- Hey everyone, I hope
you're having an amazing day. It's Mark Wiens, I'm in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido
in northern Japan, and this is gonna be a little bit of a different Japanese food tour. Normally when I do food tours, it's like one day of all-out eating at five or six different places in a row, but this food tour in Sapporo, because it's been so cold, it's actually warming up today, today's the day we're leaving, but it's gonna, it was
filmed throughout a few days, and it was also a family trip, so I was with Ying and
her family, her sisters. I'm gonna share with you
some of the best restaurants that we tried during our trip. Here we go, Japanese food tour of Sapporo. Let's start with the first meal. (fresh beat kicks in) (chatter inside bus) No view today, it's completely foggy, but the snow is powdery fresh, and it is still beautiful up here. (child coos) Earlier this morning, we took the ropeway, we took the cable car to
the top of the mountain, there was no visibility, it was foggy, but it was really beautiful, and there was powdery snow, but we all got really cold, and so one of the best things to eat when you're freezing
cold in Japan is ramen, a hot bowl of ramen, and Sapporo is the origin
of Japanese miso ramen. You'll find miso ramen all over Japan now, Sapporo is the original. (machine beeps) It's the vending machine style, you put your money in, you
choose from the vending machine, and then you get a ticket,
you hand it to the waitress, and they make you a ramen. Beautiful little restaurant. They actually have a few tables, plus the bar counter seating. We just transferred over to a table. The table opened up, so that
we're all sitting together. I got the spicy miso, so
it's a little bit red. You can see the red
oil, maybe even butter, I know that sometimes they
put butter in the broth, then extra chashu, the pork slices, and then soft-boiled egg, and yeah, you can even see there's like, there's sliced up leek, maybe, and then also some, looks
like strands of saffron. I'm not totally sure, but
that's what it looks like. And the first thing you have to do whenever you eat ramen is taste that broth first. (slurps) (gasp of enjoyment) Oh, wow! Oh, that is so rich,
that's so full-bodied, you can taste the umami of the miso, that slight fermented saltiness. You can feel the warmth just going down, it's like thick, too. (slurps) (appreciative gasp) Gonna move over into the noodles now, before digging into that pork. Oh, there's some paste in there, too. Sliced leek, maybe? And then let's try these noodles. Oh, there's a little bit
of minced meat as well! (slurping) Slightly chewy, a little
bit wrinkly, cringly, and then slightly absorbed
some of that broth. There's some bean
sprouts in there as well. That chashu (grunts happily) you can just feel how tender that is without even picking it up, just in your chopsticks, the vein of fat just running through it. Let me rehydrate it. (slurps) Whoa! That chashu is amazing. It's so tender, it's fatty,
the flavor is bursting, and then just wrapped
up in that miso base, and then the egg, and if
you push your chopsticks into the egg, you can look how that yolk is just perfect! And you wanna kinda cradle
it with your chopsticks, since you gotta squeeze it too hard, or that yolk, you'll lose your yolk. Oh, wow, okay, that egg is spectacular. That yolk is so perfectly
smooth and creamy. Whoa, yeah, this is a spectacular bowl. Chili is not really very
spicy, but it is fragrant. Mm, I was so busy eating my bowl of ramen, I didn't even realize it, I'm like warm from the inside now, I am like, I'm sweating, actually. (slurps) I'm blown away by that miso broth! There's so much miso, you can actually feel
the texture of the miso, almost like beany, graininess of it, yup. That is like a huge flavor, huge flavor. That was delicious. (train whooshing) It's a little before lunch, so they're not too busy, but we're gonna stop in. It's at the corner, just
at the small, little shop that serves donburi rice bowls topped with a variety of seafood, and when you step inside,
it's so cozy and warm in here. They serve you a cup of tea as you're waiting for the table, but it's such a wonderful
little, small, little place. Family-run by auntie and uncle. (slurps) Oh yeah. That just warms going down. Back in here, while we're
waiting for a table, but also they are preparing
our bowls right now. (paddle clunking) - Irashai, domo. - Okay, uncle is almost
finished making the bowl. I gotta sit down and prepare myself. Don't bump over the table. (slurps) Arigato gozaimasu. - Hai. - Before you even eat the food, I love how auntie and
uncle are working together, they're so nice, they're so friendly, they're so warm and welcoming you in! Take this guy out for now, and then also when you order a bowl, you also get a bowl of the crab soup. Auntie's crab soup that
you can smell that aroma, that smells delicious. We gotta start with the bowl. Let's just dig right into
the uni, right there. (excited grunting) (chewing) Oh! Oh yes! When you have good uni,
just the pureness of it, and that is like, whoa! That has like an incredible
nutty taste to it. It's so soft, it's so, like... Buttery! And Hokkaido's very well
known for their uni, but yeah, that was such a
wonderful nuttiness to it. I will add a little bit of
wasabi to the next bite here. Maybe this is like a
surf clam, or something? It's so naturally sweet, it
has a crispness that it snaps. I was gonna add some soy sauce, but I don't even think I
need soy sauce right now, it's just too good on
its own with nothing. Mm-hmm! One more bite. Wonderful as well. I love how they just pop with
that brininess in your mouth, and they're just coating the rice. Oh, wow. That crab is so juicy, mm! Crab is amazing. Again, it has a natural brininess to it. You can feel the strings on your tongue, like, mm, sweet, it's so pure, so good! Okay, time out for some of the crab soup. Oh, there's a chunk of crab in here, too! Oh, nice! (happy exhalation) Oh, that is what you wanna be eating on a cold day in Sapporo. That's like, it's warming,
you can taste the miso in it, just the light crab
fragrance in the entire soup just with some thin sliced leek to give it just a little bit of crunch, but you notice that. All that soup is amazing. I'm loving the rice here, perfect temperature, perfect
just hint of sourness, and just like, all the
gooiness, the, yeah! It's perfect rice. Final piece I saved for the end. You can just tell how
it's gonna be so sweet. Oh, wow! Arigato gozaimasu! Arigato gozaimasu! Thank you very much! And along with the donburi,
the rice bowls, the seafood, especially what I loved about this place is the Auntie and Uncle, they're so nice, they're so welcoming, they're
friendly, they're awesome! Got really cold this afternoon, but we're just stopping by at the Hokkaido government office garden. It's beautiful, there's
a lake, there's ducks, it's starting to snow a little bit. (snow crunch) Next on this best of Sapporo food tour, we are in Odori, which is
really the center of the city where the shopping district is, where's there's tons of restaurants. We're on our way to go eat another iconic dish Japanese food in Sapporo. All over Japan, you'll
find Japanese curry, which, to me, is almost like a curry stew, a very, very thick sauce, but in Sapporo, in Hokkaido,
which is unique to Hokkaido, they have soup curry, and it's something I've never had before and I'm looking forward
to trying it right now. There's a really, really
famous place in Sapporo for soup curry called Garaku, but they are closed right now, and due to the opening
lunch and dinner hours, but then they have another, it's actually called Treasure Soup Curry, which is across the street, and they're open, I think,
they're still open now. They said the owner is the same, they said the soup curry base is the same, and it gets great reviews as well, so we're gonna try it out. All right, and you gotta
go down the stairs, I think it's in the basement! It's warm and cozy down here. This looks like something
you want to be eating when it's cold outside. Yeah, the broiled leg, original. I'll have 40. - [Server] 40? - Yeah, I got this, the original curry, and you choose your spicy
level, one through 40! I got 40! Gotta try the 40! And then you choose your rice bowl amount. Broiled chicken, that's spicy? - 40? - Yeah, right here, thank you! It smells incredible,
you can smell that spice, and it is soupy, but I got
the chicken thigh leg combo. You just gotta taste
that soup broth first. Mm! Okay, at first, it's not very spicy, okay, you can feel it
growing a little bit spicy. Not extremely spicy, but
that does burn a little bit, and it's like a sour spicy, almost. Oh, that's amazing! The aftertaste gets even better, it's almost like a Tabasco-y sourness. Oh, wow, that it delicious, though! I'm gonna grab some, oh! There's quail egg, too! Okay, I'll grab some of the
broccoli in this next bite. Mm! Oh, wow! The broccoli is amazing because it's like, it taste like roasted broccoli, and then soaked up in that curry! I got the broiled chicken leg. It's like, peppery, too, and I'll put some of
this on my rice, maybe. Is the rice yellow, or is that... And I got just the small rice, since we've already had a
couple of meals already today. Mm! Chicken is soft, it's juicy, and then that works really
well with the curry! I think that's my
favorite bite right there. The roasted broccoli with that soup. That's amazing, and
yeah, that's a bit spicy, but for me, it's like a pleasant spicy, not like an over-spicy,
that's like, perfect, I would definitely order
this exact same thing. It was one of those things
where it grew with flavor every single bite that you took, and by the end, you just
want to lick your bowl clean. The ingredients, the flavors, yeah, that is a spicy, soupy, curry,
light on the dry spices, but huge on the flavor, curry. Highly recommended in Sapporo, and yeah, this was a really good place. I don't have anything to compare it to, because that's my first
time to ever eat soup curry, but that was amazing. For lunch today, we
are at Sapporo Station, and on the sixth floor, they
have a food court section with a number of different, well, quite a few restaurants,
but the most famous place, and this is a very popular
sushi restaurant in Sapporo, is a conveyor belt sushi. I got number 92, they're on, I think they said they're on 47 right now, so it might be a little bit of a wait. Say it's some of the
best conveyor belt sushi in Sapporo, maybe in Japan! Better get comfortable for a little while, it's gonna be a long wait. Oh yes, 92, that's us, yes! - Hai! - Hello. Okay, we are in. That was like, okay, it
was almost an hour wait, but I think it will be worth it. Just watching the conveyor
belt go by for the few seconds, you can already see the quality
and the size of the fish, the quality of the sushi here, though, yeah it looks incredible. This place is Hanamaru, I believe, and they do have branches around Japan. I know they have some in Tokyo, but it originates from Sapporo. I've never seen a piece
of sushi like that! That's like an entire
salmon egg sack, I believe! I think it's salmon eggs? Oozing, and like, juicy! Wow! (excited grunting) Wow! That is a lot of exploding
saltiness in your mouth all at once! As I was taking that bite, Ying grabbed me the o-toro with
uni and salmon eggs on top. This is like a premium, premium plate. It's double, a double plate! So they charge you for
two plates of the primo, but it does look stunning! That's o-toro, tuna belly. O-toro just melts in your mouth, plus the uni, plus the salmon eggs. Yeah, that is delicious,
that is a bite of joy! This one is negitoro, minced tuna belly. Always one of my standards,
one of my favorites. This is so creamy and soft. We need some more wasabi, they don't have wasabi on the table. I think we might have to ask for it! Look at the size of that
fish, that's fantastic! Mm! Oh, I love it. Up the nasal passage, I love it. I don't think I've had this before. It's like, little tiny fish, I think, but they almost look like they're almost transparent like squid. Whoa. They're kinda like, have
very little texture. They do have kind of
that sliminess of squid, it's almost like flavorless,
but I taste the ginger. Maybe it's a texture thing? Finally came around, sweet shrimp. Oh. That one's good, oh yeah, that one's good. Shrimp is so sweet, mm. This is lightly seared salmon belly. Oh, wow. That is awesome. That melts in your mouth,
plus the smoky umaminess. I wouldn't say that I'm stuffed at all, but we did eat well, and
there were five of us eating. And so, when you're finished,
they tally up all your plates, and the count the different colors, and then you go to pay up front. Total price for five of
us came to 8,763 yen. That's reasonable! Yeah, we didn't eat tons and tons, but we ate until satisfied, and that is, for sure, some of the best quality
conveyor belt sushi that I've ever had. The slices that they fish, and like the generous portions
on top of each ball of rice, it's really good, it's
well worth coming to when you're here in Sapporo. And that's gonna complete
this round up of food, Japanese food, in Sapporo,
some of the best restaurants we tried during our stay. This is not all of them, I'll have a few more
videos in this series, I'll leave the link in the description box that you can watch all
the videos in this series. Again, I'll have all the
restaurants that we visited in the description box below
that you can check out, and I wanna say a huge thank
you for watching this video. Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it, leave a comment below,
I'd love to hear from you, and if you're not already subscribed, click subscribe now, and also
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the next video that I publish. Goodbye from Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, and I will see you on the next video!
