Hokkaido trip

May 18, 2023

Last weekend I got to spend a few days in Sapporo. This was my second time there, and it’s a nice change from Osaka. Warning: Lots of raw seafood pics. ๐Ÿฃ

First day, we decided to meet up with a friend to get sushi at a place called Hanamaru. Unfortunately, we went to the sushi bar one instead of the less expensive kaitenzushi one. On the other hand, there was zero wait time and we were really tired.

The next day, the first thing on our list was to find a soup curry place. In Susukino, the area we were in, there were quite a few options. I wasn’t too into the idea of soup curry though, since I had it once before in Kanagawa and it was just okay. But this place was really close to the hotel and had high reviews. When we got there, we were slightly disappointed to see that they had a campaign where you get 10% off if you write a review.

I got the kakuni (braised pork belly) and, BAAABYYY, that first bite made me raise an eyebrow. Just melt in your mouth goodness. ๐ŸคŒ Since then I’ve been looking around for places in Osaka that do authentic Hokkaido soup curry. The reviews told no lies, the food was good. The restaurant is called Sapporo Soup Curry Dan.

After a bit of walking around, we headed back to the hotel to get some rest before going to the music event we were technically there for. Again, conveniently right near the hotel there was an ice cream place. Hokkaido is #1 when it comes to dairy in Japan, so it was a no-brainer to get some! ๐Ÿฆ

A few hours of rest later and it was time for even more food in the form of an all-you-can-eat Jingisukan dinner. Jingisukan is basically just lamb yakiniku, and they had different kinds of cuts and seasonings. It was delicious but didn’t beat the soup curry we had earlier.

The music event went on super long into the morning and it was freezing getting back to the hotel. Our friend made us stop to get miso ramen on the way, which I was smart enough to say no to. 4 am ramen is a good idea if you’re like 22. ๐Ÿ˜ฎโ€๐Ÿ’จ I did have a couple bites and, unsurprisingly, it was amazing.

On Sunday, we got to go back to the awesome farm we went to on the last visit. Machimura Farm Milk Garden is such a calming place. Immediately when we stepped out of the car we were hit with the smell…of a real animal farm. ๐Ÿ˜…

The weather was perfectโ€”so windy and picturesque. ๐ŸŒฟ

Mascarpone and honey ๐Ÿ’–

Now we had to move quickly as time was limited, so we zipped around to different locations on the way to our friend’s place. The goal was to recreate a fancy sushi bowl at half the price by buying seafood from a little sashimi place and supermarket.

It was sooo good! Unfortunately, sea urchin wasn’t in season yet, so it contained the usual preservatives(?) that makes it have this sort of bitter taste. I love sea urchin, fresh and in season or bitter, so I got to eat it all. ๐Ÿ˜ˆ The scallops were incredible. 10/10 would recommend.

Yup. Mother’s day sea urchin. Only in Hokkaido. ๐Ÿ˜‰

And that’s about it! As you can see, I didn’t really post about the music event. Food basically runs my life. ๐Ÿ˜‹ The trip was tiring but so much fun! I got home via the last train and had work the next morning on Monday…

Here’s where things go downhill. I felt a little weird at work and then at night I had a 39.3ยฐC (102.7ยฐF) fever. ๐Ÿค’ It’s now Thursday and I’m finally out of the 38s… Covid and flu tests were negative. It was really warm during the day and then basically winter at night during the trip, so maybe I just caught some random sever cold being around lots of people in that weather. I usually don’t get to make good memories without paying some sort of price. ๐Ÿ˜ญ

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