Otaru Sankaku Market - Uni Hotate Don

I love to eat. Whenever I am travelling, my priority will be food food food food, and hence I decided to visit all the markets that I could find in various cities in Japan.
I love kaisen don (seafood bowl) and it is so hard to find one that is good and yet still within my budget in Singapore. When I went to Hokkaido, I seem to lose my mind. I made a point to visit the Hakodate market, Otaru sankaku market and Sapporo nijo market.
I am going to write about the uni hotate (sea urchin & scallop) don that I ate in Otaru sankaku market. Otaru Sankaku Market is located so near the train station you can see it from there, like seriously.
More info on Otaru Sankaku market here.
Otaru sankaku market is like really small, there is only like a stretch of shops and that's it. It is very small compared to Tsukiji market in Tokyo, Nishiki market in Kyoto, Kuromon market in Osaka. However, theere are still good food in there.

So, we went to the market. I swear it kept raining when we were in Otaru, it rained like the both days we were there. Nevertheless, I still insisted that we go to the market for breakfast. I wonder if we went early (9-ish) cos it was really empty or was it ebcause it was a weekday and it was raining? hmm, but less people = better for us anyway :D
More info about the shop here.
I knew I wanted to eat uni hotate don and I read about this shop online and hence I wanted to visit it. Sorry I didn't took a photo of the exterior but the shop name is  食べ処あい田 . Click on the link above and there will be photos of the shop. It wasn't that well-lit or bright and I wonder if that was why the shop was empty when we went but it was alright cos the food was so good omg. I personally think it is better than the other shop in the market.
Live scallops in the tank at the entrance of the shop~~
Here's the menu. Sorry it's not that clear but we ordered the uni hotate don (2,800 yen), if you only want the hotate don, it will be 900 yen (which is so affordable!) and they have other cooked set meals (if you don't like raw food) and there are some which are under 1,000 yen as well. Very affordable.
We were served tea once we were seated & the owner will cook in front of us. Our order took some time because the SCALLOPS WERE FRESHLY SHUCKED. After you order any scallop dish (I think), the daughter actually goes out with a box (?) to take scallops from the tank to be prepared for your dish. Talk about fresh~~ Can't get any fresher than that. For the uni though, I heard they got it from another store pre-packed (this might explain why the uni hotate don is more expensive than the hotate don by like 1900 yen) , but the uni is still fresh and sweet. I can't eat uni that good with that price in Singapore so I went for it.
My meal~~ comes with soup, two side dishes which tasted really good as well and fruits too! I thought the side dishes and fruits were a really sweet gesture. Usually most shops will just serve you soup, no side dish or fruit so I was pleasantly surprised.

& the taste? SUPERB. The scallops and uni are so fresh and sweet, no weird taste at all. The uni was so buttery and creamy with just the right amount of saltiness. I wish I could eat this everyday ugh.
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Kobe Plaisir : Good Kobe Beef in Kobe

In my trip this year, I went to Kobe for Kobe beef again, but at a different restaurant. I think the restaurants in Kobe tend to serve Kobe beef teppenyaki style (the restaurant I ate 2 years ago in Kobe also served it Teppenyaki style) while the one in Tokyo that I went last year served it steak style. Both are delicious with the difference being that you get to see it being cooked in front of you if it is Teppenyaki-style and it tends to be cut into small cubes. Kobe beef in Kobe are actually cheap, they have courses starting from 3,000 yen in most restaurants although the cuts are not the ones with nicest marbling but if you are on a budget and still want to try Kobe beef, you can try that course.

This time, I went to Kobe Plaisir, located at the first floor of the B' Hotel Kobe. They have an English website and they serve Kobe beef in different style (steamed, shabu shabu, teppenyaki). I chose teppenyaki style of course.

This is the menu.


We ordered Course B Kobe Beef Sirloin. As mentioned earlier, 3,000 yen course tend to be rump meat etc (less fats, not as beautiful marbling). I will recommend going for sirloin or fillet.


This is my appetizer (I chose vinegar cos it is good for the skin). The appetizer was good.


Pumpkin soup (I love pumpkin so i was very happy when they served this)



Kobe beef + veggie (sirloin steak. this is the portion for 2 btw)


Salad


Kobe beef


Fried rice (you can choose normal & fried rice but I chose fried rice cos I love fried rice + they actually use kobe beef chips in your fried rice)



I ordered the sparkling drink. The green juice is for you to wash your palate (very healthy btw).


After your meal, you will be brought to another area for dessert. The yogurt mousse is so good omg. I wish they sell take-away for that (+ the vinegar drink).


The bill. the additional 850 yen was for drink that we ordered. if you didn't order drink then it will be just your meal + tax.

I highly recommend this shop for people who want to try Kobe Beef. The portion might seem little (100g) but the beef is really good and the other side dishes are good as well. Very satisfying meal.

Reservations are highly recommended. I made my reservation 2 weeks earlier and some slots were already fully booked. Click here for reservations. They will send you an email after you submit the reservation form on their web. Just reply to confirm & they will send another email nearer to the date of reservation. Similarly, just reply to confirm.

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Lavender in Hokkaido

When I went to Hokkaido in July, it was the Lavender season and so I was really looking forward to going to the Lavender farm. We wanted to visit Aoi Ike - Blue pond in Biei as well and it is such a hassle to transfer from train to bus and back to train again when we want to visit the Lavender farm.  As we were staying in Sapporo (too lazy to move our luggage & change hotel), I initially had all the train routes planned out (took me so long to do so) & it was so troublesome and far my goodness. Hokkaido is like, seriously big and I would like to have a month or more to slowly and fully explore the areas.

That was when I found out about the one day bus tour offered by Hokkaido Chuo Bus. WHY DIDN'T I FIND OUT ABOUT THIS BEFORE I PLANNED MY TRAIN TRIP T^T. Anyway, I decided to take this trip because it is still cheaper than getting train tickets and less troublesome (no need to change trains, bus etc). This website offers quite a variety of bus tours in Hokkaido, so you guys can check it out if you are interested. The tour that I took is not available now anymore (probably cos lavender season has ended). 

Point of boarding was at Sapporo Station Bus Terminal located at Esta Building Level 2 where you can get your tickets from. I reserved my tickets online beforehand and many did as well, so if you are interested in a course it will be best to secure a seat by reserving online and then pay & get your tickets at the counter on the day itself. They will send you a confirmation email and a map telling you where you can collect the tickets. There will be many people queuing to collect their tickets and there are many bus groups so please reach earlier (30 mins earlier or more) to pay & collect your tickets.

My tour cost 7,200 yen per pax and the itinerary was something like this (I Know I don't take the best photographs but you guys can always google the pics ok~):

Sapporo Station Bus Terminal (boarding) - Rest Area (toilets, food etc) - Somewhere we can take photos (Sorry I don't rmb the place; but there's white corn and food here too) -


Blue Pond , we were very blessed because if it rained any day from 3 days before, then the pond will be green in color (it was green when my friends went).


Goto Sumio Museum , ok we had our lunch here (included in the tour) and it was so good omg. The pork was so tender and the melon was so sweet. Satisfying. Then we went in to see the art exhibits (also included in the tour). To be honest, this place wasn't in our visit list when we were planning our trip. It was out of the way and I have no idea how to get there unless you drive (ok, maybe a bus will stop here). It was a blessing in disguise because the art pieces were so amazing. You can see the amount of efforts put into the paintings, which could take 10 years or more to complete (we can;t take photos inside) but I got some postcards though. -



Farm Tomita (Lavender Farm) , The lavender ice cream that I wanted to try omg. This place, like all other tourist attractions were crowded. Aoi Ike was crowded but this place was even more crowded and I didn't even know if I was taking photos of the flowers or of people anymore. Somehow, I just gave up on taking photos and instead chose to enjoy the view instead. They were selling lots of lavender products, Be sure to check it out. If you can (if you are driving), you can visit earlier to beat the crowds (hopefully). -


Rest Area - Sapporo Red Brick warehouse - Sapporo Clock Tower - Sapporo Station bus Terminal.

On the way back they gave us 3 places where we could choose to alight (all near Sapporo). 

Seats on the bus are assigned btw, so just find your seat number after boarding the bus and relax.

I highly recommend this tour for people who are:
1) Not driving; it is actually cheaper to join this tour and less troublesome than getting on an express train then switching to a local train then switching to bus to aoi ike then bus back to the train station then train to the farm and then train back to another station for the express train back to Sapporo.

2) With kids (Refer to point 1)

3) Lazy to plan

tada~~

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