10 Best Restaurants in Hokkaido, Japan

Ajidokoro Takeda

$$

Claws emerging from a bed of fresh-cut crab and darkly gleaming red salmon eggs piled high on a bowl of rice are just two of the famous raw-fish options at this 50-year-old family restaurant in the middle of the noisy fish market. They also have lighter options like fresh shellfish and simple grilled fish, rice, and miso lunch sets. The menus have plenty of pictures and a bit of English to make ordering easier. The restaurant also houses a fishmonger known as Takeda Sengyoten.  

3--10--16 Inaho, Otaru, Hokkaido, 047-0032, Japan
0134-22–9652
Known For
  • the well-priced omakase-don
  • fresh crab
  • half-shell oysters
Restaurants Details
Rate Includes: No dinner

Boyotei

$$

A European-style restaurant set in a tranquil garden, with very friendly staff, Boyotei (which literally means "View of Mt. Yotei") charms with its stone floor, low beams, long-legged tables, and family photos dating back for decades. There are English menus available.

36--12 Toyako Onsen, Toyako-cho, Hokkaido, 049-5721, Japan
0142-75–2311
Known For
  • Hokkaido onion gratin soup
  • hamburger steak platters
  • various macaroni gratins

Daruma

$$ | Chuo-ku

Below the red sign depicting a roly-poly mustachioed doll, this establishment founded in 1954 serves the city's freshest barbecued lamb jingisukan. The slices of lamb are served steaming atop heaps of vegetables. At the end of the meal you're given hot tea to mix with what's left of your dipping sauce—mixed together, they're oddly delicious. Be sure to wear your least-favorite clothes and don the paper bib that's provided, then feast away until you become roly-poly yourself.

Minami 5 Nishi 4, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 064-0805, Japan
011-552–6013
Known For
  • popular (can be a line in the evening)
  • local Sapporo atmosphere
  • good-value lamb plates
Restaurants Details
Rate Includes: No lunch, Reservations not accepted

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Ebi-Ten Bun-Ten

$$ | Chuo-ku

On a narrow street near the Mitsukoshi department store, Ebi-Ten Bun-Ten is as friendly a tempura place as you're likely to find in Hokkaido. The sliding doors behind a blue banner reveal a quiet, homey restaurant, managed for two generations by the friendly Yamada family. Seating is available at the counter, at tables, and in tatami rooms with cushions. A rudimentary English menu is available.

Minami 2 Nishi 4, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0062, Japan
011-271–2867
Known For
  • tendon sets (tempura served on rice) from ¥800
  • decadent king crab tempura (¥3,000)
  • à la carte options

Jo-Jo's

$$

This spacious, laid-back restaurant—all soaring beams and wide windows overlooking Mt. Yotei—on the second floor of Niseko Adventure Center is busy all day with guides and their nervous or elated customers. The platters here overflow with nourishing meals for adventurers, including an all-Hokkaido burger with only local ingredients. Jo-Jo's sells drinks from 9:30, but doesn't start serving food until 11.

179--53 Aza-Yamada, Niseko, Hokkaido, 044-0081, Japan
0136-23–2220
Known For
  • juicy burgers
  • homemade cakes
  • fresh salads

Matsuda Suisan - Shiretoko Tabi no Eki

$$

This bustling village eatery serves steaming crab curry, golden sea urchin on rice, and anything else they can make out of the morning's catch. They often give customers free crab legs to suck on while they wait. It's near the harbor down from the Shiretoko Grand Hotel and across the street from the 7-Eleven; picture menus are available for easy ordering.

Utoro Higashi 151, Shiretoko, Hokkaido, 099-4355, Japan
0152-24–2910
Known For
  • unidon (rice bowl topped with sea urchin) for ¥4,000
  • filling teishoku (set meals)
Restaurants Details
Rate Includes: No credit cards

Meiji Hakodate Beer Hall

$$

This seaside hall serves seafood as well as a huge variety of other foods from pastas to salads that can keep just about anyone satisfied. The soaring rafters are beautiful and the atmosphere is lively. Its spaciousness and conviviality are typical of Hokkaido and, although it's in a tourist complex, even locals like the wide range of seasonal specials from a menu that changes monthly.

14--12 Suehiro-cho, Hakodate, Hokkaido, 040-0064, Japan
0138-27–1010
Known For
  • local craft brews on tap
  • Hakodate's specialty ika somen (raw squid thinly sliced and resembling noodles)
  • superfresh sashimi sets

Nakazushi

$$

Nakano-san presides over the catch of the day in a small restaurant, run since the 1970s by the same family. Take a seat at the wooden counter, over which Nakano-san offers you whatever seafood is in season. Open from midday to midnight.

Minami 2 Nishi 2, Abashiri, Hokkaido, 093-0012, Japan
0152-43–3447
Known For
  • grilled seafood such as plump scallops (hotate)
  • sushi sets
  • seafood donburi, a bowl of rice topped with sea urchin (uni), salmon roe (ikura), or other in-season produce

Otaru Kita Togarashi Restaurant

$$

Standing apart from all the sushi joints in Otaru is this lamb barbecue heaven at the easy-to-find branch of a famous jingisukan restaurant. Purchase a plate of tender, succulent lamb, which you cook tyourself on a dome-shaped griddle with side orders of alfalfa sprouts (moyashi) and leeks (negi). If you're still hungry, pick up a crepe or a treat on your way out from one of the shops in the cute collection of buildings. Reservations are required on weekends.

1--1--17 Ironai, Otaru, Hokkaido, 047-0024, Japan
0134-33–0015
Known For
  • lamb steaks
  • charcoal cooking
  • bustling vibe

Yamasan Michishita-Shoten

$$

Although squid is not the only thing on the menu, it is fresh—your squid is pulled flapping from the tank and might return minutes later sliced, with squid-ink black rice, delicious slivers of still-twitching flesh, soup, and pickles. If squid isn't your thing, don't fret, the restaurant has plenty of other seafood, and a picture menu for easy selection. Look for a sign with red letters on a yellow background.

9--15 Wakamatsu-cho, Hakodate, Hokkaido, 040-0063, Japan
0138-22–6086
Known For
  • reasonably priced rice bowl topped with uni (sea urchin), awabi (abalone) and ikura (salmon roe)
  • crab-cream croquette
  • squid in many ways, including raw