I’ve been on an eating frenzy since this will be last week in Hirafu and Hokkaido before heading to Tokyo.

I ate some delicious steak - possibly the best steak I’ve had in a long time, at Steak Rosso Rosso.
They are fine dining steak restaurant with a selection of Hokkaido steak, Wagyu beef, Kobe beef and Aussie beef.

It’s a small, simple cosy restaurant that was pretty full on the night we went. Reservations recommended. Mind you, it’s a small restaurant and the tables are somewhat a little close for comfort with the neighbouring table.

I highly recommend going for the steak set - great value and uber tasty food. The price of the set varies depending on the type of steak you order. I would have no hesitation to re-order the same set again - the Hokkaido fillet steak set. We’re in Hokkaido, home to some of the best cattle and produce - I wasn’t about to order the imported Aussie beef.

The set opens with some delicious Hokkaido corn soup that was pretty amazing - with your choice of garlic bread or rice. Got to have bread with soup. This is then followed by your choice of an entree. I opted for the scallops wrapped in bacon - who could resist that. The others ordered asparagus spring rolls and caesar salads.

This was then followed by our delicious Hokkaido fillet steak. Definitely opt for the fillet over the sirloin. It tasted way better and was cooked to perfection to my liking. The sizzling hot plate comes out with a thick fillet. I savoured every mouthful. A dipping sauce accompanies the meat. Although probably not the best accompaniiment to the meal, given that we are in Hokkaido, the side of potatoes on the plate is obligatory. I am going to be having steak dreams to come. It was quite an unforgettable fillet. There is also a hot rock on the plate which I discovered is used to further cook your steak as you cut it off should you require your steak a little bit more well done.

There was no choices for dessert - it’s a set dish and I was not disappointed. It was a great way to finish off a satisfying meal - cassis (blackcurrant) sorbet. It was sweet and creamy - not at all tart or icy.

At a restaurant like this, red wine is a given too.

The set was less than 5000yen for soup and bread, entree, good quality steak, and dessert. Even now, the meal still lingers on in mind, a few days later.

I got no beef with Steak Rosso Rosso.

A series of haphazard visits to Jam Bar have left me with mixed impressions on this place.
These random occasions sum up the randomness of this bar.

Visit 1:
My first time to Jam Bar was in my first season here. There was a big party night with a 1000yen nomihoudai. Needless to say it was mayhem inside. I literally walked in for a few seconds and left. It was wall to wall jampacked with people. A 1000yen nomihoudai was basically a free for all. People were just picking up bottles behind the bar and passing them around the joint drinking straight from bottles. You can barely breath in there. I made an early exit that night and was kind of scared off the place.

Visit 2
During the summer it is a nice little hippy cafe by day where they specialise in organic produce. I got a takeaway burger set from there and enjoyed in the sunshine during a lunch work break. The food was pretty good.

Visit 3
Recently, I was there again after dinner for a drink with friends. I had a post-dinner dessert - a chocolate fondant with a cup of tea. They do really good hot chocolates and teas etc. The dessert was basically a little chocolate pudding with cream and berries. It was very nice. I’m always on the lookout for a nice simple dessert.

Visit 4
I stopped by for dinner on the way from work, and had dinner on my own there. There dinner time menu has a variety of random delicious foods - semi izakaya, semi restaurant. They do bibimba there so I ordered that with a chocolate shake. Bibimba was good - as always. I’ve never really had a bad bibimba before. Even on Korean airline flights - the onboard bibimba flight meal is not so bad.
The chocolate milkshake was more icy than milky.

Visit 5
I don’t really remember so much but I have the photos to prove it. It was late, I had consumed some alcoholic beverages prior and we ordered pizza, which I’m sure was good.

This place definitely grew on me over the last year or so.

Jam Bar has a great menu - from yakitori, to bibimba, salads, other mains as well as izakaya snacks, and an extensive hot and cold drink menu as well as desserts. It’s a cool place to go for dinner, or just desserts, or just a bar to drink at.

Another night, another dinner. This time to Ebisutei, another of the new restaurants this year that popped up in lower village.
Again a tiny restaurant which only holds about 20 people. It’s hodgepodge izakaya.
We ordered a bunch of dishes to share and some adventurous ones too like wasabi raw octopus, and raw horse sashimi, along with the regular favourites of fried chicken, cheese and crackers, ebi and chijimi and meat stirfry.
Standard fare at standard prices. I thought the servings were a little too small to be shared amongst a group of 5.
Nevertheless, another restaurant ticked off the list.

Have discovered another little gem of a restaurant in the village.
Sukiyaki has become another of my new favourite Japanese foods and Wagyu Dining Sou specialises in 3 dishes - sukiyaki, shabu shabu and nabe.
Considering you can make nabe real easy and for dirt cheap yourself, we went for the sukiyaki (my favourite) and the shabu shabu.

Sou is a real tiny restaurant - which only seats about 20 people at a time and even then it’s a squeeze. Bookings are highly recommended.
Even though we had a reservation we had to change tables and then were given a time limit.
We had a 6.30pm booking, but the rest of our party were late so the two of us polished off a half bottle of wine whilst we waited and got some spring rolls. Because everyone was late, we were moved to a smaller table, and then given a time limit to make room for the next seating.
The food here was absolutely amazing. The spring rolls were really good spring rolls and the sukiyaki was amazing. A huge fan! Lots of meaty, vegetable, soupy goodness.I’m disappointed that I didn’t try this place earlier. Definitely one of the area’s best kept secrets.
Good wine, great food and fun company. A great way to kick off what was a very drunken night, followed by drinks at Paddy’s pub, Jam Bar, and Barumba.

In Hokkaido, ramen is a staple winter meal, in particular a hearty bowl of miso ramen.
My idea of a perfect Japanese winter meal is a bowl of hot, miso ramen, with a side of gyoza, a bowl of chahan, with a glass of beer.

Tozanaken in the village specialises in Asahikawa ramen - I’m not sure what that is though. I’m thinking it’s a shoyu ramen of sorts. I prefer the good ol’ Sapporo miso ramen.
I got the ramen set which included a smaller-portioned size miso ramen, gyoza and a bowl of rice. I couldn’t switch it for chahan, so I ordered a side of chahan as well. Totally carbo loading.
Ate it all, and it was good and cheap.

They also boast a very cute message on their noticeboard.

My time in Hirafu, Hokkaido is coming to an end soon and so the clock is ticking to get through the challenge that I started last year - which was to eat/drink at every establishment in the village, so I have been ramping up the eating. My soon-to-be new job has given me cause to celebrate by eating out a few more restaurants than usual as I have had to pick up the space.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I am going to get through them all, but close enough to it.

Another little pop-up restaurant new this season, tucked away in the lower village is Red Chili 2. This is cosy, cheap Nepalese/Indian restaurant. They do hearty soup curry, tandoori chicken, an assortment of Nepalese curries, other side dishes and really delicious generously-portioned naan - all for between 1000-2000yen.
A bargain dinner.

Just a little ways out of Hirafu a big new restaurant has been opened in a nicely designed open wooded structure, known as Lupicia. Lupicia is a global tea store chain, with restaurants to boot.They specialise in Euro Japanese cuisine.
They offer free pick up and drop off service to and from Hirafu in a really nice comfortable luxury van.

The restaurant has large glass windows and nicely decked out with polished wooden floors and furnishings. It’s a delightfully warm and cosy restaurant.

The menu is quite extensive and gourmet with fine steaks, venison and duck on offer.
There’s a range of appetisers, meat dishes, seafood and pasta dishes to choose from. I would call it relaxed fine dining. They use fresh, seasonal Hokkaido produce.

I ordered bread for starter and Bex got the pate.
We also got a creamy crab pasta to share. It was really tasty. Great sauce and well flavoured.

For mains I chose the Hidaka beef steak, and Bex got the Beef cheeks marinated in red wine. That was a really good choice.
It was great to be able to eat extremely good quality local meat – that was actually meaty rather than thin marbled meat.
My steak was served with lots of colourful, flavoursome vegetables.

An interesting choice of desserts were on offer which we couldn’t resist.
I went for the apple compote with vanilla ice cream, and Bex got the Houji cha crème brulee – again a fine choice.
I wish I had of known what a compote was before I ordered it. I was up for trying something different. I assumed it was an apple crumble or pie. Nevertheless it did not disappoint. Dessert was accompanied by some mini sweets.

Considering Lupicia is a famous tea brand, we thought it appropriate to get a pot of tea. At 800yen for a pot of tea –essentially hot water and some leaves – we decided to share a pot of a nice blend of tea. 800yen for a pot of tea is daylight robbery.

The meal – flavours, freshness, quality, and service were top notch at Lupicia. Portions were not too tiny either as one would expect from a place like that. Should be a hit in the summer too.

I would say Lupicia is on par with Sekka Dining and Kamimura without the pretentiousness and half the price tag.

Essentially a 3 course meal (entrée, bread, main, dessert and tea) with one alcholic beverage was Y5000 a head. Definitely worth it. Lupicia is quite the little gem.

Needless to say, the Ice Bar is a pretty cool place to chill out. Puns totally intended!
A cool reception upon arrival, to say the least
Made entirely out of ice, you don’t really want to spend too much time there. Just the single obligatory novelty drink.
A selection of cocktails to choose from. Can’t remember what I ordered now. It was a couple of weeks back since I went there. Drinks were served on the rocks, literally. The beverage vessel too was made entirely out of ice. The glasses were too cold to handle.

I was talking with the bar guy and he said they make about 100 ice cube blocks a day and then drill through the middle of it. Pretty cool. Clearly, there was no need for refrigeration either. They just had drinks such as juices sitting on blocks of ice and snow.
1000yen gets you a drink, with each drink thereafter costing Y500.
But you get to keep the ice glass as a souvenir.
I cautiously walked home with my ice glass taking care not to slip on the road and rotating the glass around so it would melt evenly, only to get home and place it on the kitchen bench where it slipped off and crashed and cracked onto the floor. Gladwrapped it back up and stuck it in the freezer and I’ve not looked at it since.
Some celebratory drinks are soon in order so may very well put the glass to good use.

Headed to K-town with some work folks last week for a feed.

After trying several restaurants to no avail (either closed or full) , we finally settled on a Chinese restaurant. It was the only place that would take us.
This place wasn’t as good as Kado for Chinese food, but it filled the hole in our stomach. By that time, we were quite hungry.
We ordered a bunch of dishes to share, which were only very average.
The spring rolls were good, as were the shumai, and gyoza.
We got some pork dishes which I didn’t really rate. The chili ebi was average too. The prawns were yum, but the sauce lacked flavour.
You can never go wrong with chahan, and I certainly needed my rice fix.
The ankake yakisoba was not too bad. Not usually a fan of ankake foods - it’s quite repulsive to look at, because it’s kind of mucousy, but it tastes better than it looks.

Shei Shei, no thank you. Good to try, but once is enough.

A really cool kanji that comes up a lot with eating out, especially if you like yakitori is the word ‘kushi’.
This kanji just makes so much sense！

Kushi = skewer stick.

It’s so visual. The actual kanji for skewer　（くし） looks like this:

串

An actual skewer stick with chunks of meat on it. Now there’s an easy kanji to remember.

It looks good enough to eat.

So how do you tell a kebab to be quiet…

…. sssshhhish kebab.    ハハハ