Recommended ways to enjoy Sapporo's Nijo Market! Enjoy a taste of Hokkaido with breakfast and seafood bowls

*All prices include tax.

Great access! What is Nijo Market in Sapporo?

The best thing about Nijo Market is its easy accessibility. Take the JR train from New Chitose Airport to Sapporo Station, then walk for about 20 minutes. If you take the subway, you can get there in 10 minutes on foot from Odori Station, Bus Center-mae Station, or Susukino Station. It's also located in the city center, just a short walk from the Sapporo TV Tower and Odori Park.

There are two markets in Sapporo, and the other, Sapporo Central Wholesale Market, is larger in scale, but many people rate Nijo Market highly for its convenience, as it is easier to get to from your hotel and can be visited in between shopping trips.

Inside the market, there are rows of shops selling Hokkaido seafood, vegetables, fruits, processed foods, and more. As the shops open one after another around 6-7am, the market fills with tourists, and the lively voices of the shop staff echo through the air. As lunch approaches, local residents and businessmen can be seen shopping and having lunch, and the flow of people continues until the shops close in the evening.

What further enhances the atmosphere of the market are the floating lights hanging from the ceiling and the fish-shaped plates attached to the passageways. Many residents say that "I feel at ease when I come here" and that "the building itself is precious and is a place that we want to treasure as an asset of Hokkaido", and it is loved as a spiritual home. Business hours and holidays vary by store, so if there is a store you want to visit, be sure to check in advance.

If you want to experience the flavors of Hokkaido at Nijo Market, we recommend the following!

How to enjoy Nijo Market 1
Get up early and eat breakfast

If you go to Nijo Market, be sure to get up early and have breakfast. We recommend seafood. There are many shops in the market where you can enjoy breakfast made with fresh seafood procured that day, and some even offer special menus with limited quantities.

Get full from the morning with a hearty seafood bowl. Cheap and delicious, the best value for money at "Donbei"

If you want to eat Hokkaido seafood at a bargain price, head to Donbei, located on the southeast side of Nijo Market.

This "Seafood Bara Chirashi" costs only 500 yen! It's filled with tuna, salmon, and medium fatty tuna, and it's like a dream to be able to eat this for just 500 yen. It's limited in quantity, so it's understandable why it sells out as soon as the restaurant opens at 7am. Even if you add the crab soup (360 yen by itself, 100 yen off when combined with the bowl) it's still under 1,000 yen. If you get the chance to eat it, you'll be lucky - it's a "reward seafood bowl".

Another dish we recommend is the Special Sapporo Morning Bowl, perfect for breakfast. Sea urchin, salmon roe, salmon, scallops, tuna, crab, negitoro, and squid are piled so generously that they overflow from the tub. Donbei's seafood bowls are also notable for their generous portions of rice, making them very filling. The vinegar in the vinegared rice is not too strong, and the balance of the special soy sauce and sashimi is just right, so you'll find yourself eating more and more. As for soup, the crab soup (sold separately) is the perfect match, as it is packed with the delicious flavor of the crab.

Donbei Nijo Market Store

Enjoy the taste of Japan while watching the craftsmen at work. The grilled fish set meal at Restaurant Nagamori is a favorite among many.

If you're someone who prefers rice, miso soup and fish for breakfast, then this is the place to go. Restaurant Nagamori is attached to Miura Shoten, a seafood souvenir shop. When you sit at the counter, a long list of dishes jumps into view. Rice bowls such as the Raw Sea Urchin and Salmon Roe Rice Bowl and the Raw Sea Urchin Rice Bowl are popular, but the grilled fish set meal is a must-try. There is a wide selection of grilled fish on the menu, including filleted Atka mackerel, filleted herring, silver cod, salmon belly and sockeye salmon.

I ordered the "Salmon Belly Set Meal." There is a counter surrounding the kitchen, so you can watch the chef grill the fish right in front of you. I was surprised at how thick the fish was on the grill. It was thicker than I've ever seen in a supermarket.

You can enjoy the luxurious time of waiting for your favorite fish to be ready to eat while watching the chefs work briskly. The orange flames create a nostalgic atmosphere, and the fragrant smell of the fish grilling will whet your appetite.

The best thing about salmon belly is how fatty it is. You can tell just by looking at it on a plate. When you put your chopsticks into it, it turns a vibrant salmon pink. The meat is slow-cooked and plump and tender, and goes perfectly with the refreshing grated daikon radish. The flavor melts in your mouth.

Miura Shoten Restaurant Nagamori

How to enjoy Nijo Market 2
Enjoy a luxurious seafood bowl for lunch!

For lunch, you want to fill up your stomach, so have a hearty seafood bowl. There are over 10 restaurants in Nijo Market where you can eat seafood bowls, each with a wide variety of menu items. Some offer a single type of topping, such as the "sea urchin bowl" or "medium fatty tuna bowl," while others have two or three types of bowls, and some even have 10 types of bowls. Prices vary from affordable ones in the 1,000 yen range to extravagant ones in the 5,000 yen range. You won't get bored just walking around the market and checking out the menus.

Enjoy a luxurious meal in a homely atmosphere at "Oguma Shoten," a restaurant that is casual and easy to enter even by yourself

"Oguma Shoten," which used to be a seafood store, opened as a seafood bowl restaurant in 2018. With an emphasis on freshness, ingredients are procured diligently every day, and the chef, a veteran with 50 years of experience as a sushi chef, shows off his skills.

Oguma Shoten places great importance on creating a good atmosphere in their shop. The shop is small with only seven seats, but that makes it feel at home and peaceful. It is easy for women to enter alone, and with the kitchen right in front of the counter, you can easily order your favorite toppings and relax while enjoying conversation with the staff.

The proprietress, Yoshimi Uraguchi, also works as a Sapporo Tourism Ambassador, and said, "Meeting tourists is a once in a lifetime experience. We want to cherish that moment and provide hospitality that will allow them to make good memories." There is also terrace seating outside the shop, where you can enjoy your meal while experiencing the bustle of the market.

If you want to enjoy Hokkaido's seafood in a luxurious way, we recommend the "Premium Large Catch 10-item Assortment" (3,780 yen). A shrimp stands out in the center of the bowl, and it is topped with raw sea urchin, salmon roe, scallops, salmon, homemade marinated mackerel, crab, and more, making for a very impressive dish. Oguma Shoten is particular about using raw saltwater sea urchin instead of solidifying it with alum.

There were many other interesting menu items such as the "Special 8-kind platter" and the "Golden Peony Shrimp Bowl."

Oguma Shop

Enjoy the luxury of Hokkaido fish in rice bowls and sushi. The discerning sushi chefs at Kondo Noboru Shoten Sushidokoro Keiran Branch

When you think of seafood bowls, you usually think of a bowl with multiple toppings, but there is a restaurant where you can enjoy a slightly different seafood bowl. Sushidokoro Keiran is attached to Kondo Noboru Shoten, a fresh fish store at the eastern end of the market. Keiran means salmon roe, or ikura. As a sushi restaurant run by a fishmonger, they are particular about the quality of their ingredients and offer a wide variety of menu items such as sushi, seafood bowls, and grilled dishes made with fresh and delicious ingredients.

The walls of the restaurant are covered with autographs of celebrities. Among them, the many autographs of baseball players are particularly eye-catching. The owner of the restaurant has had long-standing ties with people involved in professional baseball, and apparently when there are games in Hokkaido, players come to eat here.

The "Gozen" series is highly recommended. The most popular of these is the "Sushi Gozen" (3,800 yen). This great value set includes three bowls of rice - a mini sea urchin bowl, a mini scallop bowl, and a mini salmon roe bowl - along with tuna, salmon, and crab nigiri sushi. It's a very satisfying meal that satisfies your desire to "try a little bit of everything."
The Gozen series also includes the "Okonomi Gozen" set, where you can choose one topping of your choice.

Kondo Noboru Shoten Sushi Restaurant Keiran Branch

How to enjoy Nijo Market 3
If you want to enjoy a variety of options, take it out!

Seafood bowls and sushi are great, but there are probably many people who just want to eat their favorite sashimi, or who want to try things other than seafood. In those cases, choose takeout and enjoy as much of what you like as you like. You can take it home and enjoy it at your leisure at the hotel, or go to a park near the market and eat it there, giving you more freedom in terms of time and place.

Enjoy the happiness of eating local ingredients in their local area. Sakai Honshoten is a treasure trove of seafood that will leave you dizzy.

Sakai Honshoten was founded in 1906. Sea urchins, crabs, shrimp, scallops, oysters, abalone, whelks and other seafood are lined up in front of the store. When the temperature is high, the seafood you purchase will be placed in a cooler bag, making it easy to carry. If you tell them you want to eat sashimi like medium fatty tuna right away, they will cut it up and serve it with soy sauce and wasabi. Tourists are very happy with this service, saying, "I'm happy I can eat it as is when I get back to my hotel."

The most popular are sea urchin and crab. Prices vary depending on the type, place of origin, and size, so ask the shop staff about the characteristics of the flavor and seasonal recommendations. "Seafood has the image of being expensive, but we are particular about offering high-quality food at low prices," says the shop owner. "I'm happy to be able to convey the appeal of fish to customers face-to-face. I hope they enjoy the atmosphere of the lively market."

Sakai Honshoten

There are also shops where you can eat oysters, scallops, whelks, shrimp, abalone, and other seafood on the spot. One of the attractions of the market is the ability to spend your time leisurely by visiting without deciding what to eat at which shop, and just strolling around the market looking for something that catches your eye.

Get excited with cute-looking, rich soft serve ice cream. For sweets that look great on social media, try "Komichi"

If you walk through the market along the Sousei River and enter the narrow passageway marked "Market Entrance," you'll find a shop with a slightly different atmosphere from the surrounding shops. This is Komichi, a sweets shop that's rare in Nijo Market.

The shop opened in 2020 and is marked by a bright and stylish exterior. Here you can enjoy soft serve ice cream and crepes made with ingredients from Hokkaido.

The most popular soft serve ice cream is "Strawberry All ON" (600 yen). The large strawberry on top, the strawberry crunch topping, and the illustration on the sleeve wrapped around the cone are all cute and perfect for posting on social media. The soft serve ice cream is made using 100% fresh pasteurized milk from Hokkaido, giving it a rich milky flavor. You can eat it at the counter with its warm wooden interior, or leave the market and enjoy it under the blue sky. It's a dessert you'll want to eat several times a day.

The crepes are made with soy milk dough and wheat grown in Hokkaido, and you can choose your own cream, fruit, sauce, and toppings. You can't help but feel excited as you imagine the taste and appearance of your original, one-of-a-kind crepe. There is also a "Cup Fruit Soft" that combines fruit and soft serve ice cream, which is like a parfait.

Komichi

How to enjoy Nijo Market 4
Find souvenirs you can enjoy at home

If you come to Nijo Market, don't forget to pick up some souvenirs. You can find everything here, from high-quality fresh produce that can only be found at the market, to rare products that you won't find in regular souvenir shops, to luxury items that are perfect for gifts. Most stores offer delivery services, so you don't have to worry about carrying too much luggage while traveling.

When it comes to Hokkaido souvenirs, the first thing that catches your eye is fish. Tokishirazu is a type of salmon that is caught from spring to summer, unlike autumn salmon that is caught in the fall. It is sliced into fillets and vacuum-packed, so you can easily eat it at home. Sea urchin is also a representative Hokkaido delicacy. Salmon roe is seasoned differently depending on the store, so we recommend visiting various stores to find the flavor that suits your taste.

Dried fish and processed seafood are perfect souvenirs from Hokkaido. Among the many fish, the most popular is Atka mackerel. Many people also buy scallops as souvenirs. The size of the Atka mackerel and the amount of scallops are both extra-large and voluminous, typical of Hokkaido.

We tend to focus on seafood, but fresh vegetables and fruits are also worth checking out. Asparagus, which grows in Hokkaido, where there are large temperature differences, has a crisp, juicy texture and a sweet, rich flavor. Corn is also popular in the summer.

Melons are considered the king of fruits in Hokkaido. The "Yubari Melon" is famous, but there are other high-end brands of melons in the prefecture, such as "Asahi Melon," and the markets are lined with the most delicious melons of the season. There are also stores that sell cut melons, so why not try the taste for yourself?

Nijo Market is where the flavors of Hokkaido come together. Although it is located in the center of Sapporo, it is filled with the nostalgic atmosphere of the good old days and warm human kindness. The surrounding area is packed with deep shops such as izakayas and bars, and the more you get to know it, the more your interest will grow and your sense of adventure will be stimulated. Why not visit Nijo Market in search of a wonderful encounter?

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