Hey Peeps, just got back from my japan trip not long. Finally get my 2016 checklist done by visiting Japan again. This time around i went to Hokkaido and Tokyo during December and yeah i get to experience winter in Hokkaido. No joke, it's freaking cold but good food there helps to warm us up and recharge ourselves to walk and explore more.
So here i am to share some food i ate in Hokkaido! Hokkaido, there are various famous local food that you should try like Ramen, Soba, Soup Curry etc etc. The first thing that i would be...
1. Ebisoba Ichigen @ Sapporo
There are various ramen shops that you have to try in Sapporo, one of it which i tried and strongly recommended was Ebisoba Ichigen. There are 3 outlets in Japan, 2 in Sapporo and 1 in Tokyo! The one that i went to was at Sapporo City instead of New Chitose Airport.
Ebisoba Ichigen is famous of it's prawn broth ramen which offers few different taste which are Ebi Shoyu, Ebi Miso and Ebi Shio. While they also allow you to choose the thickness of each soup such as Sonomama which is the normal prawn broth soup and if you would like to opt for a stronger taste you can go with Pork based Tonkotsu soup plus the prawn broth. Personally i opt with Ebi Shoyu and Sonomama which was awesome the taste of the broth filled with awesomely tasty prawn taste not to forgot the slice of pork taste awesome as well
780yen for this bowl of goodness
370yen for this plate of Fried Gyoza which taste equally good. the meat was well seasoned.
Address: 札幌市中央区南7条西9丁目1024-10
Operating Hours: 11am - 3am
Station: Nakajima Koen Exit 2, 15 Minutes walk (Use Google Map)
2. Tokachi Butadon IPPIN @ Sapporo Stella Place
Initially we wanted to try Hanamaru Sushi, but damn, the queue was ridiculous we need to wait for 100+ pax till our turn i think by then we would have starve to death lol. so quickly, another backup plan. we went for the butadon (Pork Rice Bowl) which we also needed to wait for 20minutes plus.
They provide english guide on how to order your pork bowl.
I opt for the Normal Rice with 2 sliced of pork at 842yen, Normal Sauce, Small Sizes of pork and of course i always go with the normal pork without fats. yea yea i don't appreciate fats but hey it taste good as well okie.
Here is the bowl of pork don, the pork slices taste good, they grilled it nicely it, even thou it's lean meat the texture isn't too hard however the sauce, i think i should opt with lesser sauce as it's bit salty at the end.
Address: Stella Place, 6th Floor
Operating Hours: 11am - 11pm
Station: Sapporo Station, Follow the direction to Stella Place, 6th floor
3. Lake Hill Farm @ Toya
Next up would be Lake Hill Farm which located at Toya, once people mention about Toya, Lake Hill Farm's Gelato and pizza comes across their mind. Not only that Lake Hill Farm is strategically located at a place with awesome scenery! The place was covered with snow. Which i think you can get both nice food and scenery killing 2 birds with 1 stone!
Check out the awesome view :)
The Menu they offers Milk Pie, Cream Puff, Pizza, Curry Rice etc, we opt for a quick bite - Pizza
Pizza 800yen. The pizza curst was nice as what i know they use their own wheat for the pizza crust and the amount of cheese was generous. however it's quite oily. overall it was a nice experience given that the view was awesome
Surprisingly the cafe was empty the moment we reached, but the puffs were all sold out. might be due to our odd timing, as i read reviews that it can be quite packed. so lucky us.
Next to the cafe will be the gelato shop. They offers various gelato flavour which was bit difficult to choose as i feel like trying all of them! But we ended up trying the Milk and Apple Sorbet. Milk is a must i guess as Hokkaido is famous of their Milk!
Just need to pay at the counter first and wait for your number, choose your flavour :)
350yen for this goodness, milk and apple sorbet. both flavour taste awesome, i love the milk one as the taste of milk was heavenly its not too strong you should definitely give it a try! Apple Sorbet one was great also, sourish yet brings a tad of sweetness. yumssss! the cone was damn good damn crunchy as well!
Address: 〒049-5724 北海道虻田郡洞爺湖町花和127
Operating Hours: 9am - 7pm
Tel: 0120-83-3376
Mapcode: 321 694 595
4. Kumagera @ Furano
To be honest my plan to Furano was a real flop as i didn't check the operating days properly and most restaurants such as Yuiga Doxon and Furano Delice closes on Monday and Tuesday and i went to Furano on a Monday damn it ish epic fail planning. Face Palm, so we wet through various reviews and landed on Kumagera a back up plan for our late lunch and dinner.
Kumagera is famous of their beef don but we do not have the guts to try raw beef don, so we opt for Omelette Curry Rice and sukiyaki. Since we wanted to have omelette curry rice in Yuiga Doxon and it went flop, so we tried out Kumagera's one. as Furano is famous of Omelette Curry Rice!
Vegetable Omelette Rice forgot the price thou. but the portion was big, i shared this with my sister, the curry was not bad too, it isn't spicy at all, the omelette was so fluffy.
Beef Sukiyaki 4,600yen for 1 pax. the price is expensive but no regrets the beef was damn awesome!
No Joke, Japan's Beef Slice is AWESOME! it's just literally melts in your mouth. noms! i miss their beef to be honest!
Kumagera offers their own private parking which is foc. the staff there was polite too, cosy environment.
Address: 〒076-0025 北海道富良野市日の出町3-22
Operating Hours: 11.30am - 11pm
Tel: 0167-39-2345
Mapcode: 349 032 072
5. Sankaku Fish Market @ Otaru
Since we didn't get to go for Sapporo's fish market, so here we are exploring some yummy seafood dons from Sankaku Market at Otaru. Sankaku Market is really easy to find walk out of Otaru Train Station and it's on the left side of the station. There are various restaurant, we just walked into those with lesser queue (but there's a lot of crowd in the restaurant) known as Ajidokoro Takeda
Dried Squid as appetizer (Its FOC) and it taste so good
Their special don with Sea Urchin, Salmon Roes, Salmon and Crab Meat at 2,000yen. this bowl is awesome, it's like i had a seafood party in my mouth. the Salmon slices are fresh and thick, crab meats are fresh, sweet and juicy and the sea urchin taste so fresh and sweet it melts right in your mouth. no regrets ordering this and i miss this so much!
Each bowl of don comes with a bowl of Miso Soup with Clams. It taste so refreshing and the clams are yummy and fresh!
Fresh oysters, taste so juicy and fresh as well!
On the other hand, we order a bowl of Crab Miso Soup which comes with huge crab legs which contains quite a fair bit of crab meat and it taste so sweet. the whole bowl of miso is damn sweet and yummy.
Operating Hours: 8am - 5pm
6. Isezushi@ Otaru
During my birthday, my sister took me to this 1-star Michelin sushi restaurant for Omakase, it's quite a well known Omakase restaurant in Otaru which requires booking in advance, my sister got us a sushi bar seat whereby the chef will prep the sushi right in front of you one by one slowly. My sister called to make a reservation as no internet reservation was allowed!
We opt for the middle course which is Dai - 3,600yen per pax which contains 12 pieces of sushi. They have the Jun with 6,600yen which contains 16 pieces of sushi and lastly Gin with 10 pieces of sushi for 3,000yen
Before the chef starts preparing, he would ask if you are fine with any fish and your wasabi tolerance. thank god my sister can communicate in Japanese
1st up was Soi (Rockfish/大とろ) which the chef carefully slice each piece into the perfect thickness with wasabi the seasoned rockfish taste refreshing and flavourful not to forget it's ultimately fresh!
Next was Sake, Japanese Salmon. The thickness of the Sake was no joke with the wasabi on top of it taste awesome
Kibinago, Japanese Herring
Next was Hokkigai, Surf Clam, first time trying this and it taste not bad the texture was crunchy
Hotate, Scallop huge piece of scallop was served and no doubt hokkaido seafood taste fresh and sweet each bite was filled with the sweetness of the scallop
Up next was Shako which is mantis shrimp, the taste of it was fresh and sweet which the mantis shrimp was a rare species
Snow Crab, one of hokkaido must eat food, generous size of crab taste fresh and sweet
In the midst of the omakase, hot green tea and a cup of miso soup was served, the miso soup taste so smooth and refreshing
Ikura Sushi, Salmon Fish Roe
Komaiko which is also known as saffron cod roe topped with sesame seeds, My least favourite piece
Last piece of sushi to end our omakase was Sea Urchin, Uni. the glorious amount of uni was OMG. the sweetness and creaminess of the uni melts straight in my mouth
Address:北海道 小樽市 稲穂 3-15-3
Tel: 0134-23-1425 (+81-134-23-1425)
Station: Otaru Station, 6 minutes walk
7. Wakisaka Tempura @ Otaru
you should really give this humble tempura restaurant a try if you ever visit otaru, thank god when we came across this restaurant the queue wasn't long as the restaurant can only fit around 9-10 pax. The owner was friendly too, once you order, he would barter the dishes and fried it fresh so you can enjoy a hot and freshly made tempura don
My sister and myself opt for the fleshy prawn Tempura Rice Bowl at 1,300yen which comes with a bowl of miso soup.
There were 3 pieces of prawn, brinjal, mushroom, fish, some sort of leave (But it taste freaking good don't under estimate the humble leaf). the batter wasn't thick and the ingredients are fresh especially the prawn, so fleshy and sweet.
The exterior of the restaurant
