to the vegetable market, there is also a cornerspecifically selling crops related to seasonal festivals, such as calamus, which every household uses during the Dragon Boat Festival, or carnations for Mother's Day. You can buy them all here.

The MUJI restaurant is right next to the vegetable market. To match the farm theme, the food served in the restaurant has also been made intooriginal menusbased on the main local crops, which cannot be eaten anywhere else.

For the first time, I felt that the outdoors was more attractive than the indoors.

While waiting for the meal, the distant farmland and mountains sway into different appearances in each of the four seasons. Soak up some sun, feel the breeze, and your whole body goes soft.

It should be noted that MUJIthe restaurant serves breakfast and lunch in separate time periods。

9 to 11 is breakfast time. The eggs and lettuce are all freshly collected early in the morning while still warm. MUJI's flavors have always been very light, but only by breaking away from heavy oil and heavy salt can youtaste the natural sweetness of the ingredients themselvesah.

Lunch is from 11 to 15, with a bit more choice.

Most recommended isseasonal vegetable cold noodles. The fresh and tender bracken and choy sum do not even need seasoning - their own juices are already sweet enough. The noodles are also handmade, chewy and smooth.

Of course, the most popular is the sushi made with local vegetables.

Even without the support of raw fish, rice colored with vegetable juice and pickled vegetables are already attractive enough.

The green burger making its first appearance uses kale, chicken, and tofu to make the patty, with lotus root sandwiched in the middle. The texture is refreshing and healthy, with no burden after eating.

Curry paired with purple rice is rich and generous in portion, and smaller portions are specially prepared for children and the elderly, so there is no need to worry about not finishing it and wasting it.

Since we agreed to spend a whole day comfortably here, in the afternoon you must have afternoon tea.

Whether it is fresh fruit ice cream or the lightly bitter coffee jelly, they are all made by the restaurant itself and worth trying.

Eating and playing while enjoying the sunset, it is almost time to go home.

Unlike the tension and anticipation when first arriving, at this moment both heart and stomach are satisfied.

I wonder whether MUJI's version of a farm stay will be replicated in more cities.

I hope this spirit can also appear in your city and mine.

Compared with going straight into a store, paying, and leaving,

returning to rural life,and feeling life and the ingredients themselves，

this way of slowing down is even more desirable.

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