Travel | Hokkaido mid-May 2015 | Hakodate - 函館朝市食堂 馬子とやすべ Mako to Yusube and Kikuyo Shokudo Honten きくよ食堂

Everyone knows that when one is in Hakodate, head on to Donburi Yokocho どんぶり横丁市場 for delicious kaisen don 海鮮丼. There's about 19 shops to choose from, so where do I begin? Since my time in Hakodate is limited, with probably just enough time for two meals at the market or this donburi alley, I need to choose wisely. I'd probably walked back and forth a couple of times outside the shops, scrutinizing its display and probably earned some glances from the people whom may be watching.


Finally, decided on this shop called Mako to Yusube 馬子とやすべ. Simply because they have five toppings that I liked for the Asaichi Rice Bowl.

shop front

The shop is smaller than I expected but the people inside are very friendly. I was the lone customer then, because it was rather late for lunch, at around 1.40pm.

small and cosy

inner section

closed on Wednesday

Green tea is complimentary and the food arrived after seven minutes of waiting time. The bowl looked impressive for its price.

Asaichi goshoku-don 朝市五色丼

For just ¥1500 (~SGD16) nett, one gets a regular bowl of rice topped with five kinds of fresh seafood - ikura, hotate, salmon, uni and 3 pieces of botan ebi, served with a bowl of seaweed soup and some pickles. Yummilicious and definitely value for money. Totally loved the sweet scallop, the generous amount of ikura that added umaminess to the bowl and creamy uni. Not one, not two but three pieces of mid-sized botan ebi? Nice.

Good choice indeed and totally recommended. Wanted to eat it for the next day lunch too but it was closed.

list of shops at Donburi Yokocho

So, found another shop to lunch at on Wednesday before the train back to Sapporo. It is not within the Donburi Yokocho but somewhere near the market. It's called Kikuyo Shokudo Honten きくよ食堂. Was just walking past it when a man called out and asked if I wanted to lunch there. I told him that I wasn't that hungry, so he said they do mini-dons as well. Not knowing what to eat, made it easier to decide. Ok, I said.

image credit: http://hakodate-kikuyo.com

It feels rather retro inside the shop and yes, it was like eating in a canteen. Apparently, this shop was founded in 1957 and there were a few locals having their lunch while I was there. The menu is in Japanese so am not able to read it. Fortunately for set meals, there are pictures. Chose the mini don with 3 toppings, served with a side of hokke fish (Okhotsk atka mackerel) and seaweed soup.

self serve tea

sanshoku-don 三色丼 set with hokke fish @¥1966 (~SGD21)

The bowl was only slightly bigger than the seaweed soup. Diners are free to choose their choice toppings. I chose crab meat, scallop and sea urchin. Should have chosen ikura instead. The crab meat didn't have much taste in them. Was advised to drizzle a bit of soy sauce onto the scallops prior to eating.

The side dishes were boiled squid with some kind of savoury sauce and the red one beside it, I have no idea what it was. Tasted a bit spicy and definitely gooey. Think it was some kind of root vegetable with ika? Not too sure but it was delicious.

closer view

The seafood bowl was not much of a looker, but the sea urchin has a very nice fragrance to it. Almost flowery, and a tad surreal. Hard to imagine, I know. But truly, it has a very nice fragrance to the uni. As usual, scallops were sweet. My favourite in Hokkaido, ほたてだいすきです！

Travel | Hokkaido mid-May 2015 | Hakodate Morning Market 函館朝市 Hakodate Asaichi

My friend, a frequent traveller to Japan, once said this to me, "Seafood taste so much better in Hakodate." Armed with that mantra, Hakodate naturally had to be included as part of the plan when exploring Hokkaido. Getting to Hakodate from Sapporo, was easy and takes about 3 hours plus by JR Rail. Want to know more about JR ticket reservation, what's the experience was like travelling via the Super Hokuto 6? Read about it  here.

Arrived on a Tuesday at about noon time. The Hakodate JR Station has a souvenir shop right after you're out from the gates. It sells all the necessary omiyage plus alcoholic beverages like beer and wine too. Some items are limited to Hakodate. Ugh, was so tempted to buy those local wine... But first, have to hurry to the market to see if the shops are still open. Still need to get lunch and to recce on dried scallops. The family has indicated that they'd like a kilo of those dried goodies.

Weather wasn't great and the sky was gray with slight drizzle. The Morning Market is within walking distance from Hakodate JR Station. Less than 5 minutes walk.

this way to Hakodate Morning Market

Donburi Yokocho

Decided to check out the market first. Some stalls are still open but most are already done for the day. Operating hours for the stalls are mostly till 12pm, and a few till 2pm.

seafood shopping

Was walking around looking for dried scallops when a sudden attack of delicious aroma was detected. It was so enticing that I went in search of the source of this wonderful smell. Ahah! Found it.

Huge scallops in shell being grilled over the fire. Bubbling in simple shoyu sauce. The stall owner asked if I want any. Nodded. (Tip: If you see this stall, just buy more. One is never enough and its price is good for its size. You'll know in later post.). I think the shop is called 手作り いっせきにちょう or Isseki Nicho.

grilled seafood stall

grilled scallop ¥500 (original price: ¥600)

There are empty tables nearby that stall, so one could eat comfortably there. Piping hot scallop on a cold day, makes a perfect companion. Tasty, sweet and full of umami goodness. Flesh was firm and comfortably bouncy. It was so good that I wanted to slurp all the juice up (but that would be an overdose on saltiness!)

Come to think of it, it didn't occur to me that I should get some other grilled items like oysters or abalone or maybe another scallop, or even beer. Sighs. Think I was saving some stomach space for proper lunch.

closer view of grilled scallops

Didn't buy alot of stuffs from the market though. Bought some snacks of dried squid and of course, dried scallops. Not sure if I'm supposed to get the snack kind or the cook porridge kind. Hmm.

For dried squid snacks, one pack is about ¥500. The guy at the stall was friendly and tried to converse but my Japanese is really rookie. Nevertheless, his prices are reasonable. The "in snack" seemed to be salmon jerky, but I really don't like the texture of that, nor the taste of it. Also bought some dried soft scallops snack. Bought 2 packs of 500gms each for ¥4500 (after discount). Its price ranges from ¥2500 to ¥3500 per pack, depending on vendor.

dried soft scallop snack

Got some dried scallops to boil soup kind at ¥1100 from a stall that's outside the market. Not sure if that's expensive or reasonable.

the loot

Travel | Hokkaido mid-May 2015 | Daimaru Department Store - Food and Sweets

Sapporo Station's department stores are amazing! The things that I needed, can all be found in Daimaru Department Store, basement level.

After having walked a few thousand steps in Day 2 of Sapporo solo travel trip, decided to dump all the shopping stuffs in the hotel room before venturing out to see what to eat for dinner.

The food hall of Daimaru was bustling with activities. Stall owners will entice customers with slashed down prices, and so I bought a yakisoba from Heichinrou stall with a marked down price of ¥400 (usual price was ¥600). Also bought desserts from LeTao counter. Sweet!

seafood yakisoba from 聘珍樓

there's prawn, squid, scallop, clams and crab meat

Seriously tasty stuff from Heichinrou and the seafood was good. Just that it was cold. Should this be microwaved first? Anyway, was hungry that this bowl was wolfed down in minutes.

Then, followed by coffee and cakes. The sweets from LeTao is pretty famous, especially its double fromage.

a slice of LeTAO double fromage cake and in-room drip coffee

closer view of the cheesecake

The cheesecake was light and creamy. It was a tad sweeter than the cake from Kinotoya. Worth a try, but desserts here cost as much as the yakisoba. Haha!

The pastry from Kinotoya きのとや, was excellent. Go for its croquant. The only regret that I had, was that I only got one of those amazing pastry. Should've gone there everyday!

custard croquant from Kinotoya

how to resist?

The custard croquant shell was so crunchy that its like eating caramelized sugar shell. Very likeable sweetness. The crushed almonds on its shell was so good and that custard fillings, oh my, so yums! Must buy, must eat! Highly recommended.

Also tried its coffee cake, which was pretty mild but that was also because I had it the next day for breakfast. Am liking Kinotoya.

coffee cake

When one is in Sapporo, do aim for desserts once a day every day. Wanted to do that, but not possible at times as the department stores food hall closes pretty early by 8+ in the evening, if not wrong.