8 Popular Restaurants to Taste Hokkaido Cuisine in Otaru

Otaru is the hometown of sushi in Hokkaido. The 70-plus year-old Otaru Masazushi, which has been handed down three generations, is located on the Otaru Sushi Street in Otaru. The third generation owner of this shop, Mr. Katsutoshi Nakamura, won the gold medal in the Hokkaido Nigiri Sushi Technique Competition. Food costs per person: JPY 4000-5000 (RMB 200-300) Otaru, where "Love Letter" was filmed, is only half-an-hour drive from Sapporo. It is a romantic town that can be visited on foot. Surrounded by mountains and the sea, Otaru boasts many European-style buildings and historical sites. Colored glazed products, music boxes and sushi are also very famous things that can be bought here.

Otaru Asahi Sushi is a popular sushi shop with the same reputation as the Otaru Masazushi. This sushi shop enjoys exclusive rights to purchasing marine products from the fishing port. At 7 o'clock every morning, the chef comes to Otaru's wholesale market to purchase the freshest seafood at wholesale price. Therefore, guests can enjoy high-grade delicacies such as peony shrimp, abalone, flat-eyed fish, sea urchin and scallop at affordable prices and as fresh as you can possibly get. This shop provides a comfortable dining environment where guests sit in front of the counter to enjoy delicious foods, while the chef prepares the dishes behind the counter. Besides sushi, sea urchin rice and tempura are also dishes worth trying. Food here costs JPY 3000-4000 per person.

Established in 1933, the Rokkatei is the most famous Japanese dim sum store in Hokkaido, where you can find the famed strawberry filled chocolate ball. A plain-looking chocolate ball with a whole ripe strawberry inside that has been freeze-dried at low temperature, displays an extremely crisp texture and is a real treat to the senses. The strawberry gradually softens in the mouth, combined with the just-right sweetness of the chocolate, creating a cacophony of tastes which is truly unique. The main Rokkatei store is in Obihiro, a 10-minute walk from the JR Obihiro Station. There are also many Rokkatei branches and counters in Hokkaido, and you can find its foods sold at Sapporo's Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Store, Otaru Sakaimachi, or the airport. The store can be located near the Otaru Station according to the coordinates provided and is also the most accessible shop for tourists to find various edible goods. For detailed branch information, please refer to the official website.

LeTao, founded in 1998, is Otaru's most famed foreign dessert store. The store's signature, double-layer cheesecake, is made by overlapping Italian Mascarpone Cheese and local cream cheese, using a special developed freezing method. It is no wonder that this dessert is always ranked the first by Japan's Rakuten desert shopping list website. In addition to the cheesecake, pyramid-shaped black tea chocolate is another one of LeTao's popular products. Mixed with cocoa and Darjeeling black tea, the chocolate's fragrance and flavor are excellently balanced, with a texture that melts immediately when put into the mouth as if it were raw chocolate. A single bite is enough to feel the delicate fragrant notes of black tea that immediately caresses your taste buds without overwhelming the flavor of the chocolate itself. Once you experience the unique flavor of this delicious treat, it will be very hard to forget! Remember to prepare a cooler bag if you want to bring LeTao cake back to China as a gift, because the cake needs to be frozen. Before eating, thaw it in the fridge and consume it within a couple of days.

Located in Otaru, the Kitakaro is one of Hokkaido's most popular foreign dessert shops. Its signature dessert, named "the Forest of Goblins”, is the Baumkuchen that only goblins can make. "Baumkuchen" upholds the traditional European practice where the bakers wrap thin layers of batter around a revolving oven spit and then bake the batter in their specialized ovens. This baking method creates soft and delicate cakes. No wonder then that their reputation is "the moistest texture in Japan". Due to the fact that cream puffs need to be refrigerated to maintain the crispness of the outer puff, we recommend that you taste the puffs on-site, as the puffs’ outer shell may not be as crispy after hours of flight without refrigeration.

COMSEN Otaru Canal Cafeteria, located along the bank of the Otaru Canal, is an eye-catching restaurant surrounded by riverside scenery. Having been renovated from a warehouse, it exudes an eclectic atmosphere due to its brick walls, gas lamps, and wooden rooftop. The cafeteria consists of nine areas, bringing together famous Hokkaido cuisines, such as Hokkaido-style ramen, crab dishes, Jingisukan, sushi, and other specialty dishes. Most of the dishes here are seafood-based and are served buffet style. Patrons get to taste a variety of flavored Chinese mitten crab and Japanese spider crab prepared using various cooking methods. Prices for prix fixe here usually vary depending on if the dishes contain crab or not. The cafeteria is busiest at night, so if you visit in the evening you may need to wait in line. During the day, tourists often crowd around to snap pictures and buy souvenirs. If you choose to visit in the evening you will be able to enjoy the tranquility and watch the rippling waters while sipping beer - thus, getting a taste of what life was like in the past.

Located opposite the Otaru Canal and Asakusa Bridge, Otaru Denuki Koji, which used to be the riverboat dock, is now a retro-style gourmet street featuring about 20 restaurants. This street has the best winter views as it captures the northern regions’ allure with a snowflake covered road. It is the best choice for a truly authentic Hokkaido food tour as it has gathered many street food restaurants that fully utilize ingredients from Otaru Port and offer a complete range of street foods such as shrimp fried rice, Japanese fried chicken, sushi, seafood rice, Takoyaki, and ice cream.

Sawasakisuisan Kaisenshokudo, located on Otaru Denuki Koji, is a cozy yet popular seafood restaurant. You will often notice long lines waiting outside as this restaurant has less than twenty dining seats. All the dishes here are prepared with fresh ingredients when you order. Since it takes little time to cook seafood rice dishes you don't need to wait very long for your food. The restaurant offers sea urchin and roe rice, sea urchin and crab leg rice, etc... as well as sashimi a la carte. The average price per person is about JPY 2,000-3,000.