The same friend I showed around Otaru left for Sapporo right after to stay a couple days, and he also asked me to show him around Sapporo, so on November 25th, I headed over to give him a tour of what I know in the central area.
I took my usual bus, but for some reason, the times were delayed (I noticed we might not have taken the highway and went local, maybe due to the snow?), so I arrived around 10:40. That worked out fine, since I was going to meet my friend at 11 at the station. I noticed while waiting for him that there was a new display in front of Stellar Place, probably part of this year’s White Illumination around the city. I’m not sure if it wasn’t here last year or I missed it, but it was new to me, and was really cute. I’m sure it would be super pretty when lit up at night.
When my friend arrived, I asked him if he ate yet since it was around lunch time, and he said he could eat. Since he was only going to be briefly in Sapporo, I figured I’d take him to go eat soup curry, and at that point, why not the most famous place in Sapporo (at least, to my ears): Garaku. They are supposed to open at 11:30, and we made our way down the underground path to escape the cold.
I definitely was expecting a wait, since Garaku is pretty famous and my boyfriend told me about his hour wait when he went before, and it seems every soup curry place in Sapporo gathers a line before they open anyway. However, when we got there, it seems they started handing out numbered tickets starting at 11, and arriving at just before 11:30, we were party number 75. With an unclear amount of time to wait, I decided to just take my friend on my planned tour of the area while periodically checking our status online.
First, I took him throughout Susukino and Tanukikoji. In front of one of the buildings there was a Gogo no Koucha (a tea brand) Milk Tea Stand, which I thought was just a random campaign cart selling their milk teas, but they were actually giving away small bottles of milk tea for free. Happily surprised, I’ll take free milk tea anytime, so I got one.
We basically went around to all the big tourist areas, like a Seicomart, Nijo Market, taking a look at Ganso Ramen Alley, and walking along all of Tanukikoji. Our number was still pretty far from being called, so we went to go check out this year’s German Christmas Market and White Illumination at Odori Park. I have to say, I think the main Odori Park White Illumination is the same as last year, and the Christmas Market overall was formatted the same with generally similar goods and food. There was, however, a Santa taking pictures this year. We both wanted to get a hot drink, so I opted for a hot chocolate from one of the booths (a ton have them). It was good, just a bit creamy, very chocolatey, and even had baby marshmallows! I also was tempted by the big muffins (another rarity around these parts), and ended up buying a chocolate one. Eating it the next day, I was really impressed by how moist the chunky guy was, with quite a bit of chocolate chunks too.
Still with plenty of time, we went to go check out the Clock Tower, and circled back around and killed some time in Susukino. As our number was finally approaching, we made our way back to Garaku, which by that point had a sign that said sold out of curry for lunch for the day if you didn’t a ticket. We ended up finally getting seated at 2, and I was pretty hungry.
I opted for the Kamifurano Pork Shabushabu with Assortment of 7 Mushrooms at no spice level 1 and medium rice, which is domestically grown and combined with tumeric and an assortment of grains. My curry specifically comes with pork belly, enoki, shimeji, white shimeji, maitake, shiitake, brown mushrooms, water crescent, and the G set, which is their base in every curry: a potato chunk, carrot slice, fried broccoli, cabbage, wood ear mushroom, lotus root, a quail egg, and a slice of red pepper.
As a disclaimer, I don’t like normal Japanese curry because it’s too spice-y for me, and part of me wanted to think Garaku was overhyped, but this soup curry had just the right amount of flavor and consistency, and instinctively I thought pretty good. The pork was so tender, and I loved the amount of vegetables in it. Thanks to my friend for the meal!
With my tour of the day over, we split up at the station around 3pm. I was aiming for either the 4 or 5 bus home, so I decided to wrap up my day and make my way over to Akarenga Terrace to get boba from Gong Cha. On my way down the underground path, I noticed a new area that I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen before. It was basically this cool, large rest space, with a coffee shop and American burger restaurant (to the left, not pictured)
I guess Gogo no Koucha is doing a big milk tea campaign, as I saw a truck outside of Akarenga Terrace giving out free cups of hot milk tea, exclusive to this weekend. I didn’t really have time though, since I didn’t want to risk waiting in line and not having time to get my boba and then catching the bus. I already got a free bottle earlier, but getting a hot one would have been nice too.
I bought my boba at Gong Cha, then I got on the 4 bus to go back home!
Read about my boba here!
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