Izakaya in Sapporo Part3 札幌の居酒屋パート3

4. Izakaya Aiyo Tanuki-koji 4 chome 粋な居酒屋あいよ狸小路4丁目店

札幌市中央区南2条西4丁目清水ビルBF1

Shimizu Bldg BF1
Minami 2 Nishi 4, Chuo-Ku
Sapporo

For reservation 011-206-4239, Creadit card accepted, Smoking allowed
Order by QR code (need smart phone with internet access)

This is a chain izakaya. It appears that there are 7 company owned and 2 franchised stores in Sapporo. They emphasize the fresh seafood of Hokkaido. The name “Aiyo” is a bit of slang used mostly by trade people and means “OK” or “Got it”. It has an uncanny similarity to the English word “Aye” used as Irish slang.

This was also by far the noisiest izakaya we visited. It was noisy not because of the customers but because loud shouting between the servers was an established part of the ambiance of the place. The young servers appear to have been encouraged to shout as loud as possible to each other and in unison rather than talk. For example, when serving the Kaisen-don 海鮮丼 they serve a large amount of sashimi piled on top of the rice. Then topped that by spooning ikura on the top of the piled sashimi all right at the table while loudly shouting “Aiyo” in unison. This reminded us of another izakaya we went to some years ago (might have been another branch of the same chain). Another interesting thing was their way of cerebrating a customer’s birthday. (Quite a few customers seemed to have birthdays the day we were there) They turned off all the lights and brought out a  birthday dessert plate with sparklers on it accompanied by some loud shouts, of course. The entire experience was auditory chaos. 

The food order was done by QR code. Our young servers appeared a bit worried that we (old folks) could handle this. “No worry, Aiyo (I got it).” The servers were all young, loud,  and very friendly wearing name tags. I started ordering using my smart phone. I ordered sake and sashimi first but for some reason, the fried potato appeared first and we had to wait some time for the sashimi.

This was sort of steak fries and it was really good. The sake selection was not extensive but it sufficed. Another interesting thing about this place was the entrance to the bathrooms. They were entered through a secret door in a wall of shelves with large sake bottles on them (#2) The shelves parted in the middle opening to a hallway leading to the bathrooms. (I assume the bottles were empty).

Although the food and sake were quite decent, we were a bit tired of the loud noise and decided to retreat. When we were leaving we saw quite few people waiting outside. 

After we got back to our hotel, we stopped at the lounge which was (thankfully) very quiet. We had a flute of Moët Chandon and a chocolate parfait  (#3) which became my wife’s favorite way to end the evening. After a lovely dinner at an izakaya we would stop at the lounge for our champaign and chocolate parfait desert night cap. The parfait was basically a lovely chocolate mouse with a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and some chocolate and cookie wafers on top. The lower layers of the parfait were different kinds of chocolate mouse with nice little crunchies. The last layer was crunchy chocolate cake. We really enjoyed sharing this with the flute of champaign as a quiet end to the evening .

Pork Vindaloo with Baby Corn and Edamame ポーク “ビンダルー“ カレー, ベイビィコーンと枝豆入り

We occasionally get a large (about 10 lb) portion of bone-in skin-on pork (either fore- or hind-quarter). I am not sure how other people deal with this type of pork but I essentially do the secondary butchering by removing the bones and skin and making one large and one small roast (the large one barbecued in the Weber grill and the smaller one used for “ni-buta 煮豚” cooked in the Instant Pot).  I cut the remaining pork into good size chunks. I usually cook them in the Instant Pot with chicken broth just covering the meat and pressure cook for 30 minutes which produces a very tender meat. Using this cooked pork, my wife makes some kind of curry but our favorite is called “Pork Vindaloo”. My wife adds canned beans which was not part of the original recipe. She used to use canned  “Navy beans” which are creamy and almost dissolved into the curry making it thick. But for some reason, these beans  (canned) are not available, so she used “Great Northern Beans”. They are similar to the navy beans and add a nice texture and flavor but are not creamy and do not dissolve to make the curry thick. So this curry somewhat resembles “スープカレー Soup curry” which is invented and famous in Hokkaido. The Hokkaido soup curry usually has grilled or fried vegetables. My version of the veggies included baby corn and shelled edamame sautéed in butter and seasoned with a bit of soy sauce and Japanese curry powder. This worked very well. The curry flavor in the baby corns makes it a part of the vindaloo. We had this as lunch one day but we did not add any rice.

Just for ourselves, we repeat the recipe for Vindaloo pork since there are some modifications.

Ingredients:
3 Tbs. grainy (grey poupon) mustard
2 Tsp. mustard seeds
1 1/2 Tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/8 tsp of cayenne pepper
1 Tsp. salt
3 Tsp. sushi vinegar 
3 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 or 3 onions roughly cut
1 1/2 lb. pork shoulder cut into large cubes
1 can of navy or great Northern Beans

Directions:
Put the mustard seeds into a dry frying pan and roast until they turn a slight grey color and start popping.
Remove from heat and set aside.
Mix the mustard, cumin, turmeric, pepper, salt, and sushi vinegar together in a little dish and set aside.
Put peanut oil in a pan and sauté the onions until they are translucent and continue for a few more minutes.
Add the mustard mixture letting the spices bloom in the hot pan. (they will start to stick to the bottom but don’t panic).
Add the mustard seeds.
Once everything is incorporated add the meat and the broth is was cooked in (add chicken broth if more liquid is needed).
Simmer for about 20 minutes.

This made a very satisfying curry. It is not spicy hot but has plenty of flavor. The sautéd corn and edamame are a nice touch.

Sapporo Lunch Places Part1札幌の昼ごはん パート1

It appears that it is difficult to plan where to have lunch since being “out-and-about” other situations dictated time and place where we could eat on any given day while we were in Sapporo 札幌. Nonetheless we found two places we really liked. So, this is just for us to remember.

1. Food stand and Tokibi “corn ” wagon at Odori Park 大通公園の屋台ととうきびワゴン

We had some very pleasant weather days in Sapporo—sunny and cool. The temperature was a bit chilly at times but nice enough that we could sit comfortably on a bench in Oodori Park 大通公園. Since the near-by Mitsukoshi 三越 department store basement (so-called “Depa-chika” デパ地下) floor had all kinds of food including bento boxes we considered getting a bento box at the department store after shopping and eating it in the near by Oodori park for lunch. 

But we found a better and cheaper way to have a lunch in the park. In Oodori 3 chome, there is a large food stand (#1)  In Japanese this would have been referred to as a “Yatai 屋台” but this word does not quite describe this place. Yatai are usually non-permanent and can be moved. This place is semi-permanent (during the tourist season) and several tables and chairs were placed around the 3 chome fountain which is in front of this food stand.  But in general the area was very crowded with people consuming the food they bought at the food stand. We managed to find some benches in Odori 4 chome across the Ekimae-dori 駅前通りor Station Boulevard from the food stand. These benches were mostly in the shade and the area was less crowded than right in front of the food stand. So my wife staked out a bench in the shade in 4 chome while I was commissioned to fetch our lunch from the food stand in 3 chome. I realized the food stand did not provide trays or even lids for drinks. So, I came up with a strategy; get one iced coffee (300 yen??), one “yakisoba 焼きそば”  fried noodles (600 yen) and  one “tori-momo Zangi 鶏ももザンギ” Hokkaido-style fried kara-age chicken thigh (600 yen). The fried chicken thigh was a good sized 4 chunks skewered on one disposable chop stick (food-on-a-stick for tourists). Even without a tray, I managed to carry all three items back to the bench across the street. The noodles and fried chicken were hot which made it a bit difficult but I managed to deliver our lunch. Initially we also wanted fried potatoes (Japanese call it  “potato fry”) from the food stand. It was impossible for me to carry that with everything else.  But I noticed the Sapporo famous “Tokibi wagon とうきびワゴン” or corn wagon happened to be located near our bench and I knew it sold not just corn but also “Bata Jaga バタじゃが” steamed  Hokkaido potatoes with butter (300 yen). The potato was very hot just coming out of the steamer. They placed it in a plastic container with an individually wrapped pat of butter, a small package of salt and a small plastic spoon). My wife expertly prepared the potato. So here we go; we had a lunch consisting of the fried chicken (which was hot, crispy and very good), fried noodles (also hot and good despite being mostly seasoned noodles with only a rare small piece of pork and cabbage), hot steamed potato with salt and butter and iced coffee. We shared all the items and our lunch cost 1,800 yen (less than 13 dollars) for the two of us.

It was a great meal. We were outside in front of the 4 chome fountain (#2) (which is unchanged from what I remember from my childhood).  There was the continuous entertainment of all kinds of people walking by, some walking dogs (one woman was walking 2 ferrets on a leash), some taking pictures, some sitting on the lawn painting etc. People-watching happens to be one of our favorite activities. We enjoyed this style Sapporo lunch so much we did it again a few days later.

Cream Cheese Muffin クリームチーズマフィン

This is another of my wife’s baking/muffin projects. This time, she tried to use up some smoked trout cream cheese dip she made and Greek yogurt dip which we had and enjoy as an appetizer on crackers. They were both getting a bit old. The cream cheese dip has a nice dill and smoky flavor from the trout. The Greek yogurt dip has a nice rich olive oil flavor that blends well with the flavor of the Greek yogurt we make. She looked for “cream cheese muffin” recipes on the internet and modified one she found for cream cheese and garlic. The recipe called for plain cream cheese, plain yogurt and garlic for which she substituted the smoked trout cream cheese dip, Greek yogurt dip and eliminated the garlic. We were not sure how this would turn out with these substitutions. We were pleased that it came out quite nicely with some smoky flavor coming through. Its a nice savory small bite perfect to accompany wines (#1).

Ingredients (made 24 mini muffins) 
280g flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
200 g plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt dip)
150 g cream cheese (I used cream cheese smoked trout dip)
1/4 cup oil

Directions:
Combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt in a bowl.
In a second bowl combine the wet ingredients: eggs, oil, yoghurt, and cream cheese.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined (do not over mix).
Scoop dough into prepared muffin tins (well greased or paper-lined). I used the small-bite tins (#2). Bake in the preheated oven at 400°F for 15 to 20 minutes or until well risen and golden brown (#3).

Despite the substitutions of ingredients these little muffins were quite nice. They were crispy on the outside and moistly tender on the inside. They have a robust slightly smokey/dill flavor. They make a perfect little appetizer bite.

Izakaya in Sapporo Part2 札幌の居酒屋パート2

3. Sapporo Frusato So-honten 札幌ふるさと総本店

札幌市中央区北一条西3-3-24 札幌中央ビル４F

Sapporo Chuo Bldg 4F
North 1, Nishi 3, Chuo-ku
Sapporo

For reservation 011-233-3311, Credit card accepted, Non-smoking (separate smoking area)

This is not a quite chain izakaya but it appears to have three stores. They all include the name “Frusato 古里” . This is a very common and popular Japanese word but it is a bit difficult to translate. It has a nostalgic overtone, something like “home town” or “home village”. This is particularly meaningful for those who leave the rural area or “furusato” where you were born and grew up to go to the big city. After settling in the big city, and raising family there, you reminisce about your “furusato” with a strong sense of longing and nostalgia. I suppose I can say “Sapporo” is my “furusato”. The Frusato store we went to is called Frusato “So-honten 総本店” meaning “grand main store”. There is another one in “Kotoni 琴似” called Frusato “honten 本店” or “main store”. So we have two stores called the “main store”. I am assuming the one in Kotomi must be the very first store they opened, although the question of which one is the real “main store” remains open. A third store is located at the Sapporo Station North Exit 札幌駅北口店 and has the plain name of “Frusato Sapporo station kitaguchi store”.

We took a taxi from our hotel but probably  I did not give a good address/direction, we were dropped off across from “Tokei-dai clock tower 札幌時計台”. We had to walk a bit to get to this place. We got counter seats with a large window in front overlooking “Ekimae-Dori or Station Boulevard 駅前通りand Sapporo Grand Hotel 札幌グランドホテル*.

This was typical semi-chain izakaya affair. The menu had everything imaginable in izakaya. We liked their system in which we could take time examining the menu and when we are ready just press the button and the server would immediately appear. We started with our usual sake and assorted sashimi plus an order of  “カワハギ filefish**” with its liver (in the center served in black and red square “masu 升”). This assorted sashimi was really great.  We had some more food and sake. This place was noisy in a good way; the noise of people having fun.  We really enjoyed this place. Next time, we are in Sapporo, this place is on our short list.

*Since I am originally from Sapporo, seeing the Sapporo Grand Hotel was somewhat nostalgic. This must have been the first Western-style hotel in Sapporo. As a kid, this was a symbol of grandeur and  affluence of which I could only dream and here I was many years later watching people going in and out of the hotel entrance. From our window at the izakaya perch we could see the taxi queue on the other side of the street in front of the hotel. We happened to enjoy looking at the systematic organization and chaos of Japanese taxi queues. (Kyoto station one is the best). So this was quite an entertainment for us.

**when I saw kawahagi sashimi with liver in the menu, I was delighted. This fish has  a firm white flesh and its liver is the best part. Sometimes, sushi chefs will make a sauce out of the liver (cooked) with soy sauce but this time, the liver was served on the side. This was really good.