{Japan} Good Eats in Sapporo

RAMEN

We arrived in Sapporo from Noboribetsu Onsen at about 11:30am. Check-in time to our hotel was at 3pm so we had no choice but to leave our luggages at our hotel and go explore downtown Sapporo. It was snowing heavily and was about 32°F (or 0°C)… What better lunch to have but a hot bowl of Sapporo Ramen! Sapporo is known as the birthplace of Miso Ramen.

We asked the hotel concierge for a famous ramen store to visit and sure enough there was one just 2 blocks away.

The restaurant is located on the 10th floor of Bic Camera building right next to the JR Sapporo Station (aka JR Square Tower). There are 8 ramen stores in a section of their food court called the “札幌ら～めん共和国” (pronounced Sapporo-Ra-men-Kyowa-Ko-ku aka Sapporo Ramen Republic). Out of the 8, the 2 famous stores as pointed out by the hotel concierge are:

• (1) 白樺山荘 Shirakaba Sansou
• (2) けやき Keyaki

We’ve learnt in Japan that if there’s a loooooong line, it must be good. So we went with the store that had the longest line – 白樺山荘. The wait this time wasn’t that bad. It was only about 10 minutes or so. The famous ramen at their store is of course the Miso with Chinese Roast Pork (味噌ラーメン). Hard boiled eggs are provided in a basket on your table. Toppings that come with the ramen were bamboo, kikurage mushrooms, green onions, nori dried seaweed and 4 large pieces of chinese roast pork! The soup was flavorful and rich. It did however have a layer of fat on top of it which keeps the soup below nice and hot! A well balanced, not overpowering garlicky taste of the soup was what set it apart from other miso ramen that we’ve had. Noodles of course was also perfectly cooked (al dente), just as we like it.

We were full by the time we finished the bowl of ramen, so did not visit けやき which also had a long line but am sure it wouldn’t disappoint!

JAPANESE GRILLED MUTTON

When we were in Noboribetsu, the cab driver kept mentioning “Genghis Khan” when we asked him what the local specialty was, so we looked it up and found “ジンギスカン だるま” (Jingisukan Daruma). It is rated #1 on TripAdvisor.

There are 3 stores (each within 5 minutes walk from each other). Their addresses are:

1. Original Store 本 店 (15 seats) – 札幌市中央区南5条西4丁目 (Tel: 011-552-6013)
2. Branch 6.4 店 (25 seats) – 札幌市中央区南6条西4丁目 (Tel: 011-533-8929)
3. Branch (18 seats) 4.4 本 店 – 札幌市中央区南4条西4丁目 (Tel: 011-551-8844)

Both 本 店 and 4.4 店 store hours are:

1. Mon – Thurs:  5pm – 3am
2. Fri:                    5pm – 5am
3. Sun:                  5pm – 1am

6.4 店 store hours are 5pm – 5am everyday.
There is also a store with a similar name in Tokyo – 東京都港区六本木4-12-4, イイダビル3F

Update: We went to the store in Tokyo. It is NOT the same company, albeit they have the same name! The quality of the mutton at the Tokyo branch was not the same as the one in Sapporo. You’ll just have to go to Sapporo to taste the real thing, I guess!

We went to the original store in Sapporo. Closest train station is the Susukino subway station (Nanboku line). The store we went to opens at 5pm and closes at 5am! Do be careful though if you’re visiting and rely on the subway to get back to your hotel as the last train is usually around midnight. So be sure to go for dinner/supper before that time. Otherwise, take a cab back (there were PLENTY of cabs in Sapporo downtown for some reason – a bunch in EVERY CORNER of the street!)

Their specialty is non-marinated slices of mutton, charcoal-grilled on a specially ordered split pan skillet. The mutton did not have the “gamey” taste we were expecting and was just delicious together with their special sauce (some form of soy sauce + sesame seeds + high grade  garlic from Aomori + chili powder from South Korea)! We ate it together with rice, some kimchee (side orders) and ice cold beer!

When you sit down, they’ll automatically place vegetables on your skillet, a piece of mutton fat and 1 small plate of meat per person on your table (so don’t be alarmed when they give you everything without you even ordering). You then ask for the rice (just say “Rai-su” or “go-han”), drinks and any other side dishes you want separately.

This is a must try if you’re ever in town! Enough said… here are pictures!

Do you know of other good eats in Sapporo? Do leave a comment and let us know!

Update: We had a couple more good eats to recommend for Sapporo. Check it out here!