Savoring Sapporo's Specialties, Part 4 -- Breakfast with Buta at Drive In Ito, New Chitose Airport

All good things must come to an end.  It was time to say good bye to our short, fun working visit to Sapporo and head back to reality.

Nana san and I had separate late morning flights back to Tokyo so we headed to Sapporo station bright and early to catch the train to the airport.

Quick! A selfie before entering the station!

It was rush hour so the train to New Chitose Airport was full of commuters -- we had to wait for the next one before we could get on board.

New Chitose Airport is chock-full of shops and eating places.   It's even more interesting than
Narita Airport. The restaurants are one floor above the departure level so after checking in our bags, we checked out where we could have a quick but delicious meal.
Pork in the road immediately zoomed in on this corner place that featured piggy decor and furnishings.  Buta or pig for breakfast would be the perfect last meal in Sapporo!

This is Drive In Ito, a Sapporo restaurant specialising in pork.  Apparently, the original restaurant is a drive-in place,  hence the name.   Perhaps here at New Chitose Airport, this branch should be called Fly In Ito!

The cute mascot at the entrance holds up the restaurant's famous dish, butadon or pork and rice bowl.

Even at this hour of the morning, there were some die hard pork aficionados  who were tucking into their savoury breakfasts.  My kind of people!  This was definitely not the skinny latte crowd.

 This is the piece de resistance at Drive In Ito.  A huge bowl of porky scrumptiousness.
Slices of tender, utterly divine pork marinated and grilled with a piquant, lip smacking sauce covered this bowl of hot, sticky Japanese rice.  
Toku betsu. So special.
Shita ga tokeru -- it melted in my mouth.
Drive In Ito's butadon was one of the best pork dishes I have ever had!

 Our happy faces certainly attested to the delightful eating we enjoyed at Drive In Ito.  Oh yes, that and our near-empty bowls.

So farewell for now,  Sapporo and New Chitose Airport.  If I ever make my way back here,
I certainly know what my first meal will be ... butadon at Drive In Ito on the 3rd floor!

Savoring Sapporo's Specialties, Part 3 -- Doing Genghis Khan proud at Aji no Hitsujigaoka

This was my first trip to Sapporo and since I was going to be there for all of two days, I wanted to discover her tastes and specialties as much as I could in the short time that I had.   

It was a good thing that my young colleague Nana san,  who was with me for this business trip, had the same thing on her mind.  She had done her "due diligence" as to what and where we should eat.

It was our last evening in Sapporo and we had just come from a successful launch of our project. 

To celebrate, we headed to Susukino, Sapporo's famous "red-light district".  A bit of a misnomer perhaps because while all the clubs, bars and entertainment centres are here, this is also where you can find very good restaurants, cafes and high end stores and shops.  

Susukino plays a major role each year at Sapporo's Yuki Matsuri or Snow Festival.  It is one of the three areas where the festival is held.  This long ice corridor sponsored by Kirin had thousands of tiny twinkling multi-coloured fairy lights - truly a dazzling display.

This long street in the Susukino district was the site of  the ice sculpture competitions.  

The judging would be done the next day but some contestants were still putting the finishing touches on their entries.  It was - 5 degrees that night and I could just imagine how cold it must have been to be working with ice and standing on the snowdrifts around these sculptures.

While I had seen and marvelled at the gigantic snow sculptures in Odori Park, these smaller but very detailed ice carvings were no less impressive.  

This was one of my favourites. Now where can I get that giant can of Sapporo beer?

Viewing all these original and creative ice sculptures finally took its toll on us.  We were hungry, thirsty and yes -- we needed to get in from the frigid night air.  Thankfully, we finally arrived at our dinner destination.  Here are my colleagues in front of Aji no Hitsujigaoka -- one of Sapporo's best places that serves a local favourite ... jingisukan.

A narrow flight of stairs led us to the second floor where the restaurant was.  There was just one long counter good for about 20 diners -- and because we had reservations, we were able to grab the last few seats.  

These domed hot grills have blazing charcoal briquettes inside and are the basic cooking implements for jingisukan.  Interesting factoid -- the dish is named after Genghis Khan, the great Mongolian warrior.  Jingisukan is essentially grilled mutton -- a meat that was associated with the Mongolian tribes, hence the name.  It is also said that these skillets look like the helmets that were used during Genghis' time. 

At the restaurant, these skillets are placed in front of the diners as jingisukan involves cooking your own meal.

To spare diners' clothes from splatters paper aprons are de rigueur at jingisukan restaurants.  

Here's how the aprons looked like, as modelled by my colleagues Hashi san and Okamoto san.

Nothing goes better with grilled meat and barbecue than a mug of cold beer.  And when in Sapporo, it must be  Sapporo Classic -- a beer sold only in Hokkaido.

We ordered mutton to start off with.  The lady behind the counter lined the sides of the hot grill with assorted vegetables --  bean sprouts, slices of bell peppers, cabbage pieces.  She left space in the centre -- this was where the meat would be cooked.

Aside from the vegetables and the meat, another key ingredient of jingisukan is sheep lard -- that's the white chunk in centre of the grill.   The  charcoal embers rendered the lard which then coated the metal and kept the meat from sticking to the grill.  The sizzle coming from frying lard and meat gave off such a tantalising aroma.

 We cooked our mutton on the hot grill and the meat juices slid down to the vegetables, making them even more tasty.  Mutton does not need a lot of cooking time -- medium rare is the best way to enjoy  it.  The mutton at Aji no Hitsuijigaoka was tender and not at all gamey.  Even if mutton has very little marbling compared to beef,  each cooked piece was juicy and tender and it was oh so easy to eat slice after delightful slice.   I was in the throes of mutton mania!

 We had a bit of  space left in our stomachs so we ordered  sausages.  They were quite mild and not as spicy or strong flavoured so perhaps they were made of lamb and not mutton -- which is the meat from older sheep.  The sausages were excellent  and  went very well with the beer.

 We certainly ate a lot of jingisukan that night at Aji no Hitsujigaoka.  Genghis Khan would have approved.  Stuffed with sheep lard and meat,  faces warmed from the beer and the hot grill,
we stepped out of the restaurant, ready to face the frosty February night.
But first,  one last "group-fie" before we ended our most satisfying last night in Sapporo.

Savoring Sapporo's Specialties, Part 2 -- Spiny Hairy Crab and more at Yosuko

Hokkaido, the major island where Sapporo is located, is surrounded by cold northern seas and thus there is an abundance of all types of seafood.

For dinner on our first night in Sapporo, my colleagues from Tokyo said that we would go to a  Chinese restaurant specialising in seafood.   

This did not sit quite well with me, as I wondered why on earth would I want to eat sweet and sour fish and pancit canton in Sapporo?  They said we would go to Yosuko, highly recommended by Sapporo natives.

Yosuko  must be really popular -- the cab driver knew where to take us right away.  

We traveled through  snow bound streets until we reached this simple, unremarkable building. 

The restaurant is located on a street corner in a quiet area.  Note the slippery icy walk  leading to the entrance.

I love these unpretentious, casual eating places where the food and not the ambience is the centre of attention.  I felt much better when I saw that Yosuko did not seem like a typical Chinese  restaurant -- perhaps I wouldn't have to eat sweet and sour fish after all. 

Despite the snow and freezing temperature outside,  cold Sapporo beer was the perfect drink to start with.   While we were enjoying our beer, I told my colleagues about my initial misgivings about eating in a "chinese" restaurant.  

They were so amused   -- I needn't have worried they said.   Yosuko is a seafood restaurant with both chinese and japanese dishes.  It's also labelled as a Chinese restaurant because of the name -- Yosuko is a  Japanese name for the Yangtze river.

Hai, so desu ne!

Because it was the season and because it is a Sapporo specialty, it was practically mandatory to order Hokkaido kegani or spiny hairy crab.   One colossal crustacean was big enough to feed all four of us.

This prodigious crab claw yielded quite a bit of delectable crab meat.  The kitchen had thoughtfully slit the claws open so all I  had to do was to scoop out the sweet delicate flesh.

We were all given these little stainless steel utensils to help push out the crabmeat from the claws.   That certainly made it easier and less painful -- those spiny hairy crab legs were no joke.

We started with the crab and a large order of sashimi moriawase -- it was excellent!  The tuna was cut from near the belly and therefore fattily succulent.  There were slices of what looked like a large clam which at first glance seemed tough and chewy but was the exact opposite.  

Plump scallops, a type of crawfish, large chunks of fish roe and translucent slices of white fish completed the choices on the table.

This golden yellow coloured piece which looks suspiciously like a fruit  is a very fine, very firm piece of fish roe.  It had a unique, briny,  fresh- from-the-sea taste.  Thoughts of sustainability crept into my mind -- my porcine alter ego gently pushed them away.

Another dish that my colleagues ordered was shirako in a spicy shoyu sauce.  I like eating shirako but more than that, I enjoy asking my Japanese friends just what it is.  

Of course I know what it is -- it's fish sperm sacs, usually cod's.  But I secretly enjoy seeing the normally polite Japanese hesitate as to how they could properly explain just what it is.  

I specially remember one who blurted out to me --"it's fish testicles!" then blushed a deep beet red.

How about this ugly prehistoric looking fish? This is called hakkaku -- in english, it's known as a sail fin poacher fish.  It looked like a throwback from the Jurassic era but my colleagues assured me it tasted much better than it looked.  Hakkaku is another fish  commonly seen in Sapporo's fish markets.

 The hakkaku had been carefully deboned then stuffed again with its own flesh mixed with miso and negi,  a leek like vegetable.  The slightly charred hakkaku skin gave way to a rich, creamy, salty deliciousness.

 One for the road or one more dish before we officially declared ourselves as onaka ippai.
This is awabi or abalone karaage.  We should have eaten this once it was served but we were too busy demolishing the hakkaku.  It had cooled and become chewy by the time I got my chopsticks into it -- zannen desu ne.

 Here are my three young colleagues from Tokyo who were with me on this business trip. A big arigato to them for taking me to discover Sapporo's seafood delicacies at Yosuko!

Savoring Sapporo's Specialties, Part 1 -- Aji no Sanpei, birthplace of Miso Ramen

Sapporo, capital of Hokkaido, seems to be quite a food destination.  When Japanese colleagues learned that I was headed to this city, they all said that I was in for some excellent eating experiences.

Thankfully, I was with a young colleague who was quite a foodie and who was also visiting Sapporo for the very first time.  She had done research before we left and had a comprehensive list of restaurants that were "must try's".

We had just two nights  in Sapporo so I was quite sure we would barely scratch the surface of her list.  We both agreed that each meal would have to be memorable and that we would try as much of Sapporo's specialties as we could.  And we would make sure not eat the same thing twice.

On our first afternoon in Sapporo -- to  acclimatise ourselves to the bone chilling weather, we decided to warm up with a bowl of quintessential Sapporo ramen.

My colleague Nana san and I headed for the Central building right in the heart of downtown Sapporo.  It is just across the Mitsukoshi department store.

Since Central houses a large store devoted to stationaries and art supplies,  I couldn't quite believe that it hid a ramen restaurant.  But there it was -- right on the shop guide itself.  

Ramen on the 4th floor!

I almost missed the noren marking the entrance to Aji no Sanpei as it was discreetly tucked behind shelves and shelves of cards and note pads.

It may look small and rather nondescript but Aji no Sanpei is widely revered as the birthplace of miso ramen. Started in the 1950s by the current chef's father,  miso ramen has also become known as "Sapporo style ramen".  

Awards, certificates and other commendations are framed on the plain white walls of Aji no Sanpei, attesting to its importance in the culinary heritage of Sapporo.

There are only 12 counter seats in this ramen shop.  I was told the lines are always so long but since we arrived way past lunchtime, we didn't have to queue.
While waiting for our order, we watched the team of cooks prepare our ramen - under the watchful eyes of the ramen master.  There was quite a bit of high heat sautéing going on!

We both ordered Aji no Sanpei's iconic bowl of miso ramen.  In addition to the stir fried bean sprouts and other vegetables, there are bits of ground meat to give depth and more flavour to the bowl.
The broth is made from pork bones and while I would have preferred a lighter, smoother stock it was savoury and delicious.
The waiter told us that the miso was placed at the bottom of the bowl and that we should stir it well to enjoy the right taste.

Aji no Sanpei uses medium thick curly ramen noodles -- cooked al dente with just the right bite.
It was a most satisfying bowl and even if miso ramen is not my favourite,   I definitely appreciated the experience of eating it right in the restaurant where it was first "invented".

Launching Visit Philippines Year at the 2015 Yuki Matsuri in Sapporo

I enjoy really cold weather -- perhaps because I live in a country where the seasons are called "hot" and "hotter".  So when an opportunity to go the very famous Snow Festival or Yuki Matsuri in Sapporo presented itself,  I knew I had to go.

I flew in from Tokyo on an early morning flight. From New Chitose Airport where we landed, it was a forty minute train ride into metropolitan Sapporo.  This is the snowbound landscape that was on view from my rather dirty train window.

I could see nothing but snow, snow everywhere!  The streets,  sidewalks and houses were covered with it.  It was bright and sunny but the temperature outside was a few degrees below zero.  

After checking in at the hotel, it was time to go around the city and check out the preparations for the Yuki Matsuri.  I immediately fell in love with  Sapporo's small-city,  friendly, laid back vibe.   

The streets were wide, set out in a grid like style and there were no tall skyscrapers that blocked out the sky and hemmed you in.  I felt a sense of spaciousness that I definitely never felt in Tokyo.  

Odori Park, main site of the Snow Festival cut across several blocks and is anchored on one end by the Sapporo TV tower which looked quite familiar -- a smaller cousin of the Tokyo Tower.

I arrived the afternoon before the opening day of the Snow Festival but many of the ice and snow sculptures were already in place.   

Most of them were sponsored by big Japanese companies -- such as this (literally) ice cold giant mug from Suntory.

People were busy putting the finishing touches to this huge ramp which would be used for the snowboarding competitions.

Just like any festival, there were many  booths selling special food and beverages -- most of them specialties from all around Hokkaido and even from other places around Japan.

There were also booths selling souvenirs - lots of kawaii stuff that can be quite hard to resist.

There were a number of major snow sculptures at the festival.  One of the bigger ones was this 

Star Wars spectacle with Darth Vader looking not quite as menacing in his all white get up.  

The sculptures were awesome  -- the bigger ones were  done by the Japanese self-defense forces and were created using bulldozers plus a lot of  technical and precise engineering and creative techniques.

Smaller snow sculptures  done by citizens and volunteer groups dotted the sides of Odori Park.

This is how cold the afternoon was ... -3C.  With the sun about to go down, I anticipated the temperature to drop by another degree or two.

I passed by these snow figures of a mother and son -- the little boy was obviously enjoying his rotenburo or open air bath.   

Nara prefecture  sponsored this large snow sculpture of the Kasuga Taisha shrine.  

And this was the main reason why I had to be here at the 2015 Yuki Matsuri.  

Because 2015 is Visit Philippines Year,  the organisers of the Yuki Matsuri had invited the Philippines to participate as the featured country for the Festival.

Our very own Manila Cathedral, all done up in snow, was right in the main square of Odori Park.

The Japanese self defense forces certainly outdid themselves -- the Cathedral had been captured perfectly, in all its Romanesque glory.  

The carvings of the saints, the imposing rose glass window on top, the intricate carvings, even the latin words on the doors  -- they had all been painstakingly and lovingly sculpted in snow.

Right across the Cathedral  was the cheerful and colourful Philippine booth -- ready for tomorrow's influx of festival visitors.  It was a great way to show off the Philippines to the many domestic and foreign tourists that would visit the Festival.  Each year,  visitors average from  2.5 to 3 million  during the week-long event.   Yuki Matsuri is one of Japan's premier and most popular festivals.

The next day, the Festival officially opened at 9:00 at the Manila Cathedral site.
The Department of Tourism brought in folk dancers from Manila who performed for the large crowd in their bright and vibrant Filipiniana outfits -- to lots of applause and great success.
They would continue to perform twice a day for the whole duration of the Yuki Matsuri.
The warmth and beauty of the Philippines was definitely on display on this bitingly cold, sub-zero day in Sapporo.