Another restaurant down.

Have to admit this one is a little out of Hirafu though, over Niseko/Higashiyama way.

This time, it was the Saison club courtesy of work.
I had been to this place before but only to the cafe (earlier entry) where they do really nice cakes.
This time was a dinner set with the work crew for a free dinner.
We were treated to an ishikari nabe (hotpot), shabu shabu and sukiyaki - all three are traditional Japanese foods.

Nabe - is a winter staple and is basically a hotpot of vegetables, meats and seafood. Basically you throw anything you want into a broth. At the end, you can add rice or noodles to soak up the last of the broth.

Shabu Shabu - this is a dish which I don’t normally like to eat. The concept is a little weird to me but nonetheless it was tasty. Basically you grab some raw meat at the end of your chopsticks and you swish it around in boiling water for a few seconds. The high temperature of the water cooks the meat within seconds. You then dip the cooked meat into a sauce of your choice such as a sesame tare, or a ponzu (citrus soy-like sauce). As you swish the meat around, you have to say ’shabu shabu’ otherwise it won’t taste as good.
For some reason, I think this kind of food cooking technique is kinda unhygienic. Everyone swishing raw bits of meat into boiling water. And then after you’ve done that - you throw in a whole bunch of vegies to boil up. Tasty but weird. It’s not something I want to eat a lot of.

Sukiyaki - is a dish which I have never actually eaten before, and my favourite of the evening. Basically it’s like a stir fried meat in a really nice tare/marinade sauce, and then you add vegies, which you dip in raw egg. Tastes awesome, way better than what it sounds. At the end, you add noodles.

yum yum. Another restaurant off the list.

Nice, cosy venue too. A great party room with karaoke facilities and they offer a free pick-up service.

A little while back, I tried out Shokusai Hirafu sushi up at the Alpen Hotel.
It was one of the places I didn’t get to try last season because it was a little pricey for sushi. It’s a bit of a step up from sushi train.

But they had a limited offer for two days - sushi tabehoudai for about Y1500 (for ladies, a bit more pricier for men - little do they know that I can eat as much as any guy). An offer I couldn’t go past.

So a pre-dinner swim worked up the appetite for an all you-can-eat sushi session.

sushi

Yum!

A ridiculous amount of eating (and drinking) has been going and I haven’t had time to catch up on all the blogging.

I’ve also learnt a new word to accompany all this eating.
常連客　= regular customer/patron/frequenter of a place.
It has become my local study cafe. They do great teas in pots with hot water refills, and a hot breakfast to order.

I have become quite the Sekka じょうれんきゃく.

Last month they put on a Sunday roast and what a feast it was.
For Y2000, there was an assortment of breads with dukkar and olive oil, fresh Hokkaido salad produce, chick peas, potatoes, peas, roasted vegie sides, and of course, a roast pork.

All that savoury goodness, was topped off with a homemade caramel, orange, brittle ice-cream.

Last Friday night, we went into K-town for dinner and drinks with the usual work crew.
It was back to Nami chan’s again. My first time there was just a couple of weeks ago, but the food was so good, we went back again.
Traditional izakaya, but absolutely everything on the menu is great. We ordered kara age, ramen salad, roast beef, yakitori, sashimi, nasi goreng, and hokke. Hokke is a real popular Hokkaido fish which has become a weekly staple now.

This place also has the most hilarious English menu translation ever. Check out these gems!!!!

Went for a long stroll on the weekend for about 5km around the countryside and stopped for lunch at Soga. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere but it was surprisingly busy.
I had a most satisfying lunch. The menu was pretty extensive and I finally settled on ishiyaki bibimba and handmade gyoza.
The food was really good. So good, that I will think be back there again.
The gyozas were really plump and very juicy on the inside.
The bibimba was great, although I don’t know how one could ruin a bibimba anyway - one of my favourite Korean foods.

The walk back was topped off with a soft serve ice cream - from the local Cheese factory store. Needless to stay it was Camembert cheese flavoured ice cream. It was actually really nice. It wasn’t too cheesy or overpowering. Dairy intake accomplished.