Sapporo Diaries: Vietnamese Food on Sports Day

October 9th was a holiday! Happy Sports Day, not the school event, but the national holiday. Even though it was a three day weekend, I decided to just go on a solo date on the 9th (I did think about staying the weekend, but didn’t find anywhere good). My main goals of the day were to eat, check out some events that were happening on the day, do a bit of shopping, and obviously grab some boba at the end of the day. Nothing too big.

I got on my usual bus, and arrived in Sapporo around 10:20. My planned lunch spot of the day would open at 11, and it clearly wouldn’t take 40 minutes to get there, so I casually made my way down south, taking the underground pathway through Poletown to get there. Since I hadn’t had anything to eat yet that morning, my stomach inevitably made me give in when I passed by the Tsubaki x Dream Dolce gelato and Hokkaid osft serve stand…a morning snack couldn’t hurt, and plus, I’ve been meaning to try out this place since I first saw it a few months ago. Am I insane for getting ice cream at 10:30 in the morning? Maybe, but I was hungry, and there’s never a bad time for ice cream. Better to get it now while it’s just starting to get colder (not that ice cream in the winter is bad either!).

Anyway, a lot of the flavors seemed very appealing, including the matcha and chocolate. I ended up going for a double scoop with the black hojicha and the roasted sweet potato, because I saw the signboard at the front say they were new, and I figured they were seasonal (yakiimo is a very fall flavor here). I figured if the others were a staple I could come back for them.

Tsubaki x Dream Dolce Double: Baked Sweet Potato and Black Hojicha
Tsubaki x Dream Dolce Double: Baked Sweet Potato and Black Hojicha (500 yen)

It was really good, and I’d totally go back. They were both creamy but not too heavy or rich, and I loved both flavors. I’m actually glad the baked potato was on top first, because the flavor of that one was much more subtle compared to the hojicha. All in all, much yum.

With some time to spare, I stopped by Jupiter (a coffee and import goods store) to do some browsing, and ended up getting a couple things for myself and my boyfriend. After leaving the underground pathway and coming back up for light, I passed a few interesting vending machines next to a Round 1…one of which is just straight up canned whipped cream? I kind of love the vibe of still discovering new things in Sapporo, ha!

Interesting sweets Vending Machines
Interesting sweets Vending Machines

I actually arrived at my lunch spot right at 11: Hoa Sen. I’ve been low-key craving Vietnamese food for quite a bit now, and today was the day when I’d finally actually go get some. Afte doing some research, Hoa Sen looked like it had good reviews and a decent menu, so I gave it a shot.

My first impression was that their chairs were interesting. All of them only had an arm on the left side, with the right side being completely empty. Anyway, I was here for pho, perfect for a chilly day, and originally was going to get the pho set, which for 30 yen extra gets you a drink, an egg roll, and a dessert. However, when I ordered, the waiter warned me that the pho in the pho set was half the size of the regular since it comes with the dessert and egg roll. I wanted the egg roll, but I really was here for the pho, so I just went with just the pho.

Hoa Sen beef pho
Hoa Sen beef pho (950 yen)

The bowl itself was a little smaller than I’m used to, but hey, I chalked it up to Japanese sizes, and in the end, found it decent for a lunch portion. As for the actual pho, the soup itself was fine, pretty standard tasting, slightly acidic?, and came out at a drinkable temperature. That’s nice for a cold day, but for pho, I’m not sure if it was hot enough to “cook” the meat more or the bean sprouts the way I like it. As for the meat, the beef itself was ok, it all came in thin slices, and slightly red at the beginning. I would have liked more meat…Finally for the noodles, they certainly were rice noodles, but they were somehow on the slightly stiffer and chewier side, unlike other pho I’ve had in America. There were also some thin, round noodles in it that didn’t seem like ripped scraps of the normal ones either.

I know I arrived at 11 right when they opened, so it wasn’t too surprising that I was the only customer, but all the more so service should have been at least a bit better right? I had to ask for water instead of it being given, and the bathroom didn’t even have toilet paper stocked in the holder; I had to rip open the pack and put it in myself…For a place that advertises authentic Vietnamese food, it was…alright, but I suppose there’s no competition around or other Japanese people wouldn’t know better.

After lunch (brunch?) I headed back up north and went back into the underground passage, and immediately bought a banh mi from Saigon Fresh. No, I did not eat it right away, but rather got it to-go to bring home. The banh mis here have been on my radar for a while, and since I was here, today was going to be a Vietnamese food day. I got the special, which had most of the standard proteins in it, but asked to leave out the green onion and cilantro. I considered taking out the chili sauce too, but decided I’d deal with it. They do have a few fruity teas that look interesting, but perhaps another time.

Saigon Fresh Banh Mi Long Special
Saigon Fresh Banh Mi Long Special (880 yen)

I carried it with me the whole day, and toasted it in my oven fish grill when I got home (it even came with instructions for recommended reheating!). It was actually really good! the bread was toasty, the meat was all super flavorful and tender, and the pickles were added a nice acidity to it. I think the chili sauce might have indeed been a bit spicy for my liking, but other than that it was perfect. I did get the long, as opposed to the regular, because the regular seemd way too small. The “long” was’t even that much longer…

Ok so I have to completely agree with my friend, when I consulted her about Vietnamese places in Sapporo. Hoa Sen isn’t super special (based on one impression), and Saigon Fresh has great food. Maybe I’d go back if I really wanted broken rice, but I’d totally go back for more banh mis.

After that, I did some casual window shopping in various places, including bakeries, clothing stores, the new Village Vanguard in Tokyu, some grocery stores, and the Daimaru basement food floor. I’ve been getting notifications in my Facebook feed from seasonal pop-ups happening in Daimaru, and I figured since I was here and had time I’d go check it out. There quite a few appealing things, but I settled on just buying a donut from Kenon, a bagel and donut shop from North Sapporo doing a pop-up at the time. For some reason since I’ve come to Japan I’ve been looking for bagels…their’s were the standard small Japanese size, with a bunch of different flavors, but ultimately I just settled on a donut. It was good fluffy, and I liked the added texture of the shiratama mochi and the red bean!

Kenon Shiratamacha Donut
Kenon Shiratamacha Donut (311 yen)

While I was in Daimaru, as I was looking around I spotted a Vulpixyaki (Rokonyaki, a Vulpix taiyaki) stand. Vulpix and the Aurora version are kind of like the pokemon of Hokkaido (you can see them on the various manholes in Hokkaido), so I guess this isn’t exactly a surprise this exists. I didn’t see any times or dates listed, so perhaps this isn’t a pop-up and a permanent booth? My boyfriend wanted one, so I got him an Aurora one with milk cream. The normal Vulpix has red bean inside.


Vulpix Taiyaki
Vulpix Taiyaki

After that, I was starting to feel hungry, so I made my way over to the Saporo Community Plaza for my next major stop of the day. Apparently over the weekend there was a Sapporo Community Plaza Festival happening with various events, but the only event left happening was the Morihico Marche with various pop-up booths. It was cute, but there was a lot less happening than I thought, with only a couple booths selling cute products and some snacks.

Anyway, while I was there, I decided to hang out and get something to eat from Morihico Cafe in the building. Morihico is actually a pretty big coffee/cafe chain in Sapporo, and this is their Geijutsugekijou cafe branch. I decided to get the Morihico Strawberry Sundae and the Yuki no Oshiruko drink in frozenpresso (I think the iced version is only limited to a couple branches, the sundae is only to this branch, and both are seasonal). The limited time grape fruit sandwich was very tempting (you know Japan and its fruit sandwiches), but I decided to just get the sundae instead. The gateau chocolate cake also looked good, and although tempting for takeout, it’s not limited so I can always come back for it. Luckily, ordering a drink gets 100 yen discount! I would have taken a picture together, but the sundae came out first, and it looked like it was slightly melting, so I wanted to eat it first.

It does look exactly like the picture in the menu, but the sundae is pretty small, making it kind of bougie…it did taste good, with the ice cream being creamy, smooth, and tasting milky, and the strawberry syrup added a nice extra flavor and didn’t taste artificial. Iquite liked the drink, as it had an interesting flavor. Unlike most seasonal drinks which usually involve chestnut, this one is based off of oshiruko, a traditional Japanese bean soup enjoyed in the winter. It tasted slightly nutty, which I think actually comes from the bean paste flavor, and it was slightly thick from being a blended bean drink. It was refreshing having it cold, and I loved the roasted rice bits on top. There were also actual beans on top!

I decided to just take it easy until the bus at 4, so I just hung around the area and went back underground while slowly making my way to Akarenga Terrace. I somehow found an Okinawan themed shop at the very edge of Aurora town! There were a ton of goods and snacks and even produce. I might have bought a couple of things…

My wandering around somehow took me into the Mitsukoshi department store’s underground food floor, and though everything looked amazinly delicious, I was particularly intrigued by a completely vegan and gluten free shop, and a bagel and donut shop. Now I found a bagel store that’s not a pop-up and accessible whenever…

When it was nearing 4, I made my way to the Gong Cha in Akarenga Terrace, and got myself a drink from Gong Cha. Read about my boba here!

Gong Cha Baked Sweet Potato Milk Tea
Gong Cha Baked Sweet Potato Milk Tea (680 yen)

And then I got on the bus at 4 to go home!


Discover more from Annie's Excursions

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Discover more from Annie's Excursions

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading