Kita no Ryoba, Sapporo, Hokkaido (Revisited)

Tags

abalone, awabi, crab, curb market, Hokkaido, japanese, kani, lunch, market, restaurant review, sapporo, tourism, travel, uni

Back here again at Kita no Ryoba (curb market, Sapporo). It’s become a common haunt now every time I’m in Sapporo. You can read my previous post about it here.

So, I decided to try a couple of new things on the menu.

Clearly this uni don is not one of them. Still a favorite, and still delicious. Probably not the top quality grade A uni (or at least not in my humble opinion), but nevertheless a very satisfactory bowl.

Thought this was interesting and gave it a go. Uni and abalone grilled with a big lump of butter. I still prefer my uni raw and creamy, is that not the whole point of it anyway? The texture of it? Cooking it seems like such a waste.

The abalone however, was decent. I would order it again.

I requested for lightly seared otoro and was pleasantly surprised to find it perfectly seared. I’d half expected it to be overcooked to canned tuna standards or not quite cooked enough. This saddled the fence just right.

Now this is what I’m talking about! A whole crab! I’ve never ordered crab as it is often difficult to eat (read: I’m just a lazy eater), but my sister had been looking forward to this, unbeknownst to me. So she ordered a whole crab and ate her way through most of it.

The Japanese way. They make it so convenient to eat, there is no excuse not to have it!

Part of my concern with all the fabulous looking cold pre-boiled crabs ostentatiously displayed in the market, and even in the New Chitose airport, is that all the natural sweetness has been voraciously boiled out of the crab, leaving behind stringy, tasteless and over cooked meat.

I was wrong. So very wrong. And the crab was tantalizingly plump, meaty and sweet, I very much regret bypassing this every trip I’ve been to Hokkaido. I’m sure not every crab is good but I couldn’t fault this one.

Zero alcohol beer that I order every time I’m in Hokkaido.

Til next time!

Kita no Ryoba (curb market)

ヤン衆料理 北の漁場

2F, Kita 11 Jōnishi, Chūō-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido

Burnt Ends, Singapore (One Michelin Star, 2018)

Tags

beef, burnt ends, caviar, charcoal grill, crab, date night, Michelin, michelin dining, Michelin star, pork, restaurant review, singapore, singapore restaurant review, special occasion, steak

How timely that I’m writing this as we learn that Burnt Ends has just received its first Michelin Star! I’ve gone twice so far. A couple of hits and a couple of misses. I’m usually seated at the counter; most of us are. In an open concept kitchen this usually is a treat. If you’re seated near the furnace end however, it could end up getting a tad too hot. In return, you get to see one of the chefs gingerly eking some bread and cheese or pulled pork into the fiery black furnace. And rapidly pulling back as if scalded. There was one poor young fellow who kept burning himself accidentally on the volcanic hot surface. In the middle there’s the prep area and behind them you’ll see shovels of red hot coal cooking up meat and seafood in various degrees. The name “Burnt ends” is apt indeed.

Once you’re seated, you’re given the menu and your friendly waiter will proceed to explain it to you. The service has been good both times so far.

Smoked quail egg topped with caviar. I’m not a fan of anything smoked, so I wouldn’t order this again. Caviar is good though. The smokiness overpowered the caviar so there wasn’t any point to this combination as neither did the other any good. At SGD 18, this was a thumbs down for me, a small bite and not a very good one.

Beef marmalade and house pickles. The cloyingly sweet beef rib “marmalade” is cleverly balanced with a slightly fresh zing of pickles. Slathered on top of a square of sourdough bread, this little appetizer packs a punch of flavour.

I prefer this over the Burnt Ends Sanger, I find the latter remarkably underwhelming, but if you like pork, give it a whirl as that is one of their signature dishes. They’re both tasty and carefully executed for sure, I’m just left wondering if I could get something similar to the Burnt Ends Sanger at some other burger place that serves sliders and the sort.

The Belly Chop, served with an apple and raspberry concoction. There’s sufficient flavour on the belly chop with enough singe and sear to its exterior. While it is soft, there is still some bite to the meat. I’m wondering if they could take it a step further and make the fat absolutely melt in the mouth. It has been done with char siew, perhaps it could be replicated here. Good pairing with the apple and raspberry nonetheless. Classic with a tiny twist.

This crab leg was not on the menu and we had to ask for it specifically. I’m not usually a fan of crab but this shut all my prejudices up so that I sat silent, picking at all remnants of the sweet flesh from the expertly broken shells. I’m absolutely certain that a big part of its charm was the unctuous drenching of the crab in garlic butter and caper sauce, topped with a smattering of chopped fresh parsley. Our ever-friendly waited suggested sourdough bread to mop up that beautiful sauce. I gladly accepted and a couple of minutes later, was happily tearing up a warm, floury loaf of first-class, quality sourdough bread and sopping up all that lovely sauce with it. Scrumptious.

And then the Blackmore’s striploin, which was better than some of the cheaper cuts that we tried previously. This had a far better marbling that was evident in the tenderness of the final cooked steak. Beautifully fatty, you will need to break this up with bites of the pleasantly tangy watercress salad that it came with. The salad is no garnish that’s for sure! I’d order it as is and still enjoy every bite. Simplicity at its finest.

Pricey it is, but the right dishes shine through and give heft to the brand. However, I think that they should step up their game since they now hold a one star. I believe they can go much further than this.

Address: 20 Teck Lim Road, Singapore 088391

Phone: +65 6224 3933

Kita no Ryoba; Curb market, Sapporo, Japan

Tags

abalone, akami, crab, curb market, donburi, fish market, hokkaido crab, hokkaido melon, ikura, japan, japanese, kita no kyouba, maguro, restaurant, restaurant review, salmon, salmon roe, sapporo, sashimi, scallops, sea urchin, uni, yubari melon

Hokkaido is supposedly famous for fresh seafood, so I headed over to Nijo market in Sapporo first to get a feel of the place. It was a really small market, and not as cheap as I expected. There is still quite a selection of the Hokkaido specialties of crab, scallops, sea urchin and ikura as well as a smattering of restaurants serving up some donburis. I didn’t try any of the restaurants there though, and decided to go to the Curb market instead.

At least the shopkeepers there aren’t as pushy as the ones at Nijo market! Came across this restaurant almost immediately and decided to just go ahead and give it a try. 

Here’s some pictures of the menu:

mmm yes, give me ALL the seafood!!!! *drool*

I ended up coming to this restaurant 2 times during my very short stay in Sapporo. So the pictures here are spread across two meals.

Ordered a giant scallop which came on a mini grill. They don’t grill it for you, you have to watch out for it yourself. At the smaller establishments at Nijo or maybe even at the curb market, you can request it grilled with butter or some other sauce (I had a giant scallop at the Nijo cooked in butter and it was so so good!). The scallop here came out just slightly overcooked. Not bad but not great.

And of course I had to have the sea urchin and ikura donburi. It was so good. However, it could have been better. Indeed it seemed fresh, the restaurant being situated right smack in the middle of a fresh fish market, but the sea urchin lacked the soft creamy texture that I love. This variety is more of the solid type of sea urchin. It would have been perfect if the sea urchin had slightly less form and more smooth texture (we all know that the less-than-firm types of sea urchin just equates to more of that delicious buttery flavor!). I believe that the uni sushi that I get at Daiwa Sushi at the Tsukiji market in Tokyo is way better, and that is comparing apple to apple since the prices are similarly in mid-range.

My cousin had the salmon, scallop, tamago and crab donburi. He doesn’t eat much raw fish (blasphemy!!!) but he enjoyed his dish. The scallops and crab were so naturally sweet. Now we’re talking 😉 Really delicious.

Cousin also ordered some grilled crab and salmon.

The crab was obviously quite plump and delicious but I never was that big a fan of crab. I like it best when its already peeled for me haha ;p

The salmon on the other hand had a lot of bones, my cousin had his job cut out for him picking the meat from the bones. I’d suggest to skip this dish.

I decided to be adventurous and ordered this crab dish:

It is juicy sweet crab meat simmered in some sake in crab shell grilled over a small fire. So basically at the end of the process you get crab meat in a broth made of some sake and the oh-so-sinfully-rich crab brains/guts. It was beautiful *eyes tearing*

but that was before the abalone came along…..

This tasted like heaven on a plate. I expected the abalone to be tough, but it was tender and perfectly cooked. Then it was bathed in this sauce… this gorgeous rich sauce that tasted as if it would be perfect on a steak but still goes well with everything else… somewhat like a mixture of butter and sake and something else. So utterly decadent, divine and just simply lip-smacking good. I was tempted to eat the whole thing by myself instead of sharing. This is the highlight of the entire meal. And to actually overshadow the uni, that’s no small feat.

Here’s a donburi from the second visit. It was mouth-watering and again brings tears of joy to my eyes. How can anything be so utterly beautiful *cries*. There’s sweet crab meat, briny ikura and uni and the clean akami all in one bowl. I love Hokkaido!

Yes, and another helping of that simmered crab meat in kani miso….

Absolutely beautiful isn’t it?

And then….

Yes I went overboard with the abalone. This time it came just a tad too cooked but still darn good nonetheless. That sauce!!!

Ended perfectly with a slice of Yubari melon (please don’t confuse this with Hokkaido melon, Yubari is in a different class). Filled with the sweetest melon juices and none of that tasteless crunch you normally have upon eating the ordinary cantaloupe you find everywhere else.

Check out the picture below, a slice of Yubari melon costs 580 yen whereas on the right, a slice of Hokkaido melon costs 380 yen. And yes there is a difference 😉

THe damage from the first day. Second day was way worse as I got a little too greedy with the abalone.

One of the places you have to visit when you’re in Sapporo. I wish I were there right now ;(