Pension Ohno (Hokkaido)

As with life, a lot of decisions are made based on calculated risks. So, when Tripadvisor shows very few (albeit good) reviews of a place, you sometime have to make the call whether those are genuine reviews. And with a stroke of luck, you may just find something good- Pension Ohno is one of them. (Note: Trip was in July 2013). 

1) Location 

Pension Ohno is located right opposite Lake Toya. It's a 15-20 minute walk from the popular Toya Sunpalace, a hotel where everyone stays when they go to Lake Toya. There is a convenience store within a 5 minute walk away. 

For one night's stay and meals for two people, we paid a total of 16,660 JPY (around S$202). This place does not have a website of its own so we booked it on Japanican. 

2) Accommodation and amenities 
While the room may be slightly dated, it is very clean. Toilets are small. There is a free coffee/tea machine. An onsen is also available although it looked pretty dark and small.

3) Food 
This is one of the highlights of staying at this place. By paying an extra fee, you get to enjoy dinner/breakfast here. The food is lip-smacking good!

For dinner, we had a fresh and healthy combination of seafood, vegetables, meat and soup! A very wholesome meal awaits.

This is what we had for breakfast. No wonder Japanese have the highest life expectancies. This is testimony that healthy food does not need to be boring or bland. We enjoyed every morsel of food at Pension Ohno cooked by the owner. All the fresh local produce really makes a difference to the eating experience.

4) How to get there
This is the slightly tricky part if you are not going by car. It's possible to reach there by public transport just that you would have to make sure that you get down at the correct stop. Take the DonanBus from JR Toya Station to the bus stop. Continue walking in the direction of the traffic flow for around 10 minutes, ask around and you will see Pension Ohno on the opposite side of the road. I can't give any more precise directions than that because google maps have limited use when they come to addresses in Japan. When you return to the JR Station, walk back to the bus stop right in front of Toya Sun Palace.

5) Service 
The owner was friendly but not intrusive. Let her know if you have any dietary requirements in advance so that she can take note before preparing your meals.

6) What to do 
Besides walking around Lake Toya, we also walked a short distance to watch the fireworks held daily for about twenty minutes (except from November to late April). One day is more than sufficient to spend at Lake Toya.

Pension Ohno
56-2 Sobetsu Onsen
Sobetsucho, Asugun
Hokkaido

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Fukuzushi 福寿司 (Hokkaido)

Massive sushi for those with big appetites. Located near the JR Furano station and within an extremely short walking distance of the Furano Natulax Hotel, there's this restaurant which is popular for its upsized sushis. 

We went at around 8 pm at night and the restaurant was filled to its maximum capacity.

The menus come in English and Japanese. Each item on the menu is also in picture form so it really makes ordering a lot easier.

We thought we might be filled to the brim eating these sushi because they were really mega-sized. Little did we know, the two people at the next table ordered a really huge platter of sushi (maybe three to four times this portion)- is it true that Japanese don't get fat?

The thing about travelling to a new place is that you often feel compelled to try something local- even if it's something that you're not accustomed to. I do not eat raw food in Singapore but I now understand why people love sashimi so much. It's the clean taste and the freshness of just being out of the sea that makes sashimi so endearing. That being said, I'm still not a sashimi convert.

These fresh sushi were very affordable and good for hungry people on a budget!

Fukuzushi 福寿司
富良野市朝日町1-24

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Shiroi Koibito Park (Hokkaido)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was one of my favourite books when I was young. In Hokkaido, there's the Shiroi Koibito Park which is slightly less magical than Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory but fascinating nonetheless. It is best known for its 白色恋人 cookies, a food item everyone brings back after a visit to Hokkaido. 

At the start of every hour, a song starts to play and puppets/figurines start popping out. Kind of freaky but at the same time, there is a carnival atmosphere about this place, making everyone happy.

Right at the entrance, you get to see a beautiful clock tower, small little houses complete with furniture and a rose garden.

You have to decide whether you want to pay for a factory tour (600 JPY). Many things in this park are free, so there's actually no need for you to pay, unless you want to see how the cookies are produced. If you opt for the paid admission option, you will also get to see a Chocolate Cup Collection from the 18th century, chocolate packaging labels and a gramophone gallery.

It was interesting to see how the factory workers carefully sift through the cookies and that every cookie is subject to stringent standards. I suppose in a way, that's you paying for them to impress you.

There were also random facts like the one below: 

You will also get to see some very delicate sugar craft.

The Old-style Children's Toy Box is available to all. Mickey mouse, barbie dolls, Thomas the Tank Engine- you are bound to find some of your favourite childhood toys in this place.

Last but not least, they have a shop selling all their products (duh). However, as the prices are controlled within Sapporo, you can easily buy this somewhere else at the same price, so that you don't have to lug all of them back to the hotel from this place which isn't exactly in a convenient location. Available in white and milk chocolate.

There were cat motifs around the factory- not sure if the owner is a cat lover, or whether it's because the biscuits that sandwich the chocolate are known as langues de chat (cat's tongue).

An interesting visit! While we didn't try the hot chocolate at the cafe, I have read that it's really good- so give it a try as well!

Ishiya Chocolate Factory 
Miyanosawa 2-jo 2-chome, Nishi-ku
Sapporo 063-0052

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味処たけだ (Ajidokoro Takeda) (Hokkaido)

You simply can't go to Hokkaido without visiting the morning markets and having a very fresh seafood meal! 

The Sankaku Fish Market  (三角市場) in Otaru is within a very short walking distance from the JR Otaru Station. You just need to turn left when walking out of the station. 

On one side, they sell fresh seafood. On the other, they have little shops dishing fresh seafood to their hungry customers.

We decided on this shop because there were the most people in this shop. After the orders are taken, the seafood is taken directly from the stall opposite this shop.

Pictures of celebrities and their signatures were plastered all over the wall.

I had a 三色井 (1500 JPY) which consisted of crab meat, prawns and scallops. Generous and large pieces of succulent scallops, sweet crab and prawn meat- everything was just shouting "fresh"!

I also tried the Grilled Salmon. This was so beautifully grilled- I haven't tasted salmon so good. None of the fishy taste, just good smoky flavour infused in the fish meat, without being dry and salty.

Service was great as well at this humble little shop which sells extraordinary seafood.

市場食堂 味処たけだ 
北海道小樽市稲穂3-10-6

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The Buffet at Daimaru (Hokkaido)

I love eating buffets- from Singapore to Las Vegas to Japan- if the buffet is value for money, you will find me there. Despite the long queues at this buffet  located on the 8th floor of the Daimaru shopping centre (possibly indicating a good buffet), the food was disappointing.  

You have 90 minutes for the buffet and it costs 1490 JPY (around SGD$19).

They have a clock on the wall to subtly convey the message that you have to finish the buffet within the stated time.

It might look pretty appealing at first- till you realise that there is neither quality nor quantity. There were different stations including a small Japanese food station, salad station, Chinese food station, Italian food station and a dessert station.

The Chinese food section looked totally unappetising. Even the Japanese food section which I assume should have been their forte, looked rather pathetic- the deep fried onion has been left in the open for too long, the sushi was non-existent.

The queues for the Italian food kept forming. They were probably the most edible of the lot. The pineapples on the Hawaiian pizza were really sweet.

The pasta in tomato sauce was accompanied by little chunks of sausage (I think). It was pretty much what an amateur chef could come up with.

The number of desserts you could take at one go was limited to three at one go.

The overloading of mascarpone for the tiramisu totally destroyed the joy of eating tiramisu.

The chocolate cake was dense and good. Another good dessert choice is the waffles where you can add your own syrups and canned fruits over it.

Sure, this buffet is cheap and therefore I shouldn't harbour any expectations. But I think there's a certain bottom line to how food at a buffet should be like and the fact that locals were actually snaking around corners to queue for this buffet made it extremely queer that this buffet is so popular. Not worth the wait and money.

The Buffet
Daimaru
〒060-0005 札幌市中央区北5条西4丁目7番地
8th Floor 

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Le Tao (Hokkaido)

A Japanese friend once asked me, "Do you know if they have a sweets shop here?" Initially, I thought she was referring to a candy shop. I later realised that she was referring to Japanese desserts.

Le Tao is a very famous dessert shop in Otaru- there are 5 branches with different concepts, all located along the same stretch. 

We decided to try the Le Tao Pathos Cafe. 

The popular double fromage cheesecake is sold on the first floor. On the first floor, there is also a creperie where the crepes are paired with brownies.

The interior design of all the Le Tao branches is very tasteful. That of Pathos Cafe is whimsical.

As we were spoilt for choice (and also because we didn't understand the menu), we decided to get the  Double Plate (1365 JPY). This consists of mini pieces of cheesecakes. Let's just put it upfront that I'm not a fan of cheesecakes- but since this is so popular both with locals and foreigners, I just had to try it. 

Such a pretty plate of dessert. This consists of the famous Fromage Double, Chocolat Double and Venezia Rendezvous. The one that tasted the most familiar was the Chocolat Double which tasted pretty much like tiramisu. The Venezia Rendezvous had a tart-looking base- however it's texture was nothing like a tart. It was more flaky and crumbled easily. While the cheese was light, Le Tao hasn't converted me into a cheesecake fan. 

I was looking forward to visiting Le Chocolat of LeTao because I thought it would have chocolate-related desserts.

It turned out that it sold chocolates only and not chocolate desserts.

While the lightness and mildness of the cheese may appeal to cheesecake lovers, Le Tao is a pretty place but not the right dessert place for me.

Le Tao 
5-22 Sakaimachi, Otaru, Hokkaido 047-0027, Japan

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一丁 (Norbesa) (Hokkaido)

We were walking aimlessly around the Susukino area, looking at pictures on the menu to determine if they looked good. After walking in circles, we ended up at Norbesa, which is where the Noria ferris wheel is located. The restaurant might look quiet from the outside but it's actually pretty crowded. 

This is really the place to be if you want to sample food that Hokkaido is famous for- at extremely reasonable prices. The Crab Sushi (530 JPY) was so sweet and fresh. I love eating crabs and am very familiar with the slightly salty meat of the crab. But this was plain sweet. 

The Scallop (680 JPY) was also insanely good. You get to decide how cooked you want the scallop to be, as it slowly simmers in a tasty broth.

To make ourselves feel healthy, we had a portion of Salad (530 JPY for a small portion). Lots of fresh vegetables in this, together with an absolutely light and delightful sesame dressing.

We also had Yakitori (980 JPY) which was grilled from different parts of chicken, including chicken skin, chicken gizzard and chicken meatballs. This took the longest to arrive at our table probably because it takes some time for the smokey flavour to emerge.

Click here for the menu.

The food was good and worth every single cent.

うおや一丁
札幌市中央区南3条西5丁目1-1(ノルベサビルB1)

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