Date: Trip taken in February 2023
Background: Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido. It is famous for its beer, skiing, and the annual Sapporo Snow Festival. It is a 1.5 hour flight from Tokyo.
Food
Soup Curry at Suage+
They are famous for their soup curry in Sapporo. Before the restaurant opened in the morning, there was already a line outside! So be prepared to wait in line if you want to try the food.
Jingisukan (“Genghis Khan”) at Daruma Honten
It is a Hokkaido dish where you grill the sheep meat with vegetables on a dome-shaped grill.
Zangi (Hokkaido Style Fried Chicken) at Sapporo Zangi Hompo
We had zangi, which is fried chicken. It is usually larger and the coating tends to have different seasonings and spices.
Ganso Ramen Yokocho
It is an alley with many small ramen restaurants. It is the birthplace of “miso ramen”. They seem to be busy with lines outside- you can pick any of the restaurants to go to.
Crab
If you are interested in trying crab, Sapporo is a great place to get it. Restaurants have different options for you to try the dishes with crab.
Sights
You can go on a self- guided tour to learn about the history of beer in Japan and the beer making process. At the end, you can go to the Sapporo Beer Garden where they have table seating for you to get drinks. We ended up getting a tasting set. There are also non-alcoholic drink options too.
There are a few different ways to see the Sapporo skyline. One of them is at the JR Tower. It is a huge shopping mall that is connected to the Sapporo Station with an observation deck at the top. We went up right before sunset and saw that people were already sitting in chairs, appreciating the view. There was a restaurant where we got a snack to enjoy.
It is a free museum that is a 10 minutes walk from the Sapporo Station. They have multiple floors of specimen collected and academic resources.
