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Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Housui Winery (宝水ワイナリー)| Iwamizawa

Hokkaido has several high-quality wineries, and we visited one of them. "Housui Winery (宝水ワイナリー)" is located in Iwamizawa, which still has snow↓

Let's go to their wine shop

"RICCA Bacchus 2008" is sold only in this shop.

"RICCA Kerner 2010" with grapefruit aroma is newly produced! We can enjoy pre-sales in this shop like this↓

"RICCA Lemberger 2011" is also newly produced medium-bodied red wine. Sounds wonderful!

They produce other kinds of wines such as "Niagara 2010" --fruity white wine--, "Orange Pink Rose 2010" --sweet rose--, and "Delaware 2010" --sweet and fruity white wine--.

Actually we can taste almost all kinds of wine sold in this shops including two kinds of pre-sale wine! Perfect, isn't it?

Finally, we bought two kinds of red wine; "RICCA Lemberger 2011" and "Regent 2011", production-limited red wine, through which we can enjoy rough and bitter flavors.

Beside the wine shop, they run an ice cream stand, too.

Look at the menu! Whenever we come here, we order red wine soft ice cream, or white wine soft ice cream, or strawberry soft ice cream.
As strawberry one is out of season, we ordered two of my favorite!

Art exhibition is being held on the second floor of their wine shop, and we took wine ice cream there!

Voila!
This is soft ice cream with red wine sauce! This sauce is made of Regent, grown in their vineyard! Yummy x 2!!!

This is a Kerner version! Personally I prefer this one! The sour and sweet flavors of Kerner really suites with ice cream!

We can also learn wine-making here!

We really enjoyed wine and wine ice cream here in "Housui Winery (宝水ワイナリー)"!!

■Where is "Housui Winery (宝水ワイナリー)"?

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!

Monday, April 30, 2012

Bombay BLUE (ボンベイ・ブルー)| Indian Restaurant | Iwamizawa

I've found a great Indian restaurant in Iwamizawa!! How lucky I am!
"Bombay BLUE (ボンベイ・ブルー)", which joined Autumn Fest 2011 in Sapporo, is located near Hokkaido University of Education↓

Their interiors are blue like the ocean in Bombay! How cozy it is!

They serve a lot of kinds of Indian dishes. Let me see..............
* One portion here is very BIG. But don't worry about it! We can use a doggy bag!

Using this card, we learned some useful greetings and phrases in Hindu. "शुरुआत(シ बीयर से करेंगे(ビ (I'll have beer first!)" Hahaha!


We made good friends with each other, and talked about India, and so on.
This is how to make naan! First make the dough flat and

put it on the stone.

Swing the stone quickly, and put the naan on the stove like this! How interesting it is!

Voila!
This is a "Bombay Mix Grill" set! Everything looks delicious, doesn't it?

This naan freshly from the stove was yummy x 2!! It was HUGE!!!

The set has two kinds of salad, and this Indian coleslaw is my favorite! Yummy x 2!!!

Actually I love their chicken curry very much!!

It has several BIG chunk of chicken like this! More than perfect!!!

Why is this तंदूरी मुर्ग़ (tandoori chicken) sooooooooooooo juicy?? I've never tried such delicious tandoori chicken lie this!!! Of course, this shish kebab is also very recommendable!!

It looks normal salad, but actually it isn't! The dressing is very Indian!!

We also ordered Bhindi Masala, a very popular vegetable curry with a lot of okra!!! It looks a star, and cute!!

Here comes another dish! This container looks very Indian!

Voila!
This is lamb biryani. Biryani originated in Persia is rice and meat baked together in the oven!

Look at the BIG chunk of lumb, which is seasoned with Indian spice! Yummy x 2!!!

We really enjoyed their Indian dishes! I'm sure I'll be back!!

■Where is "Bombay BLUE (ボンベイ・ブルー)"?

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!

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Come' quest? | Yamanaka Dairy Farm (山中牧場) Ice Cream Shop | Otaru

Would you like to enjoy delicious milk-flavored ice cream in Otaru? If so, I recommend "Come' quest?" near JR Minami Otaru Station↓

They serve super yummy x 2 soft ice cream produced by Yamanaka Dairy Farm (山中牧場), one of the most popular ice cream shops in Hokkaido! They use special milk, which is pasteurized at lower tempature (75 C) for 15 minutes. Milk itself is very thick!

Let's enter the shop!
Interesting! They sell their original goods such as T-shirts, bags, and caps!!

How cute they are!

How about these? The sweat shirts have a logo of Otaru in katakana, or one of Japanese alphabets! Good for your souvenirs, don't they?

Let me see.......... What should I order???

Voila!
I ordered vanilla! The ice cream doesn't contain a lot of sugar, and has almost zero stabilizer and thickener so that we can fully enjoy real milk flavor! But please keep it straight, otherwise it may fall! Hahaha!

I love this very milky soft ice cream!

■Where is "Come' quest"?

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!

Taka Zushi (鷹寿し)| Reasonable Sushi Bar | Otaru

I've found a very reasonable sushi bar in Otaru! "Taka Zushi (鷹寿し)" is near JR Minami Otaru Station.

This bar is not for tourists, but for local people.................

Look at the price tag! The most expensive sushi set is 2,000 yen only! Unbelievable!!!!

The rolled egg looks very delicious♪

Here comes a 2,000 yen sushi set show!!!

Surprisingly, the set includes chu tro (high quality tuna) caught off Hokkaido! Bluefin tuna is the king of tuna, right? Yummy x 2!!!

This scallop was caught off Otaru!

Actually it was still alive just before I ate it! I love very fresh seafood!!

This sushi has two northern pink shrimps!

Yummy x 2!!! This queen crab was caught off Hokkaido, too! The sushi chef always tries to use local ingredients for his sushi!

Do you believe that this 2,000 yen set also includes abalone???? Thank you, the chef!! It was caught off Otaru!

Hokkaido reminds a lot of people of Sakhalin surf clam! It is naturally sweet, and I love it!!

Don't expect posh soup!! This bar is a typical family-run sushi bar with homey atmosphere!! This miso soup is like the one my mother makes!

Please enjoy the crunchy texture! Herring season will start in Otaru very soon!

Here come roll sushi tree brothers; sea urchin, salmon roe, and flying fish roe!! Hahaha! I love this sea urchin especially! It is very fresh and tastes very ocean!

The chef: Do you want to eat more sushi?
Me: Yes!
The chef: Here you are!
Me: Thanks a lot!

Sprinkling lemon juice over the squid sushi, I appreciated his wonderful service!

The chef: Do you like scallop?
Me: I love it.
The chef: Here you are!
Me: Thanks, again!!

This fringe around scallop really suits beer! Hahaha!

I love this small but cozy sushi bar in Otaru! Again, the most expensive sushi set here is 2,000 yen only!!!

■Where is "Taka Zushi (鷹寿し)"?

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!