Izakaya in Sapporo Part 4 札幌の居酒屋パート4

5. Abuyi-ya Sou-Honten 炙りや総本店

札幌市中央区南5条西3 ANAホリディ・イン札幌すすきのB1

ANA Holiday Inn Sapporo Susukino BF1
Minami 5, Nishi 3, Chuo-ku
Sapporo

For reservation 011-530-6666*, Credit card accepted, Smoking not allowed

*When I called an “AI” answered. It appeared to work but I was not sure if I had actually made our reservation and at the correct time. So, I called again. A human answered and confirmed the AI had got it right.

After the very nosy izakaya we had been to the previous evening, this was (thankfully) an up-scale and quiet place. I learned that this was run by a large company related to or owning Sapporo Beer 札幌ビール called Hokkaido Sapporo Lion 北海道サッポロライオン. Aburiya is one of many restaurant brands they run. We also knew ahead of time that we would need to take our shoes off in this place so we made sure we had socks on  This was a very spacious, clean space with a wide and long white wood counter wrapping around the large open kitchen with comfortable chairs. “Aburu 炙る” means to “cook over fire or grill” so the “Aburi-ya” name implies they specialize in grilled items. But they had a whole gamut of Japanese dishes including sushi and sashimi (of course) with emphasis on Hokkaido products. 

The counter where we were seated happened to be in front of the sushi/sashimi station with two sushi chefs at work. Since “hirame ヒラメ flat fish” sashimi was on the menu, I asked one of the sushi chefs if they had “engawa* えんがわ” which they did.  This is a part of flat fish just beneath the dorsal fin which has a nice firm texture and one of my favorites. I tried but I have not been able to get this either in US or Japan for some time. So, we asked for assorted sashimi plus “engawa”. I forgot to take pictures when it arrived, so the picture below is after we ate most of the items. The sashimi was excellent.

*”engawa 縁側” is a part of traditional Japanese houses. It is a corridor/veranda facing or open to the outside. They are generally made out of wide boards set perpendicular to its length. The portion of flat fish fresh just underneath the dorsal fin has similar short vertical lines hence it is called “engawa”.

We had more food and sake; some fried some grilled, all were good. The bill was on the higher side as expected but worth it. The serene, spacious, and  quiet atmosphere of this place was such a contrast from last evening izakaya “Aiyo”. The shoes we took off miraculously re-apperaed at the entrance as we were leaving.