Slow Life Hokkaido V: Hungry in Hakodate
One night was all we had at Lake Toya. Got up early and had a simple breakfast of eggs at the AirBnB. Upon checking out, we finally had a chance to greet our host's dog. Didn't hear a single bark since yesterday. A two-hour drive ahead of us to Hakodate. We were in a little of a rush because we had to reach Hakodate before the seafood market closes at 2:00 PM. The first stop was at Yakumo where I realized that we were running low on fuel. Asked Bro to probe ahead for highway oasis ahead and he came up empty. Unlike Malaysia, the highway in Hokkaido does not have many petrol stations on it. In our region of travel, there were only four highway oasis that have more complete amenities. Seeing how critical our fuel level was, we had no choice but to exit the highway at Kutchan. Bro went to talk to the guy manning the highway exit. Good thing that the staff had a phrase book for all sorts of emergency situations. He handed us a map to the nearest petrol station in town. Phew! We were saved!
Hakodate was really hot. Our first taste of 'real' summer. Parked our car at a paid car park and walked to the Hakodate Morning Market. By that time, the crowd had lessened, and some stores had started closing. We didn't really know where to start although I had been there before. I think it's much easier in Kuromon Market, Osaka. To make things simple, we just aimed to clear our must-eat list:
- Hairy Crab
- King Crab
- Squid
Randomly picked a stall (guess the guy's cute smile carried some weight) and let the guy 'lead' us into fishing a large one from the aquarium. Think that crab cost of us JPY6,000. Worth every yen though. Haha. Once we paid, we brought us to a restaurant located on the second floor of the market-- Asaichi Shokudo Nibankan. Many locals were eating cheap donburi there (starts ate JPY500), but we couldn't be bothered with rice! Twenty minutes was quite a long time to wait for our crab to boil, so we got some other stuff too for example grilled hokke (my favourite Japanese grilled fish), and giant scallop. When the hairy crab arrived, they had already cut the shell with kitchen shears, so there was no need for us to do the work. All we needed was a 'crab needle', a tool with a small two-pronged fork on one end (to dig out meat from the shell), and small spoon on the other (to scoop up roe). The texture of the meat was good, and it was sweet, with the natural saltiness from the sea. Very satisfying.
One item was scratched off the list. Went back down to scour other parts of the market. Stopped again at another restaurant to try their grilled King Crab legs. Also ordered some sashimi-- salmon, surf clam, and live squid. The King Crab has a different taste and texture altogether. A different type of yummy. Haha. And I must say that the live squid sashimi was amazing. A very different type of sweetness and different translucent parts of the squid offer a different experience. By the time we finished our second breakfast, the market had already wound down. We headed to the next point of interest-- Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses.
Historically, Hakodate was one of the first international port cities in Japan, and the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses were one of the pioneer commercial warehouses there. Today, the warehouses have been re-purposed into a commercial complex, but the heritage exteriors are maintained. Basically it's a whole lot of shopping and dining! We did not managed to wander through all the warehouses. In the end, we stopped at Pâtisserie Petit Merveille to fulfill my sister's cheese cake cravings. A simple act of handing out free samples is really effective. Sis took four varieties of their bite-sized hanjuku style cheese cake, and a slice of their baked cheese cake. My personal favourite is the caramel hanjuku. Love the fragrance of the caramel. Pumpkin and chocolate was kinda meh.
I maxed out my first SD card at Kanemori because I was smitten by the tanned, muscular thighs of the traditional rickshaw pullers. Who can resist athletic university undergraduates in tight cotton shorts, all sweaty and flashing their sunshine smiles? The next snack stop was at Hakodate Yukinko food truck, where we had soft-serve ice cream (made with local milk) and a yukinko (sweet potato snack).
No more shopping for us that day, so we took a leisurely walk at Motomachi, Hakodate's old quarter. The historic neighbourhood is located on slopes overlooking the port, and used to house many foreign residences. Amazing that we found the energy to traverse those slopes. Along the way, we also visited some of the old churches, namely the Motomachi Catholic Church, Hakodate Episcopal Church of Japan, and the Hakodate Russian Orthodox Church. The Motomachi Catholic Church is topped with the statue of the city's bird-- the Varied Tit.
At the end of the road was the Former Hakodate Ward Public Hall, an important heritage building in the city. A unique architectural attraction that fuses Japanese and Western influences. And the building itself is painted an eye-catching yellow and grey. In front of it is Motomachi Park which offers an unobstructed view of the Gulf of Hakodate. From there, we walked down the magnificent cobblestone Motoi-zaka slope which was an important landmark back in the 1870s.
Before we left the bay area, Bro bought the Lucky Egg Burger (#2 bestseller) from Lucky Pierrot, the best local burger chain in Hakodate. One bite of that sloppy burger was enough to convert me. If you're ever in Hakodate, do visit one or all of their quirky and cheerfully-decorated restaurants. My loss for not trying it back in 2016.
Dinner for the night was Benten Sushi, right at the foot of Hakodatehachimangusai, a 15th century shinto shrine in a forest. FYI, the restaurant is very small, and very much a neighbourhood sushi shop where families gather, and local obasans come to drink. When we arrived, we had to wait half an hour at the shrine parking lot (giant Hakodate mosquitos abound!) for the crowd to clear. We weren't feeling particularly hungry, so we requested to share two dinner sets. Something that we thought simple actually caused much distress to the elderly couple manning the shop. Not something in their SOP. Haha. The sushi was really good, and I particularly liked a gunkan sushi topped with tobiko and raw quail egg.
Once we finished dinner, we rushed off to La'gent Plaza Hotel located in Hakuto. The hotel is located in a quiet part of town and is quite new. Like most Japanese hotels, the room was pretty cramped though. We made use of the hotel's hot spring before calling it a night.
POI Mapcodes:
One item was scratched off the list. Went back down to scour other parts of the market. Stopped again at another restaurant to try their grilled King Crab legs. Also ordered some sashimi-- salmon, surf clam, and live squid. The King Crab has a different taste and texture altogether. A different type of yummy. Haha. And I must say that the live squid sashimi was amazing. A very different type of sweetness and different translucent parts of the squid offer a different experience. By the time we finished our second breakfast, the market had already wound down. We headed to the next point of interest-- Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses.
Historically, Hakodate was one of the first international port cities in Japan, and the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses were one of the pioneer commercial warehouses there. Today, the warehouses have been re-purposed into a commercial complex, but the heritage exteriors are maintained. Basically it's a whole lot of shopping and dining! We did not managed to wander through all the warehouses. In the end, we stopped at Pâtisserie Petit Merveille to fulfill my sister's cheese cake cravings. A simple act of handing out free samples is really effective. Sis took four varieties of their bite-sized hanjuku style cheese cake, and a slice of their baked cheese cake. My personal favourite is the caramel hanjuku. Love the fragrance of the caramel. Pumpkin and chocolate was kinda meh.
I maxed out my first SD card at Kanemori because I was smitten by the tanned, muscular thighs of the traditional rickshaw pullers. Who can resist athletic university undergraduates in tight cotton shorts, all sweaty and flashing their sunshine smiles? The next snack stop was at Hakodate Yukinko food truck, where we had soft-serve ice cream (made with local milk) and a yukinko (sweet potato snack).
No more shopping for us that day, so we took a leisurely walk at Motomachi, Hakodate's old quarter. The historic neighbourhood is located on slopes overlooking the port, and used to house many foreign residences. Amazing that we found the energy to traverse those slopes. Along the way, we also visited some of the old churches, namely the Motomachi Catholic Church, Hakodate Episcopal Church of Japan, and the Hakodate Russian Orthodox Church. The Motomachi Catholic Church is topped with the statue of the city's bird-- the Varied Tit.
At the end of the road was the Former Hakodate Ward Public Hall, an important heritage building in the city. A unique architectural attraction that fuses Japanese and Western influences. And the building itself is painted an eye-catching yellow and grey. In front of it is Motomachi Park which offers an unobstructed view of the Gulf of Hakodate. From there, we walked down the magnificent cobblestone Motoi-zaka slope which was an important landmark back in the 1870s.
Before we left the bay area, Bro bought the Lucky Egg Burger (#2 bestseller) from Lucky Pierrot, the best local burger chain in Hakodate. One bite of that sloppy burger was enough to convert me. If you're ever in Hakodate, do visit one or all of their quirky and cheerfully-decorated restaurants. My loss for not trying it back in 2016.
Dinner for the night was Benten Sushi, right at the foot of Hakodatehachimangusai, a 15th century shinto shrine in a forest. FYI, the restaurant is very small, and very much a neighbourhood sushi shop where families gather, and local obasans come to drink. When we arrived, we had to wait half an hour at the shrine parking lot (giant Hakodate mosquitos abound!) for the crowd to clear. We weren't feeling particularly hungry, so we requested to share two dinner sets. Something that we thought simple actually caused much distress to the elderly couple manning the shop. Not something in their SOP. Haha. The sushi was really good, and I particularly liked a gunkan sushi topped with tobiko and raw quail egg.
Once we finished dinner, we rushed off to La'gent Plaza Hotel located in Hakuto. The hotel is located in a quiet part of town and is quite new. Like most Japanese hotels, the room was pretty cramped though. We made use of the hotel's hot spring before calling it a night.
POI Mapcodes:
- Hakodate Morning Market : 86 072 344*22
- Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses : 86 041 611*87
- Motomachi : 86 040 467*21
- La'gent Plaza Hotel : 0138-77-5055 (phone)
Comments
That's a Japanese tourist who was accompanied by his wife and toddler.