chocolate | アイシス

You know Hokkaido is famous for agriculture, seafood, and ramen, but is that all there is? And where is a good place to eat these dishes anyways? I’ve had many people ask me where I recommend to go to eat when they visit Hokkaido and Sapporo. So I just had to make a list out of it. I’m sure this will change every year, because whatever is popular keeps changing, so I hope I can make this a yearly thing, but I can’t promise anything!

北海道は農業、海鮮、らーめんなどで有名だけど、それだけかな？北海道名物はこで食べればいいのかな？沢山の人に「札幌や北海道に行くなら、何を食べるべき？」聞かれているから、リストにしてみた。何が流行っているとかは毎年変わるから、このリストもきっと毎年変わる、毎年書くといいかも？約束はできないよ、w

Where to eat out in Sapporo, Hokkaido? What must-try foods are there in Hokkaido? What good restaurants are there in Sapporo? Is there something besides seafood I can eat in Sapporo? This list should answer all those questions!! But this is just my personal restaurant collection… and I’m not a big spender. If anything, these are just my list of favorite Hokkaido food that I’ve encountered in the past few years.

札幌で外食するなら、どこに行けばいいのかな？北海道名物で絶対食べた方が良い物ってある？札幌で何かいいレストランない？札幌で魚介類以外美味しいものってあるかな？このリストで答えが出ると思う！あくまでも、これは私の個人的に好きなレストランなどのリストで、あまり大金持ちではないし、ただ私が数年北海道に住んでたら、大好きな北海道の食べ物をリストにしてみたかった。どうぞ！

*The list is in the order of “1 Super Recommend Must-Eat” to “10 Really Recommend This; it’s Good”! リストの順番は、「絶対におすすめで食べないと！」から「本当におすすめする、美味しいよ」w
**By the way, seafood is not my forte. ちなみに、魚介類をあまり食べない人です！

Soup Curry スープカレー
Buta-Don 豚丼
Soft Cream ソフトクリーム
Local Potato Chips 地域ポテチ
Ishikari Nabe 石狩鍋
Royce Chocolate ロイズチョコレート
Ramen らーめん
Kaisen-Don Seafood Bowl 海鮮丼
Genghis Khan ジンギスカン
Ika-Meshi イカめし

Soup Curry スープカレー
Where I like to eat in Sapporo: Samurai
Famous in Sapporo: Garaku　／　suage
Comments: I could eat this every day. Full of Hokkaido’s vegetables, a crispy chicken leg and some spice to liven it all up. Love it!! It’s different from Japanese curry or Indian curry, it’s a soup, and you dip your rice into it. Just try it..!!!
Buta-Don 豚丼
Where I like to eat in Hokkaido: Kono Buta Don (Moonlight, Koitoi-Kan, Shiranuka Town)
Where I like to eat in Sapporo: Ajidokoro Azuma (Sapporo Station), or Tokachi Ippin (Sapporo Station)
Famous in Hokkaido: Tokachi area (I liked Black Buta-Don: Tsuruhashi)
Comments: Buta-Don is a local dish originating in the Tokachi area. It literally is just a bowl of pork on rice. Dream come true, right? It’s charcoal grilled and smothered with a sweet and sour sauce unique to each restaurant. There are hundreds of shops around the island, I’m sure you’ll find one you like the most. Must-try for meat lovers!
Soft Cream ソフトクリーム
Where I like to eat in Sapporo: Bisse 1F (many shops like Kinotoya or Bocca, etc.)
Famous in Sapporo: Yuki-Jirushi ／ Shiroikoibito ISHIYA Cafe
Comments: Hokkaido is extremely famous for it’s milk products. Soft cream is made for all dessert lovers, it is super rich and creamy, and always blows your mind with how delicious it is……… I super recommend it if you haven’t tried it yet!!!
Local Potato Chips 地域ポテチ
Where I like to get my fix: Makkari Town Road Stop for “Goto’s House Potato Chips” or Tokachi JR Station 2F for “Donguri no Mura Potato Chips” or Shihoro Town Road Stop for “Shihoro Chips”
Where to buy in Sapporo: Sapporo Station “Dosanko Plaza” or Odori “Kita-Kitchen“.
Comments: Keep an eye out for any locally made potato chips, they are TOO GOOD to be true!!! Calbee brand chips are also made here in Hokkaido, so they are good too, but the local potato chips that farmers make, WOW! Find them at some “Michi no Eki” (Road Stops around Hokkaido island).
Ishikari Nabe 石狩鍋
Where I like to eat in Hokkaido: Kindaitei (Ishikari City, close to Sapporo)
Famous in Hokkaido: Ishikari Area
Comments: Wow, seriously, this has been rated one of the top 3 foods of Hokkaido, and I just tried it in 2015… it’s AMAZING! It’s a hot pot with salmon as its main ingredient (Sept-Oct is the best season), in a miso-based soup with many vegetables. Kindaitei restaurant was the best I’ve ever had! Highly recommend this, it’s totally worth the drive and reservation!!!!
Royce Chocolate ロイズチョコレート
Where I like to get my fix: Usually any department store basement has a shop selling Royce chocolates (for example, Daimaru, Maruimai, Mitsukoshi)
Recommended Location: ROYCE CHOCOLATE WORLD in New Chitose Airport (Factory, Museum & Bakery!)
Official Shop Locater: http://corporate.royce.com/shop/
Comments: Famous for its raw chocolate and chocolate covered potato chips, but I love the plain Royce chocolate bars… especially the almond one!! I also love the coconut chocolate cookies, and the nutty chocolate bars. MMM!!! I actually got tired of eating a lot of chocolate, but Royce, I can eat it any time 😉
Ramen らーめん
Where I like to eat in Sapporo: I’m still trying to find my favorite!!
Famous in Sapporo: Here’s a great Ramen list I mostly agree with, check it out!
Comments: Ramen is a Japanese noodle soup that is extremely popular in Hokkaido, because of delicious noodles (Hokkaido produces a lot of wheat), and even because of the weather (a hot bowl of ramen on a cold winter day tastes 1000000x better)! It is usually topped with a grilled slice of pork, some green onions, seaweed, and half of a boiled egg. Depending on the region of Hokkaido, the soup base is different (Sapporo = Miso, Asahikawa = Soy, Hakodate = Salt). The Ramen alleys in Sapporo are not bad to visit, but if you want a good local taste, check out that list above, and tell me where you think I should try! I want to find my favorite shop… There are hundreds in Sapporo alone, to cater to everyone’s different taste preference! Have fun~
Kaisen-Don Seafood Bowl 海鮮丼
Where I like to eat in Sapporo: Daiichi Kaisen Maru
Where I like to eat in Hokkaido: Minato Sushi in Furubira Town (on the way to Shakotan, a beautiful place famous for sea urchin).
Famous in Sapporo: Seafood Kitchen in Nijo Market, Kita no Gurume Market
If you like crab: You need to try kani-meshi!!! My favorite crab on rice dish.
Comments: Well, I don’t like seafood very much, but Minato Sushi blew my mind with fresh shrimp and amazing fresh seafood…….. it must have been the cool veteran sushi master. Since then I love crab bowls and salmon, simple ingredients. But even if you don’t like seafood, markets are really fun places to go to and experience. Just try it at least once? 😉
Genghis Khan ジンギスカン
Where I like to eat in Hokkaido: Matsuo Genghis Khan “Matsujin” available in Sapporo, too!
Famous in Hokkaido: Takikawa Town, Naganuma Town, Sapporo (not particularly famous but the most restaurants for this are in Sapporo City)
Famous Restaurants in Sapporo: Sapporo Beer Hall, Tsukisappu Genghis Khan, Hitsujigaoka Resthouse
Comments: Lamb BBQ with sauce or without, grilled on a special hot plate with a unique protruding shape to let the oil spill to the sides, usually cooked with vegetables like cabbage, onion, bean sprouts, and carrots. It is such a famous dish, that at the Sapporo Beer Hall, they have around 1000 customers in just one day! Unfortunately since it is too popular, most restaurants import lamb from outside of Japan. For real Hokkaido lamb, you need to research; here’s one with a great night view of Susukino: Yozojin.
Ika-Meshi イカめし
Where I like to eat in Hokkaido: Mori Machi Abe Shouten (Eki-ben)
Make it Yourself: in Hakodate at Ikabei Cooking Studio.
Where to buy in Sapporo: Sapporo Station “Dosanko Plaza” or Odori “Kita-Kitchen” and even sold in some supermarkets!
Comments: A squid stuffed with mochi (sticky) rice and boiled in a sweet sauce. The texture is something I had to get used to, but the flavor is really good! I recommend this as a Hokkaido specialty to try for sure. You can even just order it on the JR train if you plan on traveling from Hakodate to Sapporo or vice versa. Enjoy!!