Kabato Seimenjyo （かばと製麺所）| Udon Noodle Bar | Tobetsu

If you like to eat very springy udon noodles, I recommend "Kabato Seimenjyo" in Tobetsu, about 30 min away from Sapporo.

They have no sign, but if you find this banner on Route 275,

there is an udon restaurant!
The noren, short curtain, doesn't have the name of the restaurant, neither. It's like a secret shop..... Hahaha!

Let's enter the bar!

First, please choose the style of udon that you want to eat.
↓
↓
1. Cool or hot noodles?
2. Soy sauce or bukkake (cold soup) or kake (hot soup)?
3. One or two or three portions of udon?
4. Any other tempura topping?

They serve varieties of tempura such as green pepper, maitake mushroom, eggplant, chikuwa (steamed fish paste), half-boiled egg, shungiku (chrysanthemum leaf), shrimp, squid, kashiwa (chicken), and dappi ebi (soft-shell shrimp). Almost all of the ingredients including wheat are produced here in Tobetsu! Perfect!

We ordered cold bukkake with torotama (grated yam and half-boiled egg) and syungiku & egg plant tempura!

Look at the shinny udon, which was freshly-kneaded and cut!

First, pour soy sauce,

beak the half-boiled egg, and mix altogether!

The owner has trained in a famous Sanuki udon restaurant in Kagawa prefecture, one of the popular udon areas in Japan.
That's why the udon here are very elastic and chewy!!! I really recommend this udon!

I love the tempura of local vegetables; shungiku (chrysanthemum leaf) & eggplant!

This is hot kake udon↓　The broth is (I guess) made of dried bonito chips and very delicious!

We also ordered chicken tempura, half-boiled egg tempura, and dappiebi (soft-shell shrimp) tempura↓

I dipped the egg tempura into the clear soup↓ Yummy x 2!!!!

Look at the dappiebi↓ I love the soft-shell shrimp!!!

Wow! It's HUGE!!! I love this kashiwa (chicken) tempura!!! We ate way too much and couldn't move! (Help me!!!!)

This restaurant is open every day until the early-November.

■Where is "Kabato Seimenjyo （かばと製麺所）"?

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!

Re'colte （レコルト） | French Restaurant | Sapporo

"Re'colte" is my favorite French restaurant in Teine area in Sapporo.

It is located in a residential area and a little bit difficult to find it, but really recommendable!! Please use a car navigation system :-)

This is a small bistro and the chef is very friendly. I enjoyed the conversation with him.

They serve two kinds of lunch sets; A set & B set.

A set includes today's hors d'oeuvre "or" vegetable soup, today's meat dish, bread, dessert and coffee, but I really wanted to eat both the hors d'oeuvre "and" the soup.
The chef kindly served an original A set for me to meet my request! How lucky I was!!

■Hors d'oeuvre
-- Home-made cold-smoked salmon --
As the salmon was smoked at a low temperature, it was very juicy! I love it!

■Home-made bread
I was soooooooooo happy to eat freshly-baked bread. As it tasted wonderful, I ate "six" pieces of bread. Hahaha!!!

■Today's vegetable soup
-- Cold green pea soup --
I loved the balance between the green peas and milk! It was really delicious!

■Today's meat dish
-- Ear and leg parts of pork wrapped with aged minced pork and crepinette --
I enjoyed different kinds of meat texture!!!

Look at this juiciness of meat!!
The crepinette sealed in the remaining juice and flavor!! I'm sure you want to eat it, too!!!

■Dessert
-- Vanilla pudding --
It is not too sweet and yummy x 2!!

I don't drink coffee and they served herb tea for me.

I really enjoyed the lunch in the relaxing atmosphere!
If you want to eat delicious French meals at reasonable prices, I recommend this restaurant!

■Where is "Re'colte"?

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!

Sushi Dokoro "Aramasa （あら政）" | Sushi Bar | Sapporo

Today, I'll show you a small but cozy sushi bar for you!
"Aramasa" in on the Densha (Streetcar) Street and serves delicious sushi at reasonable prices.

He is the only chef here to make sushi. During the lunch and dinner time, it is usually packed with local people. I like this comfortable atmosphere and always enjoy the conversation with him :-)

We ordered "Toku （特）"↓, the most expensive sushi set out of 4 ranks.
Except the four kinds of sets, they serve an "as you like sushi set" and you can choose 10 favorites out of 24 different kinds of sushi. Sounds perfect!

I'll show you each sushi in the set.
Oops!
I "accidentally" ate hirame (sea bream) before taking a pic! Sorry!


■Zuwai (Queen crab)
I love this naturally sweet crab!

■Kazunoko (Herring roe)
Enjoy the texture!!!

■Chu toro (Medium fatty tuna)
This is my favorite!!

■Hotate (Scallop)
The scallop was really thick!

■Hokki (Sakhalin surf clam)
This is a very local clam in Hokkaido and now is the best season to eat it!

■Botan prawn
This prawn was really big!

■Uni (Sea urchin)
This is like a diamond in the sea! I love it!

■Ikura (Salmon roe)
This is like a ruby in the ocean! Hahaha!

The set comes with this prawn soup. Yummy x 2!

Can you guess how much the set is?
It is only 2,415 yen! All my tour guests really enjoyed the sushi set here!


□Note□
They also serve delicious oysters and eels regularly ♪

■Where is "Aramasa （あら政）" ?

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!

The 48th Noboribetsu Hell Festival

Noboribetsu is one of the most popular hot spring sites in Japan, and 11different kinds of hot springs are enjoyed here! That's why we call this resort "a department store of hot springs".

One of the famous attractions in the town is "Hell Valley" created with the volcanic eruption around 10,000 years ago↓

The whole of the hot spring area is designed like an enjoyable hell and some demon statues are displayed on the street like this↓

On the 27th to 28th of August, the Noboribetsu Hell Festival, the biggest event in this town, was held.

An old legend says that once every year, the lid to the Hell Valley's cauldron opens, and the Demon King name Enma, followed by a huge crowd of red demons and blue demons, appears in the hot spring town.

Look at the demon mikoshi (portable shrine) or floats!　Amazing, aren't they!!!

 Well, well, well, it was getting dark!

The festival was about to start soon! The Gokuraku Street, the main street in the hot spring area, became free of vehicles.

There are a lot of souvenir shops around here. For example, look at this shop! You can buy Ainu crafts here!
(*Ainu are indigenous people in Hokkaido and have unique culture, practice & their own language)

If you like ice cream and honey, I recommend this shop↓
(Want more information about this shop? Please refer to my previous post→click!)　

Some demons were walking on the street and we were so excited!!

First, the demons opened the lid to the Hell Valley's cauldron. The festival began!

We believe that this red demon is strongest demon in the hell. The local citizens were carrying the beautiful floats!!!

Look at the man on the demon mikoshi! Cool!!!

About 100 young men and women joined this mikoshi parade!

You can enjoy the Taiko Drumming, too!

The sound of the drum reminds Japanese people of the summer time!

One of the main events in the festival is the demon dance↓

The local citizens wore a demon mask, and danced to the tune of the festival music! As they really enjoyed dancing and looked fun, I joined them!!!

Some of them wore unique costumes like this↓

You want to meet the King of the Hell? This is Enma↓ ("Nice to meet you!!")
You can meet him on the Gokuraku Street any time. Hahaha!!!

Last but not least, we enjoyed more than 1,000 fireworks in the Hell Valley.

We really enjoyed the local festival♪♪

"Hell Festival" is held every summer!!

■Where is Noboribetsu hot spring area?

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!