Must-try foods in Sapporo! 6 traditional, long-established and trending new foods

Hatsumi Ito

A gourmet blogger who eats and drinks at over 400 restaurants a year. He posts gourmet information on Twitter (@hatsu823) and other SNS.
Host of the online salon "Tokyo Gourmet Salon" limited to 140 people. "Gourmet is communication" is his life theme.

"Kofuji Local Cuisine" is a famous restaurant where you can enjoy fresh seafood at reasonable prices.

"Kofuji Local Cuisine" is a long-established restaurant founded in 1960 and located just a three-minute walk from Sapporo Station.
The entrance is at the bottom of the stairs in the basement, and when you enter the store, a cheerful and lively staff member will greet you with "Welcome!"

When you enter the store, the first thing you see is the counter. Fresh seafood is lined up in a glass case. No frozen products are used, and you can enjoy carefully selected seasonal seafood procured daily from the central market at reasonable prices.

If you go further from the counter to the back of the shop, you'll find sunken kotatsu seats and a large tatami room, where you can relax and unwind. The secret to its popularity is the space. At lunchtime, the shop fills up with local customers!

First, let's toast with some local Hokkaido sake, "Special Junmai Cool Otokoyama" and "Junmai Namasake Kita no Homare"!

You can enjoy alcohol from lunchtime, but the weekday lunch set menu featuring grilled fish such as black cod and Atka mackerel is also very popular with local business people.

If you hear that you can taste fresh seafood, you can't go wrong with "sea urchin and salmon roe"! So of course I ordered the "Sea urchin and salmon roe bowl (medium) with miso soup" (3,410 yen including tax). The moment it was served, I couldn't help but exclaim "Wow!" The sparkling sea urchin and salmon roe had a great visual impact!

The bowl is filled with so much sea urchin and salmon roe that you can no longer see the rice. It's so full it looks like it might overflow at any moment!
The type and price of sea urchin changes depending on what is in stock, but on this day, they purchased a lesser known variety called "white sea urchin." White sea urchin has a smooth texture and no unpleasant taste, with a rich flavor and elegant sweetness.

The thick sea urchin and the plump, bursting texture of the salmon roe go perfectly together. The salmon roe has a strong presence that rivals the strong flavor of the sea urchin. This dish makes you want to eat more and more rice! The bowl is heavy, but I ate it all in one go.

Another popular dish is the "Seafood Raw Chirashi" (1,100 yen including tax), which is only served on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with only 10 servings available. The colorful seafood is beautifully arranged on a large plate, making it hard to decide which one to eat first!

A luxurious selection of 14 kinds of seafood, from flounder, amberjack, ruibe, scallops, snow crab, squid, nanban shrimp, atka mackerel, fatty tuna, and salmon roe. As it was just purchased, it was fresh and delicious. The value for money of 1,100 yen is also great!

This is a homely restaurant where you can feel cheered up by the staff. It is a long-established restaurant where you can enjoy fresh seafood at reasonable prices, and is a must-visit if you come to Sapporo.

Local cuisine Kofuji

"Chuka Soba Shiki Soku Zeku" is a new type of ramen made with plenty of ingredients from Hokkaido.

"Chuka Soba Shiki Soku Zeku" opened in Higashi-ku, Sapporo in April 2022. You'll find a large white noren curtain about a 15-minute walk from Kanjo-dori Higashi Station.

The store's name is pronounced "Shikisokuzekuu" and means that "things in this world exist, but they are not static and are always in motion." The store chose this name in order to aim for constant evolution.

The bright interior has only eight comfortable counter seats, and the stylish café-like space makes it easy for women to come alone.

There are four types of ramen on the menu: "Light Soy Sauce," "Light Salt," "Paitan Toritan Soy Sauce," and "Paitan Toritan Salt." You can purchase a ticket from the ticket machine. Toppings such as char siu and seasoned egg are also available.

"Tanrei Shio" (900 yen including tax) is a bowl of ramen with a beautifully clear soup and a visually striking topping of bamboo shoots and large pieces of roast pork.

The soup is made from a Hokkaido chicken and bones blended with seafood stock. It has a deep richness, but the aftertaste is refreshing, making it perfect for summer!

The noodles are also made with local Hokkaido ingredients. They are made with whole wheat flour and are medium-thin, straight, and made to order. They are smooth and easy to swallow, and go perfectly with the light soup.

The large pork slices are made from loin from Rusutsu. The meat is carefully selected from over 30 varieties and cooked at low temperature for over four hours to create an overwhelmingly moist texture. The meat is lightly seasoned, allowing you to really enjoy the flavor of the meat itself.

Made using carefully selected salt and fresh chicken oil, this is a delicious, flavorful and refreshing dish.

The "Chicken Paitan Soy Sauce" (900 yen including tax) is a rich soup made with colorful seasonal vegetables and pork loin from Rusutsu.

This soup is made over a long period of time and effort, using carefully prepared chicken bones and whole chickens, and adding several types of vegetables to bring out its richness and sweetness.

The noodles are also medium-thin and straight, made from whole wheat flour from Hokkaido. The crisp noodles go well with the rich soup and are finished with a rich aroma from the special flavored oil.

The pork slices are made from pork loin from Rusutsu and are beautifully arranged like roses. The more you chew, the more delicious the dish becomes. The marriage of the medium-thin straight noodles with a fragrant wheat flavor and the moist texture of the pork slices is a blissful delicacy.

Which do you prefer, the light and refreshing "Tanrei Shio" or the rich and flavorful "Tori-paitan Soy Sauce"? Please try this new and innovative ramen made with plenty of ingredients from Hokkaido.

Chinese noodles: Color is emptiness