Culinary Experiences in Niseko - Food Galore!

So I thought I would just upload all of my epic food experiences from Niseko in one mega post.  I love the food in Niseko.

Michael will be the first to tell you, and I will be the first to admit (and even if I didn't admit it, the number of bruises on my knees and upper thighs would clearly indicate) that skiing is not really my thing.  I like it enough to appreciate the powder that Niseko gets, and I do find great exhilaration at making it down a great run, but generally I have been backsliding (literally and figuratively, story to come later) and getting worse at skiing rather than better.

 I have decided I will get better at skiing, maybe take a few lessons to get more comfortable on skis again - but that's a resolution for a later day.  For now let's talk about the foooood.  This, my friends, is why I go to Japan. 

On Sunday night, we all went to Niseko Loft Club for yakiniku - the process of grilling meat and vegetables on a bed of coals.  It was to celebrate Michael's birthday so I wanted to get him a lot of meat, which I knew he would love.  It ended up being one of the best meals of the trip - their Genghis Khan barbeque, which is a type of mutton, is beyond delicious.  It's not at all gamey and it is super tender.  I know everyone felt the same way I did because among the six of us we gobbled up 5 servings of the lamb platter lickety-split.

YUM.

We also went through three salads, a platter of vegetables, a platter of fatty sirloin beef, and a platter of Ezo deer meat.  Everything was delicious and tender.

 Hokkaido is very well  known for their milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream (among other things), so I had to get dessert.  I decided to opt for all the sauces rather than just one, so this is a very messy strawberry/blueberry/chocolate ice cream sundae.  What can I say, I decided to channel my inner 15 month old (yay, Lola) and say "hai yao" ("want more")!

 

On Monday night, I went with my friends to Crab Kanon, where we indulged in a snow crab feast!  A set menu of all my favorite eats - snow crab, hairy crab, king crab, sea urchin...

 Then as if that were not enough, we went to Abucha for some post dinner sake/whiskey and dessert.

 On Tuesday, I went to Somoza, a new restaurant that opened in Hanazono, with two of my girlfriends.  It was set in a really cool space.  The view out of the restaurant was insane - a deep valley full of snow, and birch trees as far as the eye could see. 

 The art in the restaurant was... eclectic.  Lots of stuffed birds (but beautiful and so lifelike) as well as a stuffed deer and bear.

 We sat at a huge round table that was akin to something out of King Arthur's times. The centerpiece was a lovely, dainty one with cherry blossoms and black poppies - ethereal and romantic.

 The food was a set menu and quite fresh.  Not all of the dishes were spectacular but they were all above average and some were truly outstanding, particularly the wagyu beef and the octopus risotto.  The portions were also very generous.  At 5400 yen per person, I thought this was a great deal. 

 The dessert was an apple custard - especially delicious when paired with the mint leaf, which made the whole experience pop in the mouth in the most refreshing and lively manner.  And I usually don't like mint!

 The milk for the coffee was served in the tiniest little jar, which was shaped like the smoothest, smallest, speckled quail egg.

 I was really tempted to buy a painting because it evoked the sense of calm that I get from the snowy landscape of northern Japan, but the logistics of shipping or hauling one back made me stop in my tracks.

 The next night, my friends ordered a seafood platter from Ezo which they generously brought over to our place and shared with us.  What an embarrassment of riches.  It was so, so, so yummy.  The platter was huge and encompassed some of my all time winter seafood favorites - raw oysters, king red king crab (a Hokkaido specialty) and scallops - along with tuna and shrimp.

 The next night, embarrassingly, I had another reservation with friends at Ezo.  Ha!  It proves my dedication, that I was able to down an epic meal of more oysters, red king crab, sea urchin, scallops and tuna.

 

 

 

Then, upon finishing dinner, I invited my friends back to my apartment for a glass of wine - only to discover that Jovie had baked the most beautiful and tasty apple tart.  Look at that - it's like a work of art!  It tasted amazing and made the whole apartment smell delicious.  Despite having a belly-achingly large meal at Ezo, I managed to find room to put away a huge slice.

 On Thursday, Michael, Jovie, Lola and I enjoyed one of my favorite feasts - hotpot!  The restaurant, Ryunabe, does a service where they deliver fresh seafood and meats to your lodging so that you can have hotpot in the comfort of your own apartment.  We ordered their Hokkaido milk fish soup base, which is epic and tasty and actually pretty generously stocked with fish maw, a very expensive ingredient.

On Friday night, Michael and I finally had time for a date night.  I had planned Rakuichi very far in advance - this is a restaurant famous for its soba which I have wanted to try but never managed to get to on previous trips.  Rather than try for a coveted lunch spot, however, I decided just to do the omakase set dinner tasting.  Lunch time waits can be up to two hours and I simply do not have the time or patience for that.

Rakuichi is a 12 seater restaurant that you reach by traversing a snowy bridge in the middle of a parking lot in Annapuri.  Approaching it at night is particularly romantic because the stars are out and everything is muted in black or white.

This dinner was special in particular because they are tearing this restaurant apart after this season and building a huge new complex full of other shops and restaurants and lodgings in its place.  The head chef, a soba master, is also retiring and his son will be running the restaurant in his stead.

 

Overall, I thought the dinner was tasty and beautifully presented, but the portions were tiny and the whole meal was overpriced for what it was.  I know Rakuichi is one of the great "must-do's" in Niseko but I was not that impressed.  The starters were very simple, just sea urchin with yuzu shavings and fatty tuna with some seafood jelly and wasabi.  Perhaps my expectations were set too high?  I was delighted to catch a glimpse of the great Anthony Bourdain in a photo in the restaurant.

 I am not a fan of smoked scallops - I think it ruins the sweet flavor of a truly fresh scallop.  I was also not that impressed that they paired it with the same seafood jelly and wasabi as the prior dish.

 The fatty tuna with green onion was good - but look at the size of this portion.

 The bonito on bonito was fine - a little bit dry but still tasty.

 The pork shabu shabu was tasty if not a bit sparse.  It was a bonito and seaweed soup base.  But at this point I was starting to have a little issue with the constant repetition of the same fish - two dishes with fatty tuna, two dishes with bonito...

 The vegetable tempura was lovely, though not served piping hot given they were all served at the same time. 

 The last dish was the seibo soba, for which the chef came out and performed the rolling and hand-cutting of the dough.  It was a beautiful show and Michael and I had the best seats in the house.

 

You can choose to have the soba hot or cold - I chose hot because it was so cold outside, although cold was probably the right culinary decision, given you can really taste the noodles and enjoy the texture.  For cold soba, you dip it into the sauce and then, after finishing your noodles, pour the stock into your sauce for separate enjoyment.

 They served a dessert of a lone strawberry paired with Hokkaido condensed milk squeezed from a tube.  I mean, come on, look at that sad picture.  That should not even be included on the set menu as a separate item.

 Michael and I returned home a bit miffed.  I'm glad I got to try it but I am also confident that that is not the kind of culinary experience that I am seeking when I go to Niseko.  I am about 500% more satisfied with a hot pot nabe nabe and some salted pork skewers at any of the cheap and plentiful izakayas around town.  But then we entered our apartment to the sight of these freshly made banana breads that Jovie had just made and pulled out of the oven, and our spirits lifted again.

 This is an example of a ramen lunch that we had during the day at one of the restaurants at the base of Hanozono - how awesome is that?  Snow crab and pork ramen warms you right up after a cold morning out on the slopes!

And there you have it.  Michael and I wrapped up Saturday night with a fabulous, satisfying, final round at Abucha 2.  So good was the food and so hungry were we that I didn't bother to take any pictures - and I guess you could say that that's the best testament of all!