Kani-Honke かに本家, Sapporo

How could one visit Hokkaido and leave without trying their famous crab feast? For our last meal in Sapporo, we made reservation at Kani-Honke where they offer several courses with a variety of different crab species.  Kani-Honke has 2 locations within Sapporo city and each is housed in a multi-storey building. Despite their large seating capacity, their restaurants were almost fully booked when we made our reservations about 1.5 months in advance, perhaps due to the influx of visitors during the Sapporo Snow Festival.

Although our offered seating time was earlier than our preferred dining time, we were glad to accept the only available slot at Susukino (one of the major red-light districts/entertainment area in Japan).  Even at 6pm, the sky was already dark and Susukino was already lit up by the bright neon lights. However the ambience in the restaurant was totally different from the streets. Once we step into the lobby of the restaurant, we were immediately greeted by kimono-clad staff and led to our private dining room with traditional Japanese set-up.

From their website we saw the minimum price for course menu was ¥6,700 per order. Upon further clarification with the staff, they explained that the price for per order is for 1 pax, and they require a minimum order of 2 pax for the same course. We went with the Gin no Mai (Silver Dance) at ¥10,000 per pax since we would very much like to try the “King Crab Steak” aka Grilled Crab Leg which is only included in this higher priced course.

The dinner commenced with 3 types of appetizers, followed by Crab Paste Miso platter, Vinegar marinated King crab & Hairy crab, Seaweed with Grated Yam Paste, close up shot of “Crab Paste Miso” to be added to the Kani Suki and Crab “SASHIMI” on ice. (photo order starting from top left, then counter-clockwise)

The Crab Paste Miso (the greyish green stuff) was something new to us. Apparently after some googling it is whatever is left after all the white meat is taken out of the crab – a concoction of internal organs such as livers and pancreas, intestines and a little bit of the brain.

In the collage of crab meat photos, there were several types of crabs: Snow Crab, Hairy Crab and King Crab with varying preparation methods. They were all really fresh crab meat but none of it left a wow effect on me.

We found two dishes that were more satisfying. One of which was the Kani Suki which used Snow Crab’s legs as key ingredients along with servings of tofu, cabbage, seaweeds etc.

The item that we were really looking forward to – Grilled King Crab Legs came last. The succulent crab meat was the highlight of the meal. I would have loved it more if they could let us grill it on a shichirin (Japanese earthenware charcoal stove) ourselves.

After we finished the Sukiyaki ingredients the staff added rice to the remaining crab stock to transform it into Porridge with Crab Meat. After the rice had a good soak in the stock from the sukiyaki, an egg was added to the boiling pot together with some shredded crab meat to turn it into the final product. The egg crab porridge topped with shredded seaweed was served with pickles. The porridge was filled with essence of the fresh crab meat cooked earlier and was a luxurious upgrade for the otherwise simple comfort food.

We heaved a sigh of relief when we finally saw the dessert of Musk Melon presented at the end of our 2-hour meal.

Seriously even as crab lovers, we found the crab feast overwhelming…There were simply too many variations and too many small items to eat. In honesty we did not feel “shiok” after the meal. We felt we could have made do with the Kani Suki and the Grilled King Crab Legs and would feel just as satisfied without having to go through the whole crab feast.

I guess most people list Crab Feast as a “must-do” activity when visiting Hokkaido. For me once is enough just to check that item off my list…It is not something that I would try again if I visit Hokkaido next time – not the full works, but I’m always open to enjoying fresh crabs!

Earlier Photos Taken:

Caught some ski-jumping performance at Odori Park that started at 5pm. Yes, the sky was totally dark by then in winter…

They were an enthusiastic bunch of school boys and girls, with the exception of 1 uncle aged around 40. When the MC introduced the uncle, the crowd gave him a thunderous applause, perhaps like me, we were impressed by his courageous effort to perform these high-risk stuns given his age.

As with many other elaborated celebrations in Japan and cashing in on the consumerism opportunities, they  introduced limited edition Coca Cola cans to commemorate the 12 days of Sapporo Snow Festival.

Other Related Posts:

• Atelier Morihiko, Sapporo
• Le Musée ル・ミュゼ, Sapporo
• Soup Curry Garaku, Sapporo
• Gotsubo 五坪, Sapporo
• Ebisoba Ichigen 一幻拉面, Sapporo
• Shiroi Koibito Chocolate Lounge, Sapporo

Atelier Morihiko, Sapporo

Cafe Morihiko is one of the pioneers of Third Wave coffee in Sapporo. We had originally planned to visit the founding shop in Maruyama but changed our mind to visit the other branch near Odori Park – Atelier Morihiko instead.

We were lucky enough to snag a seat by the large window facing the street where the only tram line in the city runs through. Unfortunately the space outside the shop are parking lots that were occupied by several cars…

We ordered the Morihiko Mild Blend in a cup using medium roast with mocha; and The Dutch Coffee (cold) which is brewed using a special extraction tool for a rich and special bitter taste.

I liked that the Morihiko Mild Blend coffee does not have astringent taste and is pleasant on the tongue and palate.

Other Related Posts:

• Le Musée ル・ミュゼ, Sapporo
• Soup Curry Garaku, Sapporo
• Gotsubo 五坪, Sapporo
• Ebisoba Ichigen 一幻拉面, Sapporo
• Shiroi Koibito Chocolate Lounge, Sapporo
• Kinotoya Bake, Sapporo
• Menyasaimi Ramen 麺屋 彩未, Sapporo

★ Le Musée ル・ミュゼ, Sapporo

Le Musée—which means “museum” in French, is a fusion restaurant which was awarded 1-Michelin star in the 2012 Michelin Guide Hokkaido. We shortlisted this restaurant after we chanced upon an article which mentioned that this place is Chef Takazawa’s favourite restaurant in Japan. If this alone is not sufficient endorsement on how highly regarded this restaurant is, even American Chef Grant Achatz (Chef of Alinea) once tweeted “Two amazing meals in Japan. Aronia de Takazawa and Le Musee in Sapporo. Both should be on the top 50 list and have 3 Michelin stars.”

The restaurant seems to be nestled in a residential neighbourhood and housed in a nondescript cement-toned building. After walking through the small walkway, what greeted us was a sleek white space decorated with a few paintings on the wall. I suppose the space doubles up as an art gallery and is aptly reflective of the restaurant’s name – Museum.

The innovative cuisine served here seeks to bring out the purity and delicacy of the bounty of the fields, forests and sea of Hokkaido. The menu is changed regularly in order to feature the freshest seasonal ingredients.

The irregularly shaped dining hall has several small overhead windows that allowed natural daylight to enter the building, providing a nice tone for my food photos. Sitting on the pristine white table linen was a plate with an abstract design that somehow strike a chord with me. I interpreted it as that of a winter mountain landscape comprising of a mist covered valley? Love how the artist created gradients and depths with just a few simple lines.

For the month of Jan and Feb 2017, the key ingredients featured were Fugu (puffer fish) and Black Truffle. The restaurant purchases live puffer from Shimonoseki every week. And Shimonoseki is nicknamed “Fugu Capital” for a reason, as 80% of all fugu in Japan passes through the area.

We started our meal with Lily Bulb Mousse with White Truffle and Black Truffle Sablé with Croquette. The croquette was camouflaged in the edible “soil mixture” comprising of rice pops, seasame etc with an aromatic roasted smell.

From the earthy tone of truffles, we were next presented with a dish representative of the ocean – Hokkaido oyster, jelly consommé topped with konbu whiskey mousse. Although we did not manage to converse much with the maitre d’ due to slight language barrier, we knew that the ingredients used were all representative of the best Hokkaido has to offer. For example,  Hokkaido’s frigid waters are ideal environment to produce great tasting oysters. According to an online source, some 90% of the konbu harvested in the waters off Japan are from Hokkaido. We also passed by the re-known Nikka whiskey distillery in Yoichi town. Although each component are excellent on its own, it also takes the skills of a chef to artfully integrate them into a harmonised dish. The multitude of textures presented in this seemingly plain and simple dish was absolutely divine! From the plump and chewy oyster, to the smooth yet gelatinous jelly and finally the dense espuma filled with unique konbu umami with a hint of smokey whiskey. Who knew oyster could be paired with whiskey resulting in such a magical moment?

We continued to explore the bountiful shores of Hokkaido with Fried scallop with yuzu. The scallops were coated with a light batter and fried to golden brown, dusted with citrusy grated yuzu.

After 2 bite-sized dishes, we took a pause while warm bread was served. Home-made bread set in the sustainable wooden baking mould presented on a wood plank with the restaurant’s name etched on it exudes much rustic charm. Loved the use of wooden butter spatula instead of the shiny silverware used in other fine dining places. The potato bread had a nice brown crust with soft and pillowy body which was seriously addictive. This bread came in at a close 2nd to the one served at Narisawa in Japan.

The next dish is said to be one packed with amazing medicinal power, featuring Burdock with truffle, non-sweet pudding. Why medicinal? Gobō (burdock) is a very common root vegetable used in everyday Japanese home cooking, but in Chinese culture it is also a herb said to have cancer fighting properties and help remove phlegm. On the other hand, truffles are predominately eaten by Western world more as a delicacy than for its medicinal properties. However recent studies showed that truffles are also said to possess very powerful antioxidant properties and is an anti-aging super food. I would love to enjoy such delicious health supplement instead of the bitter Chinese herbal concoctions!

Given the incorporation of molecular gastronomy concept in Chef’s cooking, it was not a surprise to see a dash of theatrics before unveiling our next dish. The maitre d’ placed a siphon commonly seen in artisanal coffee places on our table. Instead of ground coffee in the upper chamber, it was filled with dehydrated vegetable skin. The bottom chamber was filled with vegetable stock. The burner placed underneath the bottom chamber heats up the stock to its boiling point producing vapour/steam.  Eventually, the pressure created from the vapours exceeds that of the atmospheric pressure in the siphon, forcing the remaining stock into the upper chamber. The dehydrated vegetable skin then get brewed for a few minutes in the stock. Once the burner was removed, the infused stock then flows back into the lower chamber.

The staff then placed a large vessel with an array of vegetables on our table and poured the infused stock over a heap of vegetables. The whole dish was presented to us as one of Chef’s signature dish “Vegetable Salad“. Just like the well-manicured Japanese garden, this salad was possibly the most artfully composed one that I’ve ever eaten. There was a simple explanation that the white foam represented snow and after the snow melts we would then be able to harvest or grow new vegetables during Spring.

Truffle made an appearance again, this time round paired with a unique winter delicacy in Japan – Shirako.  The maitre d’ explained shirako conservatively as fish roe, which was slightly misrepresented. It was in fact Milt – seminal fluid of fish. Shirako can come from either cod or fugu (puffer fish). In our case it was Fugu milt with Truffle, Butter and Japanese soyu sauce.

While some people might find the idea odd, but if we had been enjoying caviar/tobiko/ebiko why not shirako? If you block the thought out of your mind while eating this, the shirako by itself tasted rather mild and does not have any distinct flavour. The texture resembles that of tofu and is in fact much smoother and more silky. It also helped that my first encounter with shirako was with one that was lightly fried and hence not presented in its original form. In its raw form, it looked like miniature brain or intestines. I guess once you fell in love with something, looks does not matter anymore~

From eating milt, we progressed to eating actual fish meat. The next dish was Shiroi Sakana (White Fish) with Lobster Broth and Olive Puree. We were not sure if the white fish was Fugu, I suppose if it was the maitre d’  would have said so?

Before moving onto the main, we were served palate cleanser of Lemon sorbet with olive oil in a pipette dropper.

For the main of Hokkaido pork with lemon sauce, Chef first presented to us a whole piece of pork in a casserole which was filled with smoked hay. Thereafter it was sliced before serving to us and drizzled with lemon sauce. The zesty lemon sauce offered a good balance to the rich pork.

We ended our meal with Blue cheese milk with honey sorbet, white chocolate and rum with Coffee/Tea.  The dessert also strike a fine balance between savoury and sweet.

Other Related Posts:

• Soup Curry Garaku, Sapporo
• Gotsubo 五坪, Sapporo
• Ebisoba Ichigen 一幻拉面, Sapporo
• Shiroi Koibito Chocolate Lounge, Sapporo
• Kinotoya Bake, Sapporo
• Menyasaimi Ramen 麺屋 彩未, Sapporo

Soup Curry Garaku, Sapporo [Relocated]

Having missed out on the lunch service of Soup Curry Garaku by a whisker, we returned to queue for their dinner service instead. Their lunch was supposedly served till 3.30pm, but when we arrived at 2.15pm earlier in the day, we were told that they were sold out! And the worse bit was we saw the lady who was just 50m ahead of us joined the queue was accepted for the last order! *Sob sob* We even lingered in the queue hoping that there will be enough soup curry to take in our order for 2 bowls, but the staff said they were sold out for the afternoon.

At 6.45pm when we joined the queue, we were standing in about the same spot as where we were in the afternoon. The queue snaked from the 2nd floor through the narrow staircase and down to the walkway in the ground floor. In total we waited for about an hour before we finally get down to seeing the piping hot soup curry served to us. If we were successful in joining the queue during lunch service, we would only get to eat our “lunch” at 3+pm!

Other than the popularity of the shop, another reason for the slow moving queue was the very limited seating capacity. In total there were only about 30 seats available – cos I counted while waiting for our table…

The soup curry was customisable by levels of spiciness – Levels 1/3/5 at no extra cost, Level 10 (Very hot) at extra ¥110, Levels 20 (Ex hot) at extra ¥210 and rice portion of S/M/L (extra ¥100). Additional toppings can also be added at additional price.

We opted for the most popular Chicken leg and vegetable at Level 5 (Hot). The meat was tender and vegetables were well-stewed. I could taste the mild sweetness of the vegetables in the curry stock.

Also had the Very soft roasted pork pieces at Level 5 spiciness. Due to the rich collagen from the pork belly, the pork version of the soup curry somehow tasted more filling and gelat compared to the chicken leg version. We found the Level 5 spiciness to be rather acceptable for Asian taste buds where we are probably quite used to drinking spicy soup (think Laksa?). But if you are not good at eating spicy stuff, you can pair your meal with a cup of flavoured Lassi – a blend of yogurt, water and fruits.

Sapporo is famous as soup curry’s birthplace. The soup curry is rather unique in Japan perhaps due to the extensive use of spices and the more watery consistency compared to the Jap curry which are thicker and more on the sweet side. The spicy soup curry definitely serves to warm up your body in the cold wintry weather in the Northernmost of Japan.

Other Photos Taken:

After the satisfying meal we headed over to the Odori Park – one of the main sites of the Sapporo Snow Festival where the gigantic snow sculptures were located.

The first large snow sculpture we saw was Decisive Battle! The Snow Final Fantasy. Other than the pure white static sculpture on display, periodically there would be light show projecting the story of Cloud fighting against Sephiroth.

Another magnificent snow sculpture was the replica of Arc de Triomphe, standing at 1/3 of its actual size.

Other than featuring key architectures of the World, one of the large snow sculpture was dedicated to feature Japan’s own heritage – Chu-kondo (the Central Golden Hall) of Kofuku-ji Temple in Nara.

This guy probably needs no introduction – Pikotaro, Japanese comedian who sang the viral hit PPAP~ Followed by a mesh-up of President Trump with PPAP pen-apple~

My favourite large snow sculpture was the White Star Wars: the 40th Anniversary of ‘Star Wars’. This snow sculpture was built in celebration of the long-awaited film, ‘Star Wars: THE LAST JEDI’ which is scheduled for release in December, 2017.

The dazzling light show coupled with the iconic soundtracks such as Star Wars Main Title Theme song and The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme) made this an extremely entertaining show. I watched this light show a couple of times!

[Update in Apr 17]

Garaku has relocated to the following address:

中央区南2条西2丁目6-1 おくむらビルB1
060-0062 Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, Japan

Other Related Posts:

• Gotsubo 五坪, Sapporo
• Ebisoba Ichigen 一幻拉面, Sapporo
• Shiroi Koibito Chocolate Lounge, Sapporo

Ebisoba Ichigen 一幻拉面, Sapporo

We visited Ebisoba Ichigen after missing out marginally on the lunch seating of a soup curry place. So by the time we re-routed to this ramen house we were quite hungry. Thankfully the place had no long queue as it was already late afternoon. We waited only about 5 minutes before getting seated.

Unlike other ramen places that uses pork as soup base, this place is well-known for their special shrimp soup ramen. Diners can customise their ramen by choosing the richness of the soup, flavours and thickness of the ramen. We ordered the Original Shrimp & Miso with thin noodles and a Moderate Shrimp & Soy Sauce with thick noodles.

We didn’t know whether tamago is included by default so we asked to add tamago, resulting in an overdose of eggs.

The original shrimp soup was already pretty rich in flavours and the moderate one has consistency that resembled our “Lor Mee”. I find “Lor Mee” too gluey so this moderate soup was also not my cup of tea. Unlike the soup, to me, the difference between thin and thick ramen was not significant. Cos the thin noodles are also not as fine as the hakata type, but understandably the staff recommended to pair the richer soup with the thick noodles.

The prawn-based soup was certainly a pleasant change from the traditional pork-base that made Ichigen stood out amongst the countless ramen chain joints in Hokkaido.

Other Related Posts:

• Menyasaimi Ramen 麺屋 彩未, Sapporo
• Teuchi-soba Ichimura 手打蕎麦 いちむら, Niseko
• Niseko Ramen Kazahana, Niseko
• Hakodate Ramen Kamome かもめ, Hakodate

Shiroi Koibito Chocolate Lounge, Sapporo

We included a visit to Shiroi Koibito Park (Ishiya Chocolate Factory) in our itinerary as this seems to be a popular attraction in Sapporo. Ask any visitors who had been to Sapporo there is a high chance that they have been to the birth place of 白い恋人 biscuits. The langue de chat biscuits sandwiched with white/dark chocolate is also an omiyage widely available throughout Japan.

Our plan for the visit was pretty straight-forward with only 1 aim – to have pastries/dessert in the lounge with a expansive glass facade facing the clock tower. Without doing much research on this seemingly simple visit, we made our way to the site. And it was a rather disastrous experience…(I would say this is the most disappointing part of my whole trip, yes it’s that lousy).

When we arrived at the site, there was an outdoor park surrounded with Tudor–style buildings and filled with kids running about. It felt like an amusement park to me rather than a factory. I also saw a stream of tour coaches sending visitors to the place… We walked around the rather packed and compact compound and went into one of the Tudor houses which turned out to be a souvenir shop selling a range of their confectionery products. The place was crowded, rowdy and slightly chaotic…we couldn’t find the location of the cafe/lounge that we wanted to go.

We continued to wander around and found Cafe Entrepot, which was housed in the basement of a building….We asked the staff if there is a place to eat cakes/food, she then told us to cross over to the football field next door for restaurant. When we walked over, we realised that it was not the place we were looking for…

We returned to the main entrance where we started and went to the area selling admission tickets for the factory tour, although we were not interested in the tour, we are simply here to EAT… We asked the sales staff where is the cafe that can oversee the clock tower and they told us that we have to purchase factory tour tickets in order to access that part of the building!

So we paid for the admission of  ¥600 (S$7.50) per pax to enter the self-guided tour area. Within the building there is an indoor fountain for photo-taking, chocolate cups collections on display, an alley sharing information on how chocolate is derived from cocoa and a section where there are glass facade allowing us to oversee the factory floor. We zoomed through the maze-like area before we finally reached the Chocolate Lounge at the top floor of the building.

Finally we found the place and I was glad that we can finally eat something since it’s almost lunch time and I was kinda hungry. However something was not quite right…this floor seems to be the most crowded area within the factory tour… Turns out that there is a “Cookie Craft Studio” where visitors can sign up (for additional fee) for workshops to decorate your own cookie or bake your own cookie. The workshops are so popular that all the morning/noon slots were fully booked and only the late afternoon sessions were left (which is about 3-4 hours later).

Thankfully we were not there for hands-on workshops, we just wanted to enjoy some pastries/desserts. Then came the shocker, there was a huge waiting list to get a seat in the Chocolate Lounge!!! I was so devastated that I wanted to leave the place after seeing such a long list… I was too overwhelmed by the mismatch between my expectations and reality.

After half an hour’s wait, we were allowed to enter the lounge area. However the staff said that we are not allowed to change tables and also discouraged from walking over to the glass facade (where the clock tower view is) to minimise disruption to other guests.  As we were walking to our table, we saw a table next to the glass facade being cleared and we asked if we could sit there. The staff turned us down and led us to a table which was near the cashier area…To make matters worse, that table was subsequently occupied by folks who came in a few minutes after us…so it’s all a matter of LUCK on whether you get a window seat or otherwise…

By then, I was pretty much fed up with this whole crappy experience. I wanted to visit the Chocolate Lounge to enjoy the view and try some beautiful desserts/cakes. But I ended up paying S$7.50 for admission to access this place and waited 30 mins to get a table which is no where near the viewpoint!

Decided to just order the Shiroi Koibito Parfait and a cuppa before quickly leaving to grab a decent lunch back in Sapporo town area…

The soft serve was already melting by the time it was served to us…evidence that the staff were probably not able to cope with the crowd. Of the 2 shiroi koibito biscuits, one of which lost its crispiness and didn’t taste as fresh as it should be…

My unpleasant experience at the place continued as we were about to leave our table. A group of Korean aunties came and stood next to our table, waiting for us to vacate our seats…After we took our bill and walked to the cashier to pay, we realised that the lady in front of us at the cashier was from that Korean group and she wanted to place food order. The cashier asked where she was seated and she pointed to the table where we used to occupy…Needless to say the group of Korean aunties were asked to vacate the table and to join the waiting list for their table.

I left the place feeling that I had wasted my morning visiting this dismal attraction… Perhaps for folks who wish to enjoy this attraction, you should at least be prepared to sign up in advanced for one of the workshops (time required ranges from 30 mins to 1.5 hours depending on what you choose) for hands-on cookie making/decor. In total be prepared to spend half a day at this attraction to fully explore all the things at your leisure pace. This is excluding the travel time required from Sapporo city which is about 35 mins one-way. You may refer to this handy leaflet prepared by the subway station to guide visitors from Minayosawa Station to the site.

Other Related Posts:

• Snacks & Food from Hokkaido (Hakodate)
• Minshuku Aozukashokudo 民宿 青塚食堂, Otaru
• Kinotoya Bake, Sapporo
• Milk Kobo  ニセコミルク工房, Niseko
• Pastry Snaffle’s, Hakodate
• Angelique Voyage, Hakodate
• Petite Merveille, Hakodate

Snacks & Food from Hokkaido (Otaru)

Other than the widely-known landmark of Otaru canal, the other key attraction of this small harbour town is the high concentration of popular confectioneries along the shopping street (known as Sakaimachi Street).

As expected, the small town is packed with lots of tourists making the area very touristy. The street is filled with shops selling glassware, seafood restaurants and souvenir shops.

We narrowed our ‘to-buy’ list to the few major stops focusing on FOOD.

Our first stop was Kitaichi Glass‘s Rainbow Soft Serve. Kitaichi Glass (北一硝子) manufactures and sells glass products but they are also known for their multi-layered colourful soft serve. They have several stores in Otaru itself but the soft serve is available at Kitaichi Glass Store No. 3 (北一硝子三号館). We chose the 8-layers soft serve which is priced at ¥580 (S$7). It was easy to identify the flavours (from bottom tier up): Vanilla, Chocolate, Melon, Lavender, Matcha, Strawberry, Choco-Vanilla (twist) and Melon-Lavender (twist).

The soft serve here is the most creamy version compared to the other soft serves that I tried (in Hakodate and Niseko). The jumbo size soft serve also drew lots of attention as we walked along the shopping street trying to finish it off.

Another point to note is this place also carries another famous ice-cream – Cremia in Japan. It’s the one at the bottom right-hand corner of my photo above. As we still have chance to try Cremia in Tokyo later, we went with the rainbow soft serve instead.

Further down the shopping street, there are 2 major confectioneries side-by-side: Rokkatei
(六花亭) and Kitakaro (北菓楼). Although these confectioneries also has outlets all across Hokkaido, they have relatively huge branches in Otaru. Visiting these branches will offer a bigger variety of products compared to the outlets housed within departmental stores. The downside would be the stores are absolutely packed!

I started my snacks haul at Rokkatei. Their headquarter is located in Obihiro, Hokkaido and their signature product is the Marusei Butter Sandwiches. Other than the signature product, several of their confectionery items are also extremely popular with tourists. So much so that they had special sets comprising of an assortment of their popular products in a gift bag/gift boxes, the small gift bag with 5 items retails from ¥530 (S$6.50). The assortment sets are ideal for folks who wanted to sample all of them.

I noticed that the same product can come in different packaging, naturally the more elaborated packaging will cost more. The boxes makes the snacks more presentable as gifts but also takes up substantial luggage space. As most of the snacks I purchased are for self-consumption, I chose the more economical packaging. Another point to note is these confectionery products have relatively short shelf-life, most of them to be consumed within 2 weeks except for chocolates that has a longer expiry date. The expiry dates are clearly printed on the packaging so do take note of that.

I shall start the introduction with their signature Marusei Butter Sandwiches. A layer of butter, cream mixed with raisin and white chocolate is sandwiched between two soft biscuits. The raisins have rum in it, so it is NOT suitable for Muslims.

The delicate butter cream is so soft that it turned slightly mushy even in Sapporo‘s cold weather when I tried it a day after my purchase. I can imagine that the butter cream would have melted if I brought them back to Singapore. I’m not a fan of shortbread cookies and I didn’t like the cream being too oily, so this star product didn’t rank highly on my taste test.

The second product I chose was the Simodatami biscuit.  The biscuits used to sandwich the mocha white chocolate cream are crispy and light, dusted with fine sugar. This was superbly addictive and we quickly finished the 5 pieces that we bought! Should have purchased more of this since it is light and easy to carry. They are also available in boxes which can help to protect the fragile biscuits and they do not require refrigeration.

The third product was Hiroboro biscuits, was released in 2015 in celebration of the opening of Rokkatei’s Sapporo outlet. Guess it is so popular that they have continued selling them thereafter. Available in 2 flavours – chocolate and strawberry. The crispy biscuit is coated with either chocolate or strawberry outside. After taking the first bite, you can see that the biscuit is formed with multiple layers of puff pastry, hence it tasted like millefeuille (thousand layers of puff pastry). I loved the texture of this wonderful biscuit!

Last but not least, the Strawberry Chocolate (Milk/White). Crispy freeze-dried crunchy strawberries are coated in either white chocolate or milk chocolate. Pretty standard chocolate snack, but they are available in easy to carry small packs, good for munching during day trips =)

After our mini-shopping spree, we crossed to their next door neighbour – Kitakaro. Kitakaro’s star product is actually the baumkuchen (Singaporeans probably know them as the round kueh lapis cake), but we were actually more interested in their Cream Puffs. Unfortunately we underestimated the purchasing power of the crowd in Otaru and was disappointed that the cream puffs were sold out when we wanted to purchase them at 5pm. We had walked by the shop earlier shortly after lunch but didn’t want to purchase the puffs too early as we were still full.  Thankfully we managed to purchase the cream puffs from an outlet in the food hall of a departmental store in Sapporo.

The gigantic cream puffs have to be kept chilled if you are not eating them instantly. The choux pastry has a nice texture – not too soggy and not too hard. The custard filling was rich and milky.

Another extremely common brand seen along the shopping street is LeTAO. There are numerous stores with different themes all selling LeTAO products. We went to the one right at the end of the shopping street not knowing that it is the Head Store.  The store was also packed with tourists…The queue system was not clearly demarcated and seems slightly chaotic.

We purchased the Double Fromage cheesecake ¥1600 (S$20) which is sold frozen. The confectionery store developed the technology to freeze the cheesecake in order to facilitate delivery due to increase demand across Japan. Although the cake is sold frozen, when we purchase them from the store, it still needs to be packed with an ice pack. The cake has to be thawed in the refrigerator for 5 to 8 hours before eating. Staff was really attentive and asked if we needed knife and spoons to eat the cake. So we had no problems when we brought the cheesecake back to our hotel in Sapporo to have it for breakfast the next day.

The two-layered Double Fromage, made of baked cheesecake with a rich cheese flavor and unbaked cheesecake that is light and milky, was well-balanced. Making the overall taste rich yet not overwhelmingly cheesy. The two of us finished this cake by ourselves for breakfast! The melt-in-your-mouth texture was fabulous and I have no qualms to purchase it again if the quality of the ones sold in Singapore outlet is the same even though it is more costly. In fact, writing the post about this made me feel like dashing out to get one immediately!!!

LeTAO head store is housed in this building with a clock tower with bells.  Whereas Kitakaro is housed in a relatively plain block structure.

You have reached the end of the shopping street when you see the Music Box Museum. Outside the music box museum is a steam clock presented by city of Vancouver to Otaru. We made a trip into the music box museum hoping to find a special music box to bring home but left after a short 10 minutes. It was too cramped and rowdy inside, packed with tourists who seems to be in rush for time…squeezing their way and shuffling about in the huge hall filled with delicate ornaments. I reckoned I could not find something in such situation.

Fans of Ghibli can visit Otaru’s only character music box specialty shop “Character House Yume no Oto” (梦之音) next to the Music Box Museum. The shop is not as packed and you can find many character products. Notably, the entire 2nd storey is dedicated to Ghibli characters. I was kinda tempted to bring home the Totoro one though I’ve not seen the film before…

Although we spent 2.5 hours walking from Otaru canal to the end of the shopping street, we had only managed to cover the major FOOD places along with 2 music box shops.

Tourists who had joined tour groups appeared to be shepherded along the shopping street with not much time for them look around. This resulted in many of them being impatient and rushing about when making purchases at the stores.

While I was happy with my snacks haul, I didn’t enjoy the overall experience of visiting the shopping street which was markedly spoiled by the behaviour of the grouped tour members.

Other Related Posts:

• Snacks & Food from Hokkaido (Hakodate)
• Minshuku Aozukashokudo 民宿 青塚食堂, Otaru
• Kinotoya Bake, Sapporo
• Milk Kobo  ニセコミルク工房, Niseko
• Pastry Snaffle’s, Hakodate
• Angelique Voyage, Hakodate
• Petite Merveille, Hakodate

★ Isezushi, Otaru

In recent years, the widespread usage of internet brought much convenience to users worldwide. However the adoption of internet reservation in Japan hasn’t really picked up. Many of the restaurants still relied on phone as the mode for accepting reservations. Isezushi was the first restaurant for this trip whereby I had to make a call on my own to make a booking using my broken Japanese. Thankfully the staff who picked up my call was able to decipher my intention and the reservation went smoothly for a dinner seating at the sushi counter.

Hokkaido is known for their fresh seafood and we could have enjoyed sushi at any of the towns we stayed in. However we planned to dine at Isezushi since we needed dinner in Otaru after visiting the Snow Light Path Festival.  Moreover Isezushi was listed as a 1-michelin star restaurant in the one and only Hokkaido guide published in 2012.

When we entered the counter area, there were 2 other guests who were mid-way through their meal. Menu was pretty straight-forward with 3 choices: Jun Set (16 pieces of sushi) ¥6300/Dai Set (12 pieces of sushi) ¥3900 /Gin Set (10 pieces of sushi) ¥3000. Naturally we went with the Jun Set to eat our fill.

Our sushi feast commenced with Turbot, followed by Maguro, Chutoro and Kinmedai.

The final two fish sushi were Saba and Nishin (pacific herring) – an Otaru specialty. Thereafter we moved on to the shellfish sushi starting with Botan ebi, followed by Hotate, Hokki (surf clam).

We had a bit of problem confirming the next clam sushi with Chef due to our limited Japanese and sushi knowledge… Chef said it was “crab shell” so using google translator it’s likely to be Tsubugai (whelk)?

The next crustacean sushi was something new to me. It is an Otaru speciality – Shako (mantis shrimp). The texture falls between that of lobster and crayfish, succulent and chewy. To the Cantonese, they may know this as 瀨尿蝦.

Our final nigiri was Kani sushi and with that we moved onto the gunkan.

The gunkan (battleship) is typically used to serve different types of roes. So we had Ikura, followed by Tarako (cod roe), Kaki (oyster) and lastly Uni!

Although we had been in Hokkaido for 1.5 weeks and pampered with sumptuous fresh seafood at the morning markets, this meal was by far the most satisfying and value-for-money. The cost of enjoying a 1-michelin star quality sushi omakase meal is only a fraction of what we need to pay in Singapore.

While dining at the restaurant, we noticed there were a few guests that came to the restaurant without reservation and were turned away. We were glad that our efforts in making advance reservation for restaurants paid off as it seems that most of the fine-dining places in Hokkaido goes strictly by reservation and do not allocate seats for walk-in customers.

I bid the chef and staff “Good night” in Japanese and the staff replied “晚安” when she knew we were from Singapore. The hospitality and thoughtfulness of Japanese service truly impressed us as we were offered warmed heat packs when we were about to leave the restaurant.

Earlier photos taken:

As night falls the number of group tourists dwindled and the shopping street returned to its peaceful self. While strolling along the relatively empty shopping street, I began to notice that a number of the structures are classified as designated historical buildings. Interestingly due to huge foreign influences, these buildings are mostly built using stone/bricks which are quite different from our impression of traditional Jap structures.

While trying to locate the Former Temiya Railway, we stumbled upon the site of Otaru Snow Light Path Festival. Although we were aware of the snow festival, we thought the only light up area was the Otaru canal – as depicted in the official brochure distributed.

It was a fabulous surprise to be treated to a whole stretch of snow sculpture displays decorated with the warm glow of flickering tealight candles.

My favourite theme amongst the displays at Former Temiya Railway site is the one with Autumn leaves.

Snow sculptures of various sizes are on display.

Another theme that caught my attention was the one using pressed flowers.

After completing the Former Temiya Railway site, we walked over to the Otaru Canal site. As expected the Asakusabashi bridge was superbly packed, I managed to get to the front as most people move off quickly after getting their shot. The tiny lights on the river are from the glass floats (same as the type once used for herring fishing).

Other Related Posts:

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• Kamimura Restaurant レストラン, Niseko
• Hakodate Morning Market, Hakodate
• Matsumoto まつ本, Hakodate
• Uni Murakami, Hakodate
• Hakodate Ramen Kamome かもめ, Hakodate
• Kikuyo Shokudo Honten きくよ食堂 本店, Hakodate

Otaru Beer ‎Warehouse No.1 小樽ビール醸造所, Otaru

After strolling along the we stopped by one of the restored warehouse units to enjoy Otaru Beer. Otaru beer actually has German parentage as its braumeister brought over his knowledge to produce three regular ales — Dunkel, Pilsner and Weiss.

The brews tasted similar to typical german beers e.g Paulaner, Hofbrau but the brews here are made in Otaru, Japan.

It is not surprising that the warehouse unit exudes the ambience of a typical German beer hall and serves a decent range of German cuisines. You can find Schnitzel and bratwursts (sausages) on the menu as well as Jap-western dishes. This place is a stark contrast to my earlier experience at the Sapporo Beer Garden – which is more of a BBQ buffet place…

If you are looking for a place to relax and enjoy a drink in Otaru (while waiting for the others to finish their shopping spree), this is a nice place to chill.

Photos taken earlier:

A cliché photo of the Otaru canal, thankfully before visiting the place I already moderated my expectations of this place and was prepared that it will be an over-hyped canal…Tourists packed the bridge which is the most popular photo-spot, myself included…but I moved off quickly after taking the shot.

Other Related Posts:

• Minshuku Aozukashokudo 民宿 青塚食堂, Otaru
• Sapporo Beer Garden, Sapporo
• Hakodate Beer, Hakodate

Kinotoya Bake, Sapporo

For any discerning foodie who had done their research on “food you must eat in Sapporo“, they would soon realised that “sweets” formed a significant portion on the list. Take a walk along the many shopping arcades or food halls within departmental stores and you would be overwhelmed by a bounty of pastry choices. I can’t help but wonder if Singapore is waging a war against diabetes, how could Sapporo citizens resist the temptations of these sinful desserts that are vying for attention in all the display shelves?

Upon arrival at JR Sapporo station, it was easy to spot Kinotoya Bake with its sleek and modern shopfront. We promptly made our way to get the freshly baked cheese tarts. These delectable tarts are selling at ¥1080 (S$13.50) for 6 pieces, which is comparatively cheaper than the other famous cheese tart store in Singapore.

Somehow the batch of cheese tarts we bought had sunken centre…which made them looked kinda pathetic in this photo. Other than the less than perfect looks, these tarts has a firm crust with rich cheesy and creamy filling.

Separately we also bought the Kinotoya Milk Cookies (from food hall in departmental store). I’ve tried this in Singapore when a jie-mei brought them back as omiyage. I remembered the light crispy cookie has a rich milky taste, reminds me of snacks for babies. Unfortunately this pure milky taste cookie was overshadowed by the fierce snacks competition and it soon got dropped off from our “To bring back” list. So stay tuned to find out what snacks eventually made the trip back to Singapore with us~

Other Related Posts:

• Milk Kobo ニセコミルク工房, Niseko
• Snacks & Food from Hokkaido (Hakodate)
• Pastry Snaffle’s, Hakodate
• Angelique Voyage, Hakodate
• Petite Merveille, Hakodate