Happy holidays! On December 26th, I headed home to America to spend time with my family for the holidays! Although ideally I’d like to spend Christmas with them as well, for whatever reason my school calendar decided the last day of school this year needed to be Christmas on a Wednesday. Whatever, Christmas is a social construct, and what really matters is time with family.
I took my usual bus to Sapporo, and my first stop before the airport was Gong Cha. As of that day, they released a new seasonal drink just in time for the end of Christmas and beginning of New Year season. Read about my boba here!
Apparently there’s an APEX tournament happening in Sapporo sometime soon.
Around 11, I got on the train to the airport, and then checked in my bag at the international bags counter. Despite the line, it didn’t take too long that day, and I quickly headed to Sapporo Nougakkou Factory’s newest shop in the airport. I guess what used to be Kinotoya Ringo had turned into a Sapporo Nougakkou specialty store sometime in the past year. That old apple pie is gone, but with this new store comes a new airport-only apple pie. Along with it, they offer freshly baked cookies, souffle cheesecake, and other packaged and frozen souvenirs. The line looked fairly short, but I indeed did wait 40 minutes for a single apple pie.
The pie was warm, and was amazingly delicious. The crust was super flaky, and the top of the center portion was sticky with many big chunks of sweet apple chunks. Along the bottom was a think layer of custard, and it’s probably high up in the Hokkaido apple pie ranking. Definitely an improvement on the last one. They do have a disclaimer that there’s no cinnamon in this one.
My next stop was the Salmon Specialty store Marukame. Along with other salmon goods, they also specialize in making fresh salmon onigiri to-go. When I arrived, I did have to wait 20 minutes for them to finish cooking rice. In the meantime, I did some nearby souvenir shopping, and then came back to order my onigiri. I ordered the most basic salmon-only one, with the rest having interesting topping options.
The onigiri was so fresh, that even though I wanted to eat it right away, it was so hot I could barely hold it in the hands. It was packaged in a plastic wrap similar to a convenience store onigiri, where you rip a strip from one corner to rip off the side pieces. The rice ball had a small whole piece of salmon on the top, like a cute hat! There were salmon flakes embedded in the rice throughout, as well as a giant chunk in the center.
At this point, I had some time to stop by the Starbucks. I wanted to try the new frappucino that also came out that day, the royal earl grey. It’s a good thing I went that day, because I asked a cashier how long the frappucino would be around for. Apparently the last day is January 14th! Unfortunately, I arrive back in Japan on the 19th, so there might be a new frappucino, but that day was the only chance I had for the earl grey. The frappucino comes with 2 colored feuillantine, a fluffy mousse on top, a base of an aromatic blend of earl grey, oolong, and jasmine tea, and bergamot, and juniper flowers.
I was really looking forward to this one as a tea girlie, but I was not a huge fan of the base. Immediately, I got hit with this strong herbal flavor, and afterwards realized I’m just not a bergamot person.
One thing about Japan that I love: drinks are allowed on domestic flights, as long as you put them through the scanner and take a sip of liquids in your bottle. I brought in my freshly made frappucino, and the security people didn’t bat an eye.
My flight ended up delayed for about an hour, but otherwise, the flight itself was smooth. (Other than the little girl sitting in my seat when I finally boarded the plane, but that’s besides the point.)
Frankly, I’m not sure if Haneda airport had these festive decorations up last year, but they were super pretty!
Even with a delayed flight, I still made it just in time for my dinner reservation: Imahan, a famous sukiyaki place with locations all over Tokyo. It’s definitely on the bougie side, but my dad ate at one location in Tokyo proper, and encouraged me to try it. Thanks dad!
The atmosphere was super fancy, and the service was amazing. They even set a napkin on my purse (for smell? sauce splash?). I ordered the basic of the set menu, which comes with a veggie plate, 1 cut of loin, 2 cuts of thigh, pickles, soup, and unlimited rice and egg (supposedly, I never got to cash in this deal).
The waiter cooked the first loin piece for me first, and after explaining the rest of the ingredients, the rest was for me to cook to my liking. The beef was super tender, and was the perfect balance between chew and melt-in-your-mouth consistency. The sauce was tangy, sweet, and salty, and added a ton of flavor to everything it was cooked in. All of the vegetables were yummy, and I even ate the green onions, which after soaked in the sauce, were actually palatable (for me). The soup was a bit on the salty side, even for miso, and had some nametake mushrooms and tofu in it.
After the main meal was over, it was time for a secret(?) part of the menu: saucy egg on rice. I was wondering what the small spoon on the side was for, and I guess it was this. The waiter scrambled an egg with green onions in the remaining sauce, and then laid it on a little rice with some freshly cracked sansho pepper on top. It was very decadent, with the egg combined with the strong sauce. Too strong, that the egg mixture was too goopy and salty and there was not nearly enough rice to balance it out. I had to ask for more rice, and it seems the “free refills” does not apply. The waiter did give me another bowl of a small scoop, which helped immensely. The meal was really filling! Highly recommend as a treat, and for the experience. Reserving is good!
After walking around, and doing some accidental shopping, I entered security, after which I did more souvenir shopping. One was for myself, and the other mainly for my mom.
About 30 minutes before departure, we started boarding, at which point I realized this would be a board-a-bus-to-the-plane situation. This was my first time with a major airline that wasn’t a subsidiary or a low cost carrier doing it…Thanks ANA for making me carry all of my stuff up a flight of stairs into the plane.
The flight itself was fine. Though we took off a bit late, we did land pretty early due to winds! About a couple hours after takeoff (11pm or so), was “dinnertime”. The menu was the exact same as the menu I had when I flew home in June 2024, with mains between Chicken Teriyaki Over Steamed Rice or Beef Hamburger Steak with Italian Tomato Sauce. I got the chicken again. The meal comes with a smoked duck and potato salad (again), simmered daikon radish with minced chicken sauce (new), salad and dressing, cracker and butter, mineral water, and Haagen Dazs ice cream for dessert.
I suppose the simmered daikon is new, but to be honest, I preferred the cold veggies from June. The daikon thing was cold, with a pretty Japanese minced chicken gravy on it. I did not like the potato salad a whole lot last time, and this time was a bit better with the grain or bean thing on top. I did like the duck though. The meal was fine, but as an airplane meal, pretty good. Ice cream was clearly the best part.
Breakfast happened a couple hours or so before landing, and again was the same as June. The main was between Salmon Flakes and Egg Strips Over Steamed Rice and Tomato Penne and Chicken with Cream Sauce. I went for the salmon, again. The meal came with fruit and yogurt.
Meal was fine, and essentially the same as 6 months ago. Although, I did bring some strawberries with me from home that I meant to eat sometime in the day. They ended up jostled around in the Ziploc for so long that it was turning into jam. I put that in my yogurt, and that was a very good airplane hack.
Customs was super fast, my luggage for the first time came out fast, and I was out so much earlier than 6 months prior despite taking the exact same flight. Thanks to my parents for picking me up, and taking me to boba on the way home. <3
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