I went out to Sapporo on October 21st, because I figured it was about time to go out of town again, and also various events happened to line up that weekend, which made it all the better to go.
First up on the agenda after getting off the bus was checking out the China Festival happening at the Akarenga Plaza. Apparently it’s to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Peace and Friendship Treaty between Japan and China. I was planning on checking it out at some point during the day, but since the bus stop is basically right there and I had about an hour to kill until my planned lunch spot, I figured I’d just check it out first thing in the morning, and maybe get a morning snack while I was at it because I was hungry.
There were a few food booths selling various genres of Chinese food, and for some reason a couple of booths selling more typical Japanese street food. The China Fest was small as it was already, but there were still Japanese booths? Along with that, a couple of Chinese supermarkets had pop-up booths, a panda merch booth, and various what seemed like beauty supplement and tea booths. I’m not going to lie, a ton of the Chinese snacks were very tempting, and if I didn’t already have tea eggs at home I would have gotten one. The first thing I got was a you tiao, or fried dough, very typical of a Chinese breakfast. They were being freshly fried, and I was thankful that it was still crispy, and the texture was taste was very satisfying. I wish it was slightly hotter and fried fresh to order, but maybe it was because I came right in the morning and they weren’t constantly selling them It came in a set with hot soy milk for 500, but I just got it by itself.
Although lunch would be soon I still felt hungry, and wanted to get something else while I was there. I saw a sign for pan-fried buns and it looked good and more unique (aka not as available in Japan) compared to other things that were being sold, and I have a weakness for crispy things.
There was what looked like a sample lying on the table, and that looked really good. When I got mine though, the color did not look nearly as nicely crispy as I would like, but I acknowledge that I like my crispy things crispier (and perhaps ‘burnt’ to some) than others. It was fine, the bun itself was fluffy and had the classic Chinese bun flavor, and although it was pretty big, the actual bun was really flat, not to mention, with very little filling. The flavor was nice, but the amount was dissappointing.
Also, there was this booth that was selling boba. This lady there kept trying to sell it to me, saying it’s fresh milk tea and from Taiwan. Now I like boba, and though this was a limited time event, I had other boba plans for the day…
I still had some time, so I went to check out the Soba Festival at Odori Park 8-Chome. I didn’t get anything, but even though it was barely 11:00 am, the venue was packed with people and lines to get soba. Aside from soba, there was a soba souvenir shop, a soba pulling workshop, along with other food stalls, including an oden stand, a tempura stand, an eel sushi stand, and a buckwheat flour dessert stand. These didn’t need tickets to buy food, unlike the soba booths which were selling tickets separately to be exchanged for actual plates of soba. I was pleasantly surprised when the eel sushi stand was giving out free samples. That was nice.
I walked the underground path toward my lunch spot, and along the way, I found that the Hatsune Miku mini exhibition was back coincidentally this weekend. I remember the one from last year, and it really served as a reminder that I’ve been here for at least a year…
Before my lunch spot, I made a quick pit stop at Formosa in the Sitatte building, to see if they still have their take-out options that I saw the last time I was there (I was contemplating getting some food to eat when I left Sapporo). To my surprise their menu has changed drastically since the last time I was there, and I was quite dissappinted by the current menu…Anyone remember the first time I went? That was also a year ago…
Anyway, with that, I made my way over to Shabu Shabu Retasu, a hot pot place on my radar. The temperature dipped for the first time in a while, so it felt like the perfect time to get back into hot pot season. They opened at 11:30, and I did arrive a few minutes early, getting in line behind a few other people waiting for the store to open. I did consider making a reservation in case, but for whatever reason only 1 of the 3 online reservation sites allowed for one person reservations (even though this place advertises it as perfect for solo eaters?), and it looked pretty open, so I decided that it should be okay if I just go at opening time.
I was first attracted by their lunch time deal, but upon further investigation, the lunch deal was exclusive to weekdays. However, along with the normal all-you-can-eat tiers, they also had a “luxurious” weekend lunch set. I went with that since it sounded pretty well-rounded, and after my morning snacks I was not nearly as hungry as I would have liked to make ayce worth it (oops, but not really). Plus, I didn’t want to overstuff myself at lunchtime.
The lunch set includes an appetizer place with prosciutto carpaccio, tomato caprese, and pickled vegetables. It uses their ponzu, sesame sauce, and truffle oil. I liked the prosciutto, and the cucumber slices it came with added a nice textural crunch to it. The tomato caprese was nice (as a tomato person), and I think it was topped with a cream cheese. The last item seemed more like a potato salad with pickled vegetables in it, which was fine. I did like the crunchy things that were on top of all of them. It seemed like fried garlic, but I’ll never know. All in all, very interesting for a hot pot place.
Their normal menu has 8 different choices of soup bases, but the lunch set comes with their signature Umami Japanese dashi (it’s probably what I would have gotten anyway). Next came the seasonal vegetable box, and then the small bowl of 7 types of mushrooms. As a mushroom girlie, I liked this. There was a choice between white rice and 10 grain rice, and obviously I went with the white (Tabelog says that the rice comes with refills, but when I asked the girl who took my order, she seemed confused, so I didn’t want to bother her further and gave up on extra rice). Last was beef and pork platter. It was aesthetic, yes, but I could have gone with extra meat…Oh, and the set comes with a drink, of which I went with iced Jasmine tea, and a dessert, of which I chose the matcha tiramisu.
Their sauce bar was very fancy, with various oils, salts, along with the standard soy sauce and ponzu, but with added fanciness, ha!. I just went with the standard ponzu because that’s usually what I eat my hot pot with, and the honey soy sauce sounded interesting so I got that. Oh my goodness I’d go back for the honey soy sauce, that was amazing.
All in all, everything was very good in terms of taste and quality. I cant complain with regards to the lunch set itself. Personally, I liked the mushroom assortment, but not all of the vegetables in the box were not my thing (there definitely was a variety included though). I also could have used more meat; with only three slices of pork and 2 slices of beef, I had to be very careful about rationing it out…I momentarily regretted not getting the ayce option once I actually started cooking my vegetables and meat, but I did leave pretty full and relatively satisfied.
To compare to the other two shabu places in Sapporo I’ve tried (these are all national chains I believe): Yes, I didn’t get Retasu’s ayce but I did preview the menu and literally got a taste of it. I suppose price does make a difference upon comparing the beef courses; all of them start with a pork-only base, with the next level up adding beef. Retasu is little more expensive than Onyasai, which is more than You, but each selection of other stuff looks more varied and beef is better quality than the next (though Onyasai has two beef options). Retasu is the only one with a sauce bar is which is cool, and I like the matcha tiramisu here better (this one was more melty, whereas Onyasai’s is pretty dry). I’d definitely like to come back when hungrier for the full ayce experience.
I had some business in the Tokyu building, so I headed their first to do some shopping. Unfortunately, the GU was sold out of the recent Kirby collaboration, but I did snag a pair of the pjs online the day it came out (I hope I didn’t get the wrong size)…With some time left before I met up with my boyfriend and his friend, I was on the hunt for a new carry-on suitcase. Pro-tip: If you’re looking for a suitcase in Sapporo for a reasonable price, I’d recommend Bic Camera. Stellar Place is useless, and unless you have no budget, don’t try Daimaru, which is filled with luxury brands, but actually has a few travel-focused stores with some suitcase selection.
Anyway, I ended up in Daimaru with perfect timing, as the pair I was waiting for just finished lunch. Why were we meeting at Daimaru? The Sapporo leg of the Spy x Family Exhibition was happenening for a few weeks, and we already booked our tickets (to be used anyday, and booking ahead gives you a discount as opposed to the day of). My boyfriend actually had a friend visit him for the weekend, so he stayed the weekend with him.
It was pretty cool as a Spy Family fan! It was basically like a visual summary of the show so far, along with some real life props and recreation of scenes, and some original manga drafts and panels. Of course I had to get something from the souvenir shop…
For my boba of the day, I headed to The Alley for their new limited-time Halloween drink. Read about my boba here!
I had about 30 minutes left before my bus would actually arrive, and by this point, since I didn’t have an afternoon snack (I was thinking of some ice cream earlier but didn’t get the chance to get any), I was getting a bit hungry. Since the bus stop was at Akarenga, and I was there to wait for the bus, I went inside the building to peruse the options for take-out (remember I tried scouting earlier?).
I ended up at Rikyu, a beef tongue chain I hadn’t been to before, and I saw they had some bento options. I couldn’t help myself, and got the normal beef tongue 3 piece bento. Now, I ended up not eating it until the day after, but after microwaving it, everything still tasted amazing. The bento came with beef tongue, tender with a smoky charcoal flavor, pickles, some spicy nanban miso (not a huge fan), barley rice, and this packet in the lower right box that wasn’t labeled. When I ate it, the contents were tender cubes of what I presumed to be beef in some sweet, savory sauce. I liked it, but still have no idea what it’s supposed to be.
Then I got on the 5 bus home! The next Sapporo Diaries is going to be a three-day weekend stay!
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