Sapporo Lunch Places Part 1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.

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.