For weeks prior to any trip, I painstakingly research the best and most talked about restaurants in the cities I’m going to visit. Determined to savor every culinary moment, I pore over the internet, take copious notes, study menus, and carefully highlight the restaurants I want to visit. I look up food bloggers and travel articles. I peruse the “Top 10” lists. Then invariably, I arrive at my destination only to find a million others also googled the exact same eateries. There they are, all eagerly standing in line in front of me. Not one local person in sight. Just a bunch of hungry tourists. It happens all the time.
Last summer, I spent an entire month eating my way through Sapporo, a city located in Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido. This time, I wanted to go beyond Sapporo’s famous ramen and Jingisukan barbeque joints. So, I tried a different approach. I decided to do nothing. Yes, nothing. No prep. No homework. Why not show up in town, and ask the local shopkeepers, innkeepers, or the woman sitting next to me on the bus for their recommendations? And so I did.
I was thrilled to uncover 8 great places to eat in Sapporo thanks to the recommendations made by locals.
Taishu Sakaba Maruya Google Map
Taishu is a small, neighborhood izakaya serving Japanese pub food. The tiny standalone is sandwiched between an ominous 33-floor condo building and a babbling, tree-lined creek. The Grilled Ham was something I ordered by accident, and it turned out to be one of the best dishes I ate while in Sapporo. It looked and tasted more like a big fat slab of bacon. The Onigiri, steamed rice ball dusted with sesame seeds and kosher salt, is a delicious complement to the ham dish. I loved this place and ate here at least 3 times a week.
Recommended Dishes: Grilled Ham and Sesame Salt Onigiri.
Donabe Hamba-Gu Hokutosei Google Map
This place is like going to a circus. What catches your eyes the moment you walk in is the man behind a glass window flipping multiple beef patties on a flaming grill. The meaty aroma instantly captures your senses. At the other end of the room, a man blowtorches the tops of simmering iron pots filled with hamburger stew cooked with vegetables and other meat toppings. A waiter hurriedly grabs the hot pots and serves them to hungry customers sitting around the counter. Positively the best beef stew I’ve ever had.
Recommended Dish: Hamburger Stew with Veggies and Zangi
Miyoshino Google Map
If you only have 500 Yen (equivalent to $4.50) to spend on a hearty meal, this is the place to go. It’s Sapporo’s version of a fast-food chain. Miyoshino is a tiny 10-seater, counter-only diner in a space the size of a walk-in closet. Although they are best known for their spicy curry, the gyoza (wonton stuffed with seasoned ground pork) is their piece de resistance. Their service is quick, and their curry is spicy delicious.
Recommended Dish: Steamed Rice topped with Curry, Gyoza and Poached Eggs
Udon Ikkyu Google Map
If I had to choose between ramen and udon, I would pick udon hands down. Udon is a thick noodle soup with a rich, fish-based dashi broth. Ikkyu is located in a difficult-to-find alleyway off a busy street mall. The place seats five customers at the counter, and eight more people at two small tables in the back. Their hand-made udon is the only dish sold here, though you can choose several meat toppings including Sapporo’s famous Zangi – bite-sized chicken, deep-fried in potato starch. It’s tender on the inside, spicy crisp on the outside, and melts in your mouth at first bite. The service here is efficient – piping hot udon delivered to your table in less than 5 minutes.
Recommended Dish: Udon with Zangi Chicken topped with Poached Eggs
Moiwa Taiyo Shokudo Google Map
An Okinawan restaurant in the middle of Sapporo? Okinawa lies 1,500 miles south of Sapporo, so I was pleasantly surprised to find this gem of a place. It’s an easy streetcar ride from anywhere in the city. According to our waiter, the dish to order was the Pork Belly Stew with Daikon Radish and Bok Choy. I’m not much of a “pork” person, but this dish was heavenly. The braised pork sits in a sweet-savory broth made from Okinawan black sugar and a distilled liquor called Awamori. Absolutely outstanding.
Recommended Dish: Pork Belly Stew with Daikon
Mama No Mise Google Map
Eating a meal at Mama No Mise (Mother’s Place) is like having a home-cooked meal at your Mom’s. Mama-san shops every morning at the local markets and picks up whatever looks good to her. She shops randomly with no particular recipes in mind, and thus, menus are non-existent at her eatery. Tell her what you feel like eating and if she has the ingredients, she’ll cook it up for you. Mama-san’s tempura vegetables, dipped in batter and deep-fried, are to die for. Help yourself to the dozen or so appetizer dishes laid out buffet-style on the back counter – everything from fried rice to root vegetables cooked in soy sauce to pickled onions and cucumbers.
Recommended Dish: Vegetable Tempura Platter
Kushidori Google Map
Kushidori is another chain restaurant I fell in love with. Known for their Kamameshi “kettle” rice dishes, it takes about 35 minutes to cook in a small iron pot brought to your table. They also offer a wide array of meat skewers grilled over Binchotan charcoal (Japanese charcoal from Wakayama Prefecture) adding a light smoky flavor to the meat skewers.
Recommended Dishes: Pork or Chicken Kamameshi, Mochi Bacon Skewers, and Teba Chicken Wing skewers
Sushi Toriton Toyohira Google Map
A local friend told me, “Fresh sushi on a conveyer belt at budget prices.” The moment you enter Toriton, you’re thrust into a world of overwhelming madness with customers sitting around an oblong-shape counter yelling their orders to the sushi chefs. The chefs, in turn, repeat the orders by shouting to the sous chefs standing behind them. Meanwhile, a revolving conveyer belt ferrying plates of fresh sushi rolls spin by you as if you’re at a sushi NASCAR race. Choose from crab, shrimp, scallop, tuna, eel, yellowtail, octopus, you name it. The place is utterly entertaining. And my friend was right….really good sushi at really cheap prices.
Recommended Dishes: Eel, scallops, and shrimp nigiri
Finding incredible alternatives in a town crammed with ramen shops and seafood joints can be challenging, but once I got the locals to share their favorite places, I experienced a deeper understanding of the Japanese and their passion for food. Staying in Sapporo for a month also allowed me to frequent these places multiple times in order to ensure the food remained consistent.
Coffee shops with their smorgasbord of uninspiring menu items are non-existent in Sapporo as in most of Japan. The Japanese don’t seem to believe in mediocrity when it comes to food. With the exception of izakaya pubs, most places specialize in one or two dishes (or food categories) and focus on perfecting that dish to a tee whether it’s curry rice, udon noodles, or beef stew. It’s all about doing one thing artfully well.
If you haven’t guessed yet, beer is the drink of choice in this town. Sapporians are very proud of their hometown brew and namesake, Sapporo Beer. So drink up and enjoy a beer with every meal.
