A little while ago Sarah took us through the Tsukiji Fish Markets, today Sarah takes us vicariously through her food travels and the incredible snow Monkeys of Japan….
If there is one way to describe Japanese food – it has to be clean, pure, fresh, delicious! From the insane freshness of the sushi at Tsukiji Fish Market, to the clarity of flavours and great textures of their famous pancakes, okonomiyaki – the Japanese know a little something about balance of flavour and just ‘when’ to stop.
Following our recent visit to the markets and that unforgettable breakfast of fatty tuna belly with warm rice, it was back through the warm subway channels and onto a bullet train, Northbound for Nagano – our stop off to the long powdery slopes of Hakuba. Bullet train is a fantastic way to travel, though not necessarily great for sightseeing. By the time you’ve seen something worth seeing again…long gone! A distant blurry thing!
5 years ago I visited Niseko. The snow was incredible, the food in the village of Hirafu out-of-control-good. It really set the precedent and so of course I had a preconceived notion of how Hakuba was going to be. In reality, the 2 famous skiing areas are quite different. Niseko is compact and tidy and almost grid-like, easy to get around on foot and the food diverse. Hakuba is almost more dramatic in it’s beauty but vast, in a small way, if that makes sense. Not as easy to get around, eating needs to be planned and you will freak the restaurant owners out if you just turn up in a small group without a booking, so it pays to have done your research and lock a few places in before you go – or at least when you arrive in town. We were a group of 8 and if we missed a spot one night, we invariably got in the next. It’s all pretty easy and as distant as many places feel, there was never much more than a 20 minute walked involved to most restaurants and izakayas. Many of them will actually send a car to pick you up as well, which, when the snow is falling heavily can be quite the temptation. Yes, it’s pretty and romantic, but it’s also about – 20C. Everything in moderation.
The snow was incredible!!! Did anyone want to hear about the snow? Ok – well – amazing, but back to the food…
Many restaurants concentrate on one particular style of Japanese cuisine – it may be sushi, bbq meats and seafoods, okonomikayi, soba, udon, tempura…while others will present a menu full of typical Japanese fare. Here are a few of my picks.
Hakuba 70, ph: 080-5090-5288
A small, relaxed, simple restaurant. Run by an elderly couple – the food is local and tasty. We always started with endamame and they were particularly good here. I indulged in a steaming bowl of katsu don – one of my go-to Japanese dishes wherever I am in the world! Word from my dining companions was the soba rocked!
Kobeya, ph: 0261 72-5382
The place if you want to immerse yourself in the smells of barbecue. We all came away from here satiated, happy and smelling like cooked meat, all for very good reason of course. The glasses of beer in this place were bigger than me, but all the better to wash down thinly sliced Wagyu or plates full of seafood that you cook at the table before you. It was a fun night out. These guys will pick you up…and drop you home…and great gyoza.
Mimasakatei
Relaxed, easy, well known for shabu shabu but we had great big bowls of sushi don and katsu don and huge pitchers of Sapporo beer. Really friendly staff!
Sari Sari, ph: 0261-85-4505
One of my 2 favourite meals in Hakuba. We were bustled upstairs at this tiny and very cute izakaya and seated around a long low Japanese table. Burners were placed before us and here we indulged in chankonabe – the hot pot of the sumo wrestlers! The wrestlers themselves eat this dish in massive quantities as part of a weight-gain diet (great!). Basically, a dashi base – then protein is added – chicken, beef, seafood, vegetables. Totally delicious! We tried to revisit, but too busy! AGH!
Emu, ph: 0261-72-430
Our last night in Hakuba and we concluded well. A tiny local’s place that does incredible okonomiyaki. Happy, bustling (and perhaps a little stressed) staff, food and pitchers of beer colliding from all angles and lots of happy chatter around the long thin room. Some fantastic gyoza to start, pancakes and ramen. All good here, all good!
There were of course a lot of other great food highlights. Who could forget the ‘strawberry milk bread’ and ‘curry donuts’ up the hill – fabulous big steaming cups of syrupy hot chocolate mid-ski that we splashed with a good shot of whisky (keeps you going, trust me!), anything and everything fun that comes out of a vending machine in Japan (including hot chocolate!)…
The other thing not to be missed whenever you are in the alpine regions of Japan, is, of course, the onsens. After a hard days’ work on the slopes, all your knees really want is a good long soak in a natural hot tub, with cold Japanese beer in hand. There is nothing quite like it and an integral part of Winter holidays here.
Fresh air and powder snow, hot chocolate with whisky – followed by a naked soak in a steamy onsen with cold beer – then rice, sushi and okonomiyaki with mates…it all makes for a night of solid dreaming and powers you to do it all again. I will always love Japan for it’s cuisine, it’s natural beauty and the fact that, this time, it provided me with a tick off my bucket list – the incredible snow monkeys. I’ll tell you about them another time.
Bye for now, S
