I went to Sapporo on May 20th because a friend asked around if anyone wanted to get lunch at a ramen place she found and then hang out at the Lilac Festival that was happening over the weekend. Apparently the lilac is Sapporo’s representative flower, and there’s a whole bunch blooming around Odori Park this time of year. I wasn’t going to go out, but since a hangout was happening, I figured it might be a good chance to get out and do some socializing, especially since my boyfriend was going out of town for the weekend (he made a weekend getaway to Tokyo because he failed to get concert tickets but already had his flight and accomodation booked…).
I got on my usual bus around 7:40 in the morning, and got off the bus in Sapporo around 10:20. Since our group lunch was for 12, I planned to just get some morning eats at a cafe around Susukino. I realized the stop I got off at was right next to the main Kitakaro store, and since I’ve never been before, I figured I’d check it out. The interior was pretty spacious, and otherwise the layout of the products as well as the fresh food counter looked pretty similar to Kitakaro L, which I’ve been before. At the back are a set of stairs that lead up to the second floor cafe and library area, but they don’t open until 11, so I couldn’t check out the library (I heard it’s a pretty space up there). They were already taking sign ups for the cafe on a waitlist paper outside!
I passed by a part of the Lilac Festival on the way to the cafe, and the flowers were indeed pretty. The trees themselves weren’t super tall, and some had more flowers than others. They were mostly in corners of each block of Odori or just lining the park a bit around the perimeter.
My first stop of the day was a traditional Showa-era style cafe that sells a bunch of traditional Japanese sweets. They do classic Japanese cafe sandwiches, parfaits, and sweets, and I ordered one of each of their fresh dangos except the black sesame, since I’m not a fan of black seasme flavored things. They do have some morning menu items, but I’ve been meaning to come here for their dangos. There is a Niikuraya chain in Otaru, but I have no idea if the couple Sapporo stores are related to them.
The lady gave me a free cup of hot matcha! That went well with the somewhat sweet Japanese sweets. The bean paste on top were super tall, and they almost looked like mohawks to me, ha! The black bean paste, or just regular red bean paste one, had a really strong red bean flavor to it. I expected the matcha bean paste one to have more matcha flavor, but it really was super light, and not very noticeable. The white bean paste had a subtle bean flavor to it, but it did taste a little different, but still bean-y. The mitarashi was very different, and the sauce was just a bit sweet, but also pretty salty too. All of the dango were super soft and mochi-esque, and a little more on the melty side than chewy and solid. I didn’t entirely mind, and I haven’t had mochi this purely soft in a while. If I had to pick a favorite, I guess I’d say the matcha bean paste one, just because I like matcha, and I don’t see this too often.
My boyfriend had just checked out of his Airbnb, and didn’t need to head to the airport for a bit, so we decided to meet up at Book-Off to see each other a bit. On my way there, I bought a canele from Cannele de Cream, a kind of new canele specialty shop that opened in Tanukikoji. I think recently caneles are becoming popular in Japan, and I had been wanting to check this place out since they opened. I bought a matcha one for 500 yen (one of these was more expensive than my 4 dangos from earlier!)
I ended up saving it to eat for the next day for breakfast, but since it didn’t come with any reheating directions, I wasn’t sure if I was just supposed to eat it at room temperature or heat it up. On one hand, heating it up would give it a freshly baked feel, but then the matcha chocolate on top might become too melty. I ended up eating it just room temperature, and it was, I guess ok? I think the outside is supposed to be crispy, while the inside is gooey. The isnide when I ate it was slightly creamy, and had a custardy feel and taste to it. I could not really taste the matcha though…
Anway, my boyfriend had some time, so he walked me over to the restaurant where I would meet my friends. We said goodbye there, and then my group and I went into the restaurant and sat down. Since one of us was running a little late, we all placed our orders since the owner offered to cook them later once our friend came.
As a side note, I say tomato ramen, except it’s less traditionally ramen, and more tomato based noodle dishes with some other international inspiration (case in point, the menu had tumeric rice that you could order to put into your soup at the end to make a rissotto of sorts). The restaurant is advertised as halal and vegan friendly (also English friendly!), and apparently the owner started the restaurant because she couldn’t eat pork, so all of the animal protein on the menu was chicken. I ordered the salsa tomato noodles, since it came with a chicken sausage (as opposed to another dish that had ground chicken), and the salsa sounded extra tomato-y, and I like tomatoes.
The dish was quite interesting, and overall I enjoyed the experience. As a tomato enjoyer, I liked the soup that it came in, and it was slightly thick, probably from tomato puree and the bit of cheese that came with it. I especially liked the noodles; they were springy, had a way texture to them, and went well with the soup they came in. They were, however, a hazard to my shirt…The chicken sausage was also pretty good.
We said bye to a couple friends who came with us because they had errands to run, and the rest of us walked over to Odori to the venue of the Lilac Festival. It was a pretty sunny day, a lot of people were picnicking and vibing, and I saw a bunch of big water fountains that did not seem like they were there before…
I think there were a few main venues; one block at most of the artsy stuff, including a few tents that were housing traditional tea ceremonies (they were all booked out/full when we went), a tent for local ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement) showings, a corner with local artists selling merchandise, and a few tents selling antique items. One of my friends found a piece by an old Japanese lady who made silk items, and we made a quick 7/11 stop so she could get some cash to buy it. Turns out, the lady makes like 3 pieces a day, everyday, and sells them to donate to good causes. The proceeds this time around were going to Turkey.
The next couple of blocks down were two food areas, serving food from shops around Sapporo (one of the blocks was more of a wine garden centering on wine, but there was food there too). We stopped by one section that was doing some sort of music festival, and when we stopped to watch, Yamanote High School’s Brass Band was playing a few songs. They were pretty good.
At this point in the afternoon, it was around 3, and my friend suggested we go get some sweets or something at a cafe. She mentioned shaved ice at some point, and then we kind of got hooked on the idea of getting shaved ice in the hot weather, so as we were looking for places to go, I suggested a Japanese style cafe that was supposed to have shaved ice. When we got there, we were able to get seated right away. One friend ordered a cream anmitsu, the other ordered a strawberry milk shaved ice, and I got a matcha one with red bean. I was tempted to get a different version with more stuff, but I figured if it was going to be big, better go a little lighter. This cafe also served complimentary hot matcha!
The shaved ice really hit the spot, since it was a warm 70 or so degrees Fahrenheit out, plus it was a pretty big serving. The matcha flavor itself was a little on the lighter side, but as a treat, I think it was ok this way. There were some parts where I only got ice with no syrup on it, but I was thankful that they did put in another layer inside so there was more matcha inside. The red bean paste was super smooth, and complimented the shaved ice very nicely.
By the time we finished around 4:30, we were all ready to go home, and we headed towards the closest bus stop. I did have a drink for the ride home in mind, and so I had just enough time to get boba from Gong Cha for the way home!
And then we all got on the 5 bus together!
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