Anko （鮟鱇料理 安古）｜Sea Toad Specialty Restaurant | Sapporo

Anko or sea toad looks very ugly, but tastes really delicious, doesn't it??

Let's go to anko specialty restaurant! We can enjoy a lot of kinds of anko dishes here!

This restaurant is really cozy and the owner is very friendly!

If you want to enjoy anko dishes from the bottom of your heart, I recommend a course meal like this↓because it is more reasonable than ordering each meal! As we wanted to eat liver sashimi, we ordered the 13,000 yen menu.

Kanpai or Cheers!

Sake really suits with anko! Yummy x 2!

■Cheek meat of anko with sculpin's roe
The contrast of the tender meat and the crispy roe is very interesting!

■Anko meat with its liver
The rich liver flavor is spread into our mouth once we eat it!

Look at the anko bones!
We have to order bone sake later!!!

■Nanbanduke (anko with sweet and peppery vegetable sauce)
This dish refreshes our mouth! I love it!

■Nikogori (Jellied anko)
Wibble wobble x 2!!!

■Sashimi
The owner said, "Today's anko is really recommendable!" We came to this restaurant on the right day!

■Liver sashimi
Because this anko is really fresh, we can enjoy liver sashimi! In my opinion, this is the most delicious dish among the course meal! Tastes very rich, but not greasy!!!

■Anko tofu
Please enjoy the smooth texture and distinctive taste!

■Boiled Liver
It's really dense and suits with sake! Hahaha!

■Broiled anko
As the owner cook the fish differently, we've never tired of the fish!

■Fried anko
Hot! Hot! Hot! The timing he serves the meal is perfect!

■Boribori mushroom
This is not included in the course meal, but we are good friends and the owner kindly served this.

■Anko soup
Again, he added extra mushroom into the soup! How lucky we are!

Looks ugly, but it contains a lot of collagen and tastes wonderful!! Can I become younger?? Hahaha!

■Bone sake
Finally, we ordered the bone sake! Let's open it!

It has a lot of broiled bones like this and we enjoyed the savory scent!

■Pickles

While we were eating pickles, the owner were cooking rice porridge with the anko soup! 

■Rice Porridge
The broth contains a lot of anko flavor!!! I really recommend it!

This is a dessert.

We really enjoyed the anko meals!

This is the last surprise!

The ower gave me a birthday present! Wow! Wow! Wow! Thank you, the owner! These potteries were made by him!

Anko is a winter fish! Please enjoy it when you come to Hokkaido in the winter time!

■Where is "Anko （鮟鱇料理　安古）"?

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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!

Takino Snow World （滝野スノーワールド）| Sapporo

Have you ever tried tube sleds on long slopes? If you are interested in this winter sport (or activity), I recommend "Takino Snow World （滝野スノーワールド）"↓

This spacious national park, located in the south of Sapporo, offers us a lot of amusements every season. In the snow season, it changes into a wonderful "White World of a Play Ground" for skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, and sledding. They also hold many different events, such as a snow festival for children.

The admission during the winter is free of charge! We must come here! 

They are enjoying ski lessons. The park has a very gentle ski slopes for kids.

It takes 5 minutes from the east gate to the sled slopes.
Look at the 200m slopes exclusively for tube sleds! You know what? They are the longest sled slopes in Hokkaido!!!

Please use the tube sleds free of charge! How wonderful the service is!!!

We don't have to clime the long slopes. The tube sleds are pulled to the top like this↓ Of course, the towing service is free of charge! Wow! Wow! Wow!

We really enjoyed this winter activity even though we are adults! Hahaha!

My tour guests: "We will be back here next winter".
Me: "I'm waiting for you♪ Let's enjoy together again."

❄ Need detailed information on snowshoeing?

Please refer to my another post! I'm explaining about what snowshoeing is like!→click here!  We can enjoy snowshoeing here in this park, too!

■Where is "Takino Snow World （滝野スノーワールド）"?

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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!

Jyozankei Daiichi Hotel Suizantei （定山渓第一寶亭留 翠山亭）| Hot Spring Hotel | Sapporo

Jyozankei （定山渓） is about a 30-minute drive from a downtown of Sapporo. It is a hot spring resort located in the upstream area of the Toyohira River with a lot of lodging facilities scattered along its valley!

Today I went to "Jyozankei Daiichi Hotel Suizantei （定山渓第一寶亭留 翠山亭）" with my guests from Thailand!

"Hosen no Yu （法泉の湯）", a hot spring for "hands" is in front of the hotel and we can enjoy it any time!

The new year decoration welcomes us and my guests are really excited!

I booked rooms with a private hot spring so that we can fully relax!

The room is very gorgeous, isn't it? We can be stress free immediately when we enter this Japanese room!

We are also enjoying wonderful Japanese food!

 The hotel has a very cozy cafe, "GARRERY & BAR KOSOU （古窻）, and 

we can enjoy very calm atmosphere from the bottom of my heart!

The cafe has a huge stone table and

potteries are decorated like this↓

The time moves very slowly here!

I love this mountain area in the winter time!

This area is covered with snow usually from November to early March! How romantic it is!

This is my evauation about this hotel↓

Facility: ★★★★☆

Service from the staff: ★★☆☆☆

Hot Spring: ★★★☆☆

■Where is "Jyozankei Daiichi Hotel Suizantei （定山渓第一寶亭留 翠山亭）"?

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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!

Kitanobentoukoubou Kana （北の弁当工房 かな）| Boxed Lunch Store | Shin-Chitose AP

There are a lot of kinds of obenntou or boxed lunch sold in Shin Chitose Airport, and we this time visited   "Kitanobentoukoubou Kana （北の弁当工房　かな）", a obentou specialty store↓

This shop has a wide variety of  (actually 120 kinds of) seafood obentou! Wow!!! Hokkaido remains a lot of people of delicious fresh seafood, doesn't it? Which one should we buy????? Or should I choose two obentou?? Hahaha!

For example, this obentou has salmon roe, crab meat and sea urchin! Yummy x 2! It is made by "Sapporo Kani Kousen （蟹工船）, a crab specialty shop. Sounds and looks very delicious!

How about this?? If you like crab, you must love it! This is sushi rolled with crab meat!

How about onigiri or rice ball with a lot of seafood?

I chose a HUGE gourmet onigiri  (three times as big as normal size onigiri) with salmon and salmon roe made by Satou Suisan（佐藤水産） , a famous seafood shop. 

See!!! There are a lot of salmon and salmon roe in onigiri! Yummy x 2!!!

When you use Shin chitose Airport, why don't you drop by this obentou shop??

■Where is Shin Chitose AP?

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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!

Azuma zushi （東寿し）| Sushi bar | Sapporo

♪A Happy New Year 2012♪

I'm having a great time with guests from Thailand!!

Today, we went to "Azuma zushi （東寿し）" in Susukino, Sapporo. Actually it is really difficult to find sushi bars open during the new year's holiday because fish markets close during the holiday. But finally I've find a great sushi bar available on the 1st of January!!

They said cheerfully to us, "Irassayai or welcome to our sushi bar".
I love this greeting!

I've booked an individual room for my guests.
This is a horigotatu which is a low, covered table placed over a hole in the floor of a Japanese-style room. How comfortable it is!

We love the decoration on tokonoma which is a kind of alcove in a guest room in a Japanese-style room where a hanging scroll and flowers are usually displayed like this↓

Due to the new year's day, they serve furumaizake or a treat of sake for us! How lucky we are!

This is a sushi set for kids!

There are several ranks of sushi and we ordered this set↓ All seafood for sushi was caught off Hokkaido only!

We also ordered tempura! The prawns are HUGE and we were so excited!

Last, but not least, we enjoyed green tea ice cream with azuki bean jam! Yummy x 2!!!

■Where is "Azuma zushi （東寿し）"?

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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!