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Sunday, September 23, 2012

SoRa Natural Auberge in Lake Kussharo (ナチュラルオーベルジュSoRa 昊)| Auberge | Teshikaga (弟子屈)

Would you like to enjoy a wonderful restaurant on Michelin Guide Hokkaido 2012 in the earstern part of Hokkaido? How about this? "SoRa Natural Auberge in Lake Kussharo (ナチュラルオーベルジュSoRa 昊)" is an auberge (restaurant and hotel) run by TSURUGA GROUP (鶴雅グループ), a leading resort hotel group in Hokkaido↓

It's near Lake Kussharo (屈斜路湖) in Akan National Park (阿寒国立公園).
(If you're interested in the lake, please refer to my other post→. I reported it in details.)

Reservation is required for dinner, but we can freely enjoy lunch.
(* It is so popular that I personally recommend to make a reservation in advance even for lunch.....)
Look at the lunch courses↓ We ordered a pasta set.

We've arrived here. How lovely this log house-style building is! Let's enter it!

We all enjoyed this peaceful and calm atmosphere!

Actually I booked a table near the window so that we can enjoy the huge green site!

Wonderful, isn't it? This is a premises of this auberge! 

They use blue color (color of Lake Kussharo) effectively in the restaurant.
Even before lunch, we were already happy to see the spacious green land!!

■Clubhouse sandwich with smoked salmon
Hokkaido is famous for delicious salmon, and this sandwich is super-delicious! Yummy x 2!!

■Cauliflower soup
Hokkaido is also famous for its delicious vegetables! This soup is my favorite!!! It tastes very rich, mild, and tasty!!! Can I have a second helping? Hahaha!

■Main
Do you have any idea what it is? I'll open it!

Voila!
This is pasta with big hamburger steak!! Next time what should I order? I really want to try all lunch courses here.

After the course,

my guests enjoyed coffee, and

I enjoyed a soft drink.
After the lunch, we went to.................

the huge site in front of the auberge!!! How beautiful it is!!

We just relaxed, doing nothing, just enjoying the sound of the nature..........

walking for a while, and taking some pictures...............
How lovely the holiday is!

This auberge has only two rooms. It is not suitable for a big group, but wonderful for couples. Don't you think so??

My guests and I were really happy to share such a wonderful time in Akan National Park.

■Where is "SoRa Natural Auberge in Lake Kussharo (ナチュラルオーベルジュSoRa 昊)"?


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■Tour guide information■
Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?
I'll guide you! Plz click here

Friday, September 21, 2012

Beef restaurant +Store 2.0 (裏参道牛肉店) | Beef Restaurant & Butcher | Sapporo 

I really love meat!! If I have to choose a wonderful beef restaurant in Maruyama area in Sapporo, I recommend "Beef restaurant +Store 2.0 (裏参道牛肉店)".

How do you like this open kitchen, and the cute and comfortable atmosphere?

This is their lunch menu! Which should I choose??? Everything is delicious!!! Hahaha!

Look at their popular lunch sets↓ Surprisingly, the part of the meat is changeable every day! Sounds perfect for beef lovers like me!!

Actually we came here to eat this special dish (美味散策円山オーラムランチ), being served from 14th of Sep. to 30th during "Sapporo Autumn fest (さっぽろオータムフェスト)", a food festival in Sapporo. This special lunch set is so popular that you should make a reservation in advance!!
(If you're interested in this festival, please refer to my other post→. I reported it in details in the page)

Every set comes with salad and a drink. Fresh vegetables in the salad tastes great, but baked ones like turnip are also very recommendable!

Voila!
This is the main for the special lunch set!!! They use Oohira Beef (おおひら牛) and mushroom grown in Hokkaido! Perfect, isn't it??

The beef cutlet is cooked rare and very juicy!! Actually the sauce is not too rich to interrupt the juicy beef!!

With this rye bread, we ate this sauce up! Hahaha!

How about the eggplant and water shield soup? They serve not only great beef dishes, but also wonderful side dishes!!

We ordered the beef steak set, too. As I said I'm a beef lover, I ordered the steak rare!

Oohira beef is not oily, but very tasty. The problem is it is difficult to find a restaurant serving this brand in Sapporo...........

Last but not least, a drink was served, and I chose a peach juice.

After enjoying super-delicious lunch, we bought their yum-yum roast beef at the butcher corner!

I really recommend this very cozy beef restaurant serving perfect beef dishes!

■Where is "Beef restaurant +Store 2.0 (裏参道牛肉店)"?


View Larger Map


■Tour guide information■
Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?
I'll guide you! Plz click here

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Sapporo Autumn fest 2012 (さっぽろオータムフェスト2012) | Sep. 14 (Fri.) - Sep. 30 (Sun.)

"Sapporo Autumn fest (さっぽろオータムフェスト)" is a food festival, showcasing the richness of food production around Hokkaido and its capital city Sapporo. The five sites along Odori Park in downtown Sapporo bring visitors to the food world of Hokkaido! It's a really enjoyable and recommendable festival! Here we go!

■Odori 4-Chome Site
This is the first block to begin your exploration of Sapporo Autumn fest. Please get the information of each site in this block.
Personally I recommend "Sapporo Chef's Kitchen (さっぽろシェフズキッチン)↓

A famous restaurant chef serves their delicious meals at reasonable prices. The restaurant booth is switched, depending on the day, and please check your favorite one before coming here. This is lasagna served by Sagra, my favorite Italian restaurant in Sapporo.
(* If you're interested in this restaurant, please refer to my other post→)

How about this minestrone? Yummy x 2!!!

■Odori 5-Chome Site
What are the local dishes of Hokkaido? Ramen is one of them, but many places around Hokkaido also have their own delicious dishes. This block introduces some of the wonderful local cuisine to visitors.

This is salt-flavored chaw mein with seafood (北見塩やきそば), a local meal in Kitami. Actually when we went to Kitami this summer, I ate the same fried noodles at a local beer brewery. 
(* If you're interested in the noodles, please refer to my other post→)

■Odori 6-Chome Site
Many local restaurants and the tapas bar provide high quality of local dishes in this block.

Look at the Sapporo Sweets Cafe! We can enjoy cakes in the festival!!

■Odori 7-Chome Site
Hokkaido is one of the best environments in Japan to produce good alcohol beverages. When you are thirsty, please come to this block. Let's enjoy beer, wine, shochu, whiskey and sake!!

If you love bread, this is a must place. "Hokkaido Bakery Marche (ほっかいどうベーカリーマルシェ)" collects popular bakeries' bread at one booth! All of the bread is so popular that it is usually sold out in the morning!

■Odori 8-Chome Site
Hokkaido has as many as 180 municipalities, and more than half of them come all the way to the festival to serve you with their local products.

I really recommend the char-grilled queen crabs (炭火焼本ずわい蟹甲羅盛), a local product in Monbetsu↓ They are so popular every year that you may wait in a long line, but it's worth doing so!!!

This food festival lasts until the 30th of September!

■Where is the festival venue (Odori Park)?


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■Tour guide information■
Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?
I'll guide you! Plz click here!

benbeya softcream lounge (べんべやソフトクリームラウンジ)| Ice Cream Parlor | Sapporo

benbeya (べんべや) is one of my favorite sweets shops located in Teine ward, Sapporo. Actually it takes 30 mimutes from downtown Sapporo to the shop, but during the summer time only, we can enjoy their delicious soft ice cream at Marui Imai department store!

They serve very rich ice cream with high-quality of vanilla beans and liqueur.

This is chocolate soft ice cream with waffle corn. Tastes very dense and yummy x 2!!

I ordered vanilla soft ice cream with gooseberry sauce and dried fruits. Personally I prefer this! This sour sauce really goes well with this very rich vanilla ice cream!

■Where is the summer-only soft ice cream parlor?


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■Tour guide information■
Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?
I'll guide you! Plz click here!

Shiretoko Grand Hotel Kita Kobushi (知床グランドホテル北こぶし)② | Hot Spring Hotel | Utoro (Shiretoko)

This is the second half of the post on "Shiretoko Grand Hotel Kita Kobushi (知床グランドホテル北こぶし)". After taking hot spring on the rooftop, we went to a dinner venue↓

As we've arrived at this floor a little bit earlier, we relaxed at a terrace in front of the dinner venue. How beautiful the ocean is! I really recommend you to see wonderful sunset from the area between Oronkoiwa Rock and Sankakuiiwa Rock↓
(* If you want to see the great natural phenomenon, please refer to my other post on that→)

Let's enter the buffet restaurant! They serve wide variety of dishes, using local ingredients.

They have a lot of vegetable dishes, and I recommend the pumpkin soup↓ Yummy x 2!!

How about corn mousse? Isn't it unique?

Shiretoko reminds a lot of people of its seafood. This is a seafood section, and we can make our own favorite seafood bowl.

This is mine. How do you like it? It was really delicious!!

If you like meat, they serve from local pork to

beef, and

we can enjoy freshly-grilled steak! Wonderful!

Personally I recommend Hokkai shrimps available only in Hokkaido! Yummy x 2!!! 

How about fresh kelp shabushabu? Rausu (Shiretoko) is a famous kelp seaweed production site, and it is very thick and delicious! I prefer this shabushabu to meat shabushabu seriously!!

It is perfect to eat delicious local dishes while seeing the wonderful scenery!!

 They serve several kinds desserts, and

fruits, from which I took a lot of vitamin!!

After eating desserts, I went to the meat and seafood section, and enjoyed dinner again! Hahaha!

If you are interested in hot spring at this hotel, please refer to my previous post→

■Where is "Shiretoko Grand Hotel Kita Kobushi (知床グランドホテル北こぶし)"?


View Larger Map

■Tour guide information■
Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?
I'll guide you! Plz click here!