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.

Chilean Sea Bass in Sweet “Saikyo” Miso メロの西京味噌焼き

We have posted about Chilean sea bass or Patagonian tooth fish* previously. This time, I made sweet “Saikyo-miso 西京味噌” marinated Chilean sea bass. I am experimenting with various methods to “grill” fish in a frying pan using parchment paper. This method worked very well and emulates grilling. The miso marinade made a nice brown crust but did not burn. The fish meat came out flaky, moist and pleasantly oily. The sweet miso made a nice savory crust and the flavors really went well together. I served this with shredded cabbage (lately I have been using Taiwanese cabbage which is closer in texture to the Japanese variety) with Campari tomato dressed with a mixture of ponzu shoyu ポン酢醤油, olive oil, and a splash of dark sesame oil and Dijon mustard which I added to the dressing mostly as an emulsifier.  In the picture the dark object on the left lower part of plate is boiled edible chrysanthemum 春菊 dressed with concentrated Japanese noodle sauce and topped with bonito flakes 鰹節. We also had a bowl of freshly cooked rice. We really enjoyed this combination.

*Japanese name is “Mero メロ” which appears to originate from a spanish name in Chile or “Gin-mutsu 銀ムツ”.

This time we had an appropriate sweet white miso called “Saiyo miso 西京味噌 (#1 in the composite picture)” famous in Kyoto. So this dish is called “Saikyo miso marinated” without qualification.

Ingredients (two servings):
2 filets of Chilean sea bass, thawed and patted dry

Marinade:
3 tbs Saikyo miso
2 tsp sugar
1 tbs Mirin (or more until the marinade consistency is spreadable but not too runny)
Yuzu zest (optional, I used the last of the frozen yuzu zest)

Directions:
Cover the cutting board with plastic wrap. Place the filets on the plastic wrap and smear the marinade thinly on the back of filets. Turn them over and smear the marinade covering the rest of the filets. Wrap the marinade covered filets tightly in the plastic wrap (#3). Marinate in the wrap at least 20 minutes to a few hours in the refrigerator. 
Cut a piece of parchment paper to cover the bottom of a frying pan (#2)
Unwrap the filets and scrape off the majority of the excess marinade from the surface of the filet leaving only a thin layer of the marinade on the fish (#4)
Place the filet on the parchment paper in the pan.
Cover the pan with a lid and cook on a medium low heat for 5-7 minutes (#5), the surface should brown but not burn.
Flip the filets over and cook another 3-4 minutes with the lid on.
You can judge the doneness by looking at the breaks of the flesh of the fish which develop during cooking. (#6) When they are opaque the fish is done.

The parchment covered frying pan method works well. Since no oil was used, it emulates grilling. The pan  remains clean. I think this is a better method than baking to cook fish especially marinaded fish which can burn easily.

Izakaya in Sapporo Part 1 札幌の居酒屋パート1

We went from Tokyo to Sapporo by train rather than plane. We rode the Hokkaido Shinkansen 北海道新幹線 from Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate Hokuto 新函館北斗. (We rode the Hokkaido Shinkansen for the first time in 2017 from Oomiya 大宮 to Shin-Hakodate since we started in Niigata 新潟.) Initially I thought we would have to take a shuttle train from Shin-Hakodate back to Hakodate to catch the limited express narrow gauge “zairai sen 在来線” train to Sapporo. Then I discovered a zairai sen actually went through Shin-Hakodate. So all we had to do was get from the shinkansen platform to the zairai sen platform to get the limited express Hokuto 北斗 to our final destination Sapporo 札幌 (my home town).

We didn’t have much time, however, to get from one platform to the other at Shin-Hakodate. But we would essentially be on the train all day so we would need some food for the trip. The question was what to do about ekiben 駅弁? Should we get some in Tokyo or at Shin-Hakodate? We decided, we would not have enough time to buy ekiben  at Hakodate, so we bought two in Tokyo. It was a good thing we did because we just made the transition between the two platforms in time; if we had stopped to get an ekiben we would have missed our train.  Purchasing those two ekibens, however,  required a bit of effort. We were leaving Tokyo early in the morning and it was too early for the ekiben stores on the basement floor of the department store connected to the station to be open. Still, we got two decent ekiben from a small kiosk in front of the SevenEleven which was open. They came with an advisory that they needed to be consumed by 1 PM that day for safety reasons. We were able to comply by eating them just after we took off to Sapporo from Shin-Hakodate just making 1 PM deadline.

1.  Yakitori-no- Ippei Sappro Minani 4 Store 焼き鳥の一平南4条店

札幌市中央区南4条西3丁目9-1 12Mビル3階

12M bldg 3F
Minami 4, Nishi 3, Chuo-ku, Sapporo

For reservation: 011-281-0006, Credit card accepted, Smoking allowed

Since we were in Hokkaido, I thought going to a yakitori-ya 焼き鳥屋  that specialized in “Muroran” yakitori 室蘭焼き鳥 was appropriate. Muroran is a port town located south east of Sapporo about one and half hours by car or train. It had been famous for its steel industry but now it has been in decline. My mother’s relatives including her (my grand-) parents lived in the Muroran area and I remember visiting them as a small child, although I was too young for yakitori. Muroran yakitori differs from regular yakitori because it is made with pork and onion rather than chicken and negi scallion and side of yellow mustard

Later I learned that this izakaya is a family company started in Muroran with multiple stores in Muroran, Sapporo and other places in Hokkaido. There are two stores in Sapporo and the one we went is the smaller of the two.

It is located very close to the main Susukino intersection (picture above). We first tried Muroran yakitori (pork and onion). It came with yellow mustard. It was very good. We also ordered chicken yakitori. We had “shiro-reba or white liver which is sort of foi gras of chicken. It was soft in texture and something we have never tasted before. (We usually have and like regular chicken liver.) Besides yakitori, we tried some fried dishes. One of the recommended items was grilled shell-on boiled quail eggs 殻付きウズラの炭火焼き. I was tempted but was not sure how the shell could be eaten. One of the young customers sitting next to us ordered it and started crunching. I asked how it was. He said hard but good. We also had “cheese karikari-age” チーズのカリカリ揚げ or crunchy fried cheese (picture below). It was very good but appeared to be a  premade frozen product since we encountered exactly the same item at another izakaya. We had a dish of fried squid and ama-ebi which was also very good. We finished with “Nasu-yaki” a grilled eggplant. This was a variation of “Yaki-nasu 焼きなす”. It came with a small bowl full of bonito flakes. 

2. Susukino Kaisen Izakaya Kobachi すすきの海鮮居酒や小鉢

札幌市中央区南6条西4-1-11 TM 29 1F

TM-29 bldg 1F
Minami 6 Nhishi 4, Chuo-ku
Sapporo

For reservation 011-533-6555, Credit card accepted Smoking allowed

Judging from reviews and photos, this place is run by a chef who specializes in fresh seafood and is famous for live squid and crabs. When I called to make a reservation, I was told that they didn’t have any live squid today which was fine with us (we had live squid sashimi in Hakodate 函館 some years ago. We are not really sure if we like “live” squid sashimi.) In any case, this place was on the first floor of a small building. The entrance was far in the back after you enter the building.  Our expectations were high for some nice Hokkaido sourced seafood. We sat at a small table and across from us was a semi-private room with the sliding doors open. Four or 5 middle aged men were feasting literally; cult sake, crabs etc. The chef and his wife were appropriately paying close attention. In any case, we started with sake and assorted sashimi. The wife (waitress) recommend a few sakes which were pretty good. 

The chef himself delivered the sashimi for us and explained the various items. A few of them he specially prepared and recommended we enjoy them without the addition of any soy sauce. We also had sea urchin in salt water 塩水うに which, even though from Hokkaido, was not that special. The rest of the sashimi was good but not outstanding. We had some grilled fish and fried oysters. I am sure we had some more. The place was very smoky (thanks to guys in the semi private room). The sake and food were basically good.

Pea, Avocado and Mint Blini グリーンピー、アボカド、ミント ガスパッチョ

When we made “Pea, Avocado and Mint Gazpacho”, we were not particularly wild about the “grassy” taste from the peas. The original recipe called for fresh uncooked peas which we thought must have tasted starchy and even more grassy. In any case we used frozen peas, so they were not “uncooked” but the grassy taste was pronounced. We thought, maybe cooking it would reduce the “grassy” taste. In addition we had a lot of the gazpacho left. My wife suggested she could use the extra to make gazpacho blini since she had many successes using additional ingredients/flavors in previous versions of blini. The pea blini seemed to cook up nicely but, although we did not take pictures of the cut surfaces, the center did not show the many uniform  bubbles/holes we would expected in a blini. It had a nice crunchy crust but the center was soft and mushy even though the blini were thoroughly cooked. In addition the “grassy” taste was still as strong as ever (if not even more pronounced). We tried eating some for breakfast, but decided the bottom line was we did not like either the taste or the texture. So we designated them a “failure” and tossed them out. But wait. My wife, who has had multiple “failures” in her cooking career (remember the tart crust made of nuts that even the squirrels would not eat) does not let them discourage her cooking experiments. She does this by maintaining the philosophy that it is not a “failure” if you have at least learned something from it. So what did we learn from this experience? If you do not like the flavor of the initial ingredient using it to make something else such as a blini will not necessarily result in an improvement. Also, pea, avocado and mint gazpacho does not work for us in any form. So we decided to blog this “failure” to remind ourselves of this cooking philosophy and not let a lack of success discourage us (or our readers). 

Ingredients  (made 15 blini):
2 cups of  “Pea, Avocado, and Mint gazpacho”
6 tbs melted butter
3/4 cup sour cream
6 large eggs, beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup + 2 tbs. cake flour
1 Tbs + 1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
enough additional cream or buttermilk to make it the texture of pancake batter

Directions:
Put the gazpacho in a bowl. Add the egg, the melted butter and sour cream, then add the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk until well blended. (You may need to add more cream so the batter is the consistency of pancake batter.)

In a cast iron platar, melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Use the melted butter to grease each of the platar cups before adding the batter. Pour the batter into the cups until they are mostly full (#1). Cook over moderately low heat, turning once, until set, about 5 minutes per side (#2 and 3). Repeat with the remaining butter and batter.

We thought this would be a great way to use the left over gazpacho as we did using mashed potatoes. The outside was crispy but the inside was mushy and lacked uniform bubbles which characterize a good blini. Despite cooking, the grassy flavor of the pea came through. Although certainly edible, we did not enjoy it. But we learned something so we will not be discouraged from experimenting with other ingredient variations to make more /other blini.

Tottori Izakaya and Shinkansen “Izakaya” 鳥取の居酒屋と新幹線居酒屋

Tenchou ヽ兆

鳥取県鳥取市栄町752 ホテルレッシュ鳥取駅前 1F

Hotel Resh 1F
Sakae-cho 752, Tottori

For reservation 0857-51-1248, Credit card accepted, Smoking allowed

We came to tottori to see the sand dunes or “sakyu 砂丘” but it was rainy and we just saw it from a vista point but could not really walk on it. The sand museum 砂丘美術館, however, was quite impressive with large and amazing sand sculptures.

We stayed here only one night so we visited just one izakaya. This was just across from our hotel in the 1st floor of another hotel but the entrance was from the side street. This is a hybrid between izakaya and restaurant. A single young woman was at the counter eating her dinner. Eventually 2 other young women entered both dressed in almost the same frilly white dresses. (We noticed that frilly white outfits many of which almost looked like wedding dresses seemed to be quite popular among the younger set). The sake selection and food were quite decent, although we cannot recall exactly what we drank and ate.

Shinkansen Izakaya 新幹線居酒屋

Next morning, we took a limited express train from Tottori 鳥取 to Himeji 姫路 starting around 10:30 AM. Then, we transferred to the Shinkansen bullet train heading for Tokyo. So, this was a perfect time for "Shinkansen Izakaya" and lunch. During the layover between trains we had an adequate time to get two ekiben 駅弁; we got one with all drinking snacks in 9 compartments (picture) and one with Tonkatsu over  rice トンカツ弁当. We also got two small bottles of sake; one was particularity good called “Senhime Daiginjo 千姫大吟醸酒” which is the local sake

So, we shared these nine dishes with a sip of sake. They were amazing tasty little morsels; just the right amount and difference in flavor to make the whole thing extremely interesting.We also shared the tonkatsu bento. As scenery went by, this was as good izakaya as we can imagine. Finally, in the mid-afternoon, we were back to Tokyo.

Pea, Ricotta ad Mint Gazpacho えんどう豆、リコッタチーズとミントのガスパッチョ

We are having very hot and humid weather with customary severe thunderstorms in the afternoon. When my wife saw the recipe for nice fresh green pea gazpacho on the Washington Post website, she had to make it. We happened to have mint growing in our herb garden. We also had all the other ingredients except parsley so we made this without the parsley. This is a refreshing rich gazpacho with the peas (we used frozen baby peas) imparting a somewhat grassy taste which was not unpleasant. We topped it with our favorite Spanish extra-version olive oil. (Shown as the darker green in the pic).

Ingredients:
4 mini-cucumbers, seeds removed and cut into cubes (14 ounces total)
Flesh of 1 ripe avocado, cut into chunks
2 cups frozen baby green peas
1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup chopped scallions (white and green parts)
1/4 cup water (we used chicken broth)
(We omitted parsely)
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
1 clove garlic
Fine salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil, for serving

Directions:
Prepare the peas. Since they were frozen we simply thawed them in a bowl with some hot water. In a Vitamix, combine the cucumber, avocado, peas, ricotta, scallions, water, chopped mint, lemon juice and garlic and puree until smooth. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and blend again, just to incorporate. Taste, and add more lemon juice, as needed.

We served this in a small bowl. The puree had a thick consistency which made us think of a pea smoothy. We made it a bit more soup-like with the addition of milk (or cream) and a drizzle of oil.  The pea and avocado flavors dominated. As mentioned the overall flavor was a bit grassy but it tasted more fresh than unpleasant. A great way to eat your veggies in the hot humid summer. 

Kyoto Izakaya in Kyoto Station Area Part 2 京都駅駅付近付近の居酒屋 パート2

2. Yakitori Tsujiya 焼き鳥つじや

京都市下京区塩小路西洞院西入ル北不動堂町522-9

5229 Kita-fudoudoucho, Shimokyou-Ku
Kyoto

For reservation 075-341-1819, credit card accepted, Probably smoking allowed
Ordering by QR code (You need a smart phone with internet access)

As I was writing this up, I looked on the internet for information about this place. The TSUJIYA GROOVE is the holding company. Judging from their web site, they run two separate but similar chains. One is “Yakitori Tsujiya 焼き鳥つじや” with one store which is where we went. Another is “Sumi-bi Kushiyaki Tsujiya 炭火串焼つじや” with 4 stores. The difference between these two chains is uncertain to me based on their write-ups. Both serve chicken on skewers grilled using a charcoal fire.  Judging from the pictures, the latter appears to be in at the higher end of the price spectrum.

This was a low-key yakitori place. We were lucky we could make the reservation. Although we were 5 minutes late, they kept our seats at the corner of the counter just next to the “yakiba 焼き場” where yakitori is grilled. So we had a good view of how the grilling was taking place. They gave me a slip with a  “QR code” printed on it and asked that I order through their web site. Luckily, I had my iphone connected to a portable hot spot. We ordered sake from their recommendation and ordered the usual suspects of yakitori dishes; chicken thigh, liver, tuskune, wings, negima etc. Meanwhile the place was packed. A number of people came to the door but were turned away including some foreign tourists. (Japanese refer to these customers as “inbounds”. This is where I saw the head waitress use an internet translation program to communicate the “lack of space” and expected “long-time wait” to the foreign “inbounds” who came to the door.)

The yakitori was very good. It had a nice highly pronounced charcoal flavor. All the dishes were pretty good but we really liked the liver and ordered seconds. We ordered more sake and other dishes and our “shime 〆” ending dish was a grilled rice ball.

During our stay, people started coming down from the second floor where, I understand, they have tables for big parties. But the people kept coming, coming, coming in a steady flow. Finally, I asked how many people they could accommodate on the second floor. They laughed and said “many”.

This was really good experience with excellent yakitori.


3. Irodori 京の四季いろどり

京都府京都市下京区東塩小路町577 大将軍ビル3階

Daishougun Bldg 3F
Higashi-shiokouji-cho 577
Shimokyo-ku, Kyoto

For reservation 075-343-9266, Credit card accepted, No smoking

The day I called for a reservation they said none was available so I asked for one the next day. They had seats for two at the counter.  The place was just across from the station/our hotel.  This is run by a company which also runs grilled meat “Yakiniku 焼肉” restaurants (two) and pachinko parlors (two) but only one “Irodori”. The place appeared quite large. Our counter was quite spacious and guests were seated quite far apart. This counter may have been used as a sushi-bar at one time but the cold case was empty.  A sliding door inside the counter connected to a large kitchen.  Noise and laughter wafted and there appeared to be many tables and rooms which we could not see.

They offered a Kyoto local sake tasting. We chose 6 between the two of us. This was a good move.

Among the 6 we tasted the one third from the right called “Ine-mankai 伊根満開” meaning “Full bloom in Ine” really stood out. This is because of its “rose wine” color and its amazing taste. We wanted to know what produced this unusual color and since I had my phone I quickly looked it up on the internet. I found out this was brewed from “ancient red rice 古代米” by a woman “touji 杜氏” brew master at the sake brewery “Mukai shuzo 向井酒造” . This. brewery is located in “Ine-cho 伊根町”. Since the flavor was so specially memorable we chose it as our starter sake.

As usual, we ordered assorted sashimi. A middle aged man who must have been the sushi chef, brought the sashimi plate. It had obligatory “Tai” perch which we had else where and tended to be sinewy/chewy but not this one. Nicely soft with much more flavor. I asked if it had been aged and the chef said when he tested it he determined it was too firm so he aged it for a few days. Some sashimi fish especially white fish can be improved in texture and flavor by aging. We had some other dishes including roasted duck breast. All were quite good. Although it lacked the usual Izakaya atmosphere, the sake and food as well service were great.  We will definitely go back.