On April 11th, my dad came to Hokkaido to visit me! He had work in Japan the days prior, and since it was his birthday, it was a good opportunity to spend some time together! I stayed the Friday night, so thanks to my dad for reserving a hotel for me!
April 11th: I left on the soonest bus after work, and arrived around 7:30! I met up with my dad in Sapporo, and after checking in to the hotel, we left for dinner. My dad was craving grilled food, so we initially tried the yakitori place next door (long line), and then yakiniku place (full of reservations). My dad remembered I had a ramen place I wanted to try, so we headed to Susukino.
This is my boyfriend’s favorite ramen chef, and he used to be the head chef at Ramen Ichi (the place that has new flavors monthly). He was doing tonkotsu pop-ups every now and then, and somewhat recently opened up his own tonkotsu ramen shop. He also does limited time menus, including this tirple garlic fried rice that sounded really good. Because we were getting a fried rice, I opted for a basic tonkotsu ramen. My dad saw someone else get the gyoza, and he thought it looked good, so we got one as well.
I have to admit, this was some pretty good tonkotsu. The broth was rice with a complex porky flavor, and a bit of fat throughout. The chashu pieces were thinly sliced, and melted in my mouth. There was also a piece of nori, and wood ear mushroom. I love Hakata-style thin noodles, and the ones here were nice and chewy, but I think there was a clump that was stuck together and not cooked through and separated properly.
The fried rice was really good! Flavor-wise it reminded me of Benihana’s fried rice, which makes sense because the secret ingredient is garlic butter. I will say, the rice was on the mushy side, and I think it’s because they used fresh rice out of the rice cooker. Pretty Japanese-style fried rice, but still good. The gyoza was a good size and plump, with a thick chewy skin and juicy inside. Not too spicy despite how it looks!
On our way to my parfait of choice for the night, we passed by a Kushidori. My dad wanted to get a few skewers, so we entered, and got a seat right away! We got a pork, chicken, beef tongue each, and my dad got a wasabi chicken. Oh, and an edamame for fiber.
All had a nice charred flavor! The beef tongue was a bit chewy, the pork a little dry (but expected), and the chicken was very juicy.
My parfait place was next door, and we were also seated right away! My dad got the pistachio raspberry, and I opted for the seasonal houjicha and matcha parfait. Mine had almond tuile, houjicha gelato, soft serve, Uji matcha blancmange, housemade butter cookie with almond, matcha ice cream, and shiratama.
I really liked everything in this one! The almond cookie on top was crispy, and rich in buttery flavor. The houjicha and matcha gelato was strong in flavor, and very creamy. The matcha cream was super interesting, as it was thick, very matcha-y, and a super creamy texture. The cookie crumble was also buttery, and went well with all the cream. I always like a classic shiratama.
April 12th: My dad’s flight was at 4pm, so we had some time together in the morning to grab food!
After checking out around 10, my dad and I headed to his favorite coffee shop to grab some breakfast! They are very much a coffee shop with no tea on the menu, so I opted for an iced chocolate and a gateau chocolat to eat. My dad got a toast with ice cream, and tried their seasonal sakura latte.
The iced chocolate was ok. It didn’t just taste like a cold chocolate milk (though that’s what it is), and you can tell it was more than that, but it didn’t really have a rich flavor. It was light and refreshing, with a bit of cocoa-ness, but nothing special. The cake was good, a bit dry, but rich with chocolate flavor, and went well with the fluffy whipped cream on the side.
For lunch, I wanted to bring my dad to Kurobekoya to get their roast beef bowl. I had sent him a picture before, and he seemed interested in coming. Last time I came here around opening time there were no customers, but the day we had a bit of a time crunch people decide to line up. It seemed like we could squeeze it into our schedule, so we decided to wait.
We managed to get in around 12:30, and our order took around 15 minutes to be prepared. Real on-time timing! We both got the half steak and half roast beef, but I got the normal portion. I opted for the salt sauce for my steak.
I liked the half steak better than the half beef tongue. Although I usually like tongue more as a meat, the steak worked better here, being perfectly chewy, flavorful, and went well with the rest of the bowl. The beef tongue last time was good, but got cold and chewy real fast…
We finished up our lunch, retrieved our luggage from the hotel, and I saw my dad off at Sapporo station. It really was good timing, because he just made the super express train to the airport. I spent some time back at the Bandai shop hunting for new gacha, and then headed to the Daimaru basement. Nana’s is close by, and their new seasonal parfait looked really good. It’s made to resemble a strawberry mochi, and includes strawberry, red bean, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, a mochi topping, with strawberry sauce and little shiratama on the bottom. It also came with some strawberry sauce on the side too!
I really liked this one. The flavors all really went well together, and there was plenty of everything to go around. The tangy strawberry sauce balanced out the sweet ice cream and cream perfectly. The baby shiratama were cute, and my favorite part of the parfait.
I went to go check out the current Daimaru event, which was a Hokkaido small business “good stuff” marche. The handmade stuff was cute, but a little too rustic (and expensive) for my taste. Instead, I headed to the food section, and I bought bagel and an apple pie.
The apple pie stand was akso selling custard pies, and a few people before my turn, a staff member anounced that there would only be 3 left for the day. I had this quick thought that if I was a mean person, I could just buy out their stock. However, I am not mean, and also have no interest in the custard pie.
I ate my apple pie the next morning after heating it up in my fish grill toaster. The exterior was so crispy and flaky, and the inside was filled with mildly flavored apple slices.
I went down a few floors, grabbed boba, and then headed to the bus stop. Read about my boba here!
And then I got on the bus at 4 to go home!
This time I stayed at Hotel Gracery Sapporo, and specifically, in the Ladies’ Room. What makes this room different from a normal room is that it come with bonus “women’s” amenities. This includes a ReFa branded shower head with 4 modes, a beauty roller, a hair dryer, and a hair iron, as well as a face mask, and a skin care set. There was also a face steamer, but that didn’t work. (Or maybe I am dumb…) Thanks dad for the room!
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