Otaru Uncovered 👑🐷 Local Feasts & Seafood Adventures in Hokkaido, Japan

Otaru Uncovered 👑🐷 Local Feasts & Seafood Adventures in Hokkaido, Japan

But I made it in time. The end. And that’s the story of when I almost pooped my pants in a taxi in Japan after eating too much tempura. Wee wee wee. Oh, what’s that? You You want another story? Wee. Okay. What about the time that I went on a summer road trip in Hokkaido and then decided to stay at a charming port city called Otaru? Wee. So, we just drove for 3 hours coming from another area called Fidano. And I was like, we need to get out and stretch. My butt is killing me. So, we checked into the hotel and realized the next couple days were going to be like heavy summer rain. So, we got out and immediately found bikes to rent. Otu was like a classic Japanese town. It had so many things that I would consider to be pretty vintage, but it had these beautiful views of mountains and rivers. And we didn’t even know that there was an area called the canals that were like the tourist areas. We were just like biking around neighborhoods, enjoying the views, taking artsy photos and videos of fire hydrants. We saw shrines and temples and it was just honestly such a nice time and there were a lot of beautiful bridges and you know that I love a good bridge. After moving to Japan, I discovered the Japanese food scene. The reason I say it that way is because in Japan, they’ll say, “Oh, this is a Chinese restaurant.” But I grew up with a very different Chinese food scene in Toronto. This is more like Chinese food that has a Japanese hand or a Japanese twist to it. So, I almost feel like its own category of food. I love finding Japanese Chinese restaurants in any town that I go to. And I’m a super sucker for any restaurant that can maintain its like original vibe. I don’t mean vintage because they haven’t changed. They’ve just maintained what they already have. Chinese restaurant Cayenne was that vibe. Now, an interesting quirk about Japanese Chinese restaurants is that they rarely serve beer on tap. Instead, they have bin beer on the menu, which just means bottled beer. And it’s super common to share this at a table with little tiny glasses. Look at these little glasses. Look at this wittle shot of beer. It’s so wittle. I want a widow w little glass of beer. Many widow glasses. Multiple glasses of widow beer. It just feels like you’re spreading it out differently when you have many little glasses. 10 out of 10. I recommend. Now, of course, we ordered the classic pan fried gyoza. And this is something that you must for science try at every Chinese restaurant. You never know where you’re going to hit the best gyoza of your life. I’m an absolute sucker for wanton soup, but wantton soup in a Japanese Chinese restaurant is very different. I ordered the miso wantton ramen, and the wanttons are like 80% yummy soft noodle with 20% sprinkle of meat on the inside. And that’s served on top of the ramen noodles. What is this noodle paradise? Yeah, these noodles are too hot to eat. Yeah, checking. They’re definitely way too hot. Understood. Way too hot. We are checking. Ah, that’s lovely. That Now, we noticed something interesting on the menu. It said ankake yaki soba. And I had never heard of that before. We thought maybe it was a Chinese food dish that got translated to Japanese or something. And so, we were like, you know what? Let’s order it for science. And turns out, I went into nerd mode. When I looked it up, Ankaki Soba is completely unique to Otaru, the town, not Hokkaido or Japan. They make this special yakisoba and we just happen to order it. So, if you’ve ever had yaki soba, it’s normally a soft kind of saucy noodle dish, but here they fry the noodles to make them crispy. Then, they covered the noodles in this thick, sweet, and sour sauce. The sauce was filled with sauteed vegetables, thin slices of pork, and chubby shrimp. And for some reason, it was served with a dangerously large glob of super hot mustard called karashi. This is way spicier than wasabi. We didn’t completely mix this in, but altogether it was such a scrumptious dish. And sure enough, the torrential summer rain came. But luckily, we packed our rain boots. They’re from the Wild Bird Society of Japan. It’s not a sponsorship. I just really love them. They’re for bird watching. And of course, I packed a rain jacket and my own umbrella. So, it was still lovely to go out and explore. And we went over to the arcade, which is a covered shopping street to explore and see what they had to offer. Turns out they had a beautiful public piano. Heat. Heat. morning. Now, if you’re not staying in the major cities in Japan, it can be pretty hard to find good coffee sometimes. So, I normally just travel with my own coffee supplies and and hand drip coffee inside the hotel room. But I was shocked and delighted to discover B3 Coffee in Otaru. Located past all the touristy area stuff, you are just like so shocked when you find this place with its amazing menu and it’s totally legit coffee. So it turns out B3 Coffee is a familyrun business and it’s bringing Australian and Japanese hospitality together. They love the snow. You can see from all the beautiful decorations in the shop. Because we got the Aussie side, we ordered ourselves a beautiful flat white and it was so tasty. And because it was really hella hot, we also got an iced latte. What’s amazing is that their food menu is seasonal. They’re always coming up with really original dishes, so I really recommend having something on the menu when you pop in. We ran into different people visiting from different parts of Japan. We ran into people that were working in the neighborhood popping in for a coffee. And we got so many extra recommendations from actual locals living there as to where to eat next in Otu. All in all, it was such a nice time. And before we left Otto to head to our next location, we popped in for a final coffee and they gave us some beautiful cucumbers from their garden. It was the perfect addition to the shakureri board we were planning on making by gathering little bits of food from all over Hokkaido. B3 Coffee is an absolute win. Please pop in if you’re in Ou. Tell them we say hi. After chatting with all the lovely people at B3 Coffee, we found out that there is a perfect time to eat unoni. And we were right at the end of the season. It was the very end of August and they said when it’s out, it’s gone. Like that’s it. So, we knew we had to find a localizaya to try ooni while we still could. By the way, an izakaya that serves fish, I call a fishakaya. And that is not a real word. It is not a word in Japan or anything, but we’re going to be using fishakaya from now on. Makes a isakaya that serves fish. It’s a fishaya. I went to a pretty cool offic. Okay, to begin with, I would request that you look away from my terrible rain soaked bangs. And look at this widow shopping cart, you guys. How cute is this? They served us fried food in a shopping cart. Delighted. Also delighted to see that they had one remaining order of unoni on the menu. They didn’t have all the kinds available, but that was fine. Look at this giant spoonful of magical oonie. I love it. And then we ordered the steamed oysters and expected them to, you know, serve it to us just opened up and ready to go. But nope, they gave us the gloves. The pot was still steaming. We had the knife. It was a pretty hands-on experience. I really enjoyed it. And look at the size of this chubby oyster. Oh my gosh. and tickle my pickle. Wasn’t I surprised to discover that there was an amazing wine shop in Otaru? Yeah, that’s right. The Taru Lab wine shop is run by a Japanese woman and her Italian husband who import wine, cheese, and olive oil directly from Italy to their shop. There is no menu. There are only recommendations. And honestly, this is all the footage we got because we were having way too much of a good time. Of course, we went to the seller and got some wine before we left. So, if you are a wine fan, please check out this place before you leave Otu. And bonus, they both speak English, Italian, and Japanese. There’s no excuse not to go. Now, for this last place, I feel very lucky to have dined at this isakaya. The shop has been open for over 80 years, and it is the very definition of a mom and pops shop. The women running the shop were amazing. Wait until you see this woman’s hair. It’s like a dark blue with silver and black in it and it has like the agimal Korean perm look. The ogle bogle perm that’s like super tight. They made some amazing food. And what was super interesting was inside the shop they had their own little charcoal grill which is not unusual if you’re going to like a yaki to place where they grilled chicken. But this place had what I call an everything menu. I was pretty surprised that they had this baller type of grill there when it was just supposed to be like a mom and pop shop. I got the grilled squid, which I am such a sucker for. This is actually from Korea that I’ve now been able to enjoy things like grilled squid. Perfectly done. And it had that delicious flavor that comes with something that’s been barbecued. Oh, I can just I can just taste it now. We got a delicious cold stewed eggplant that came with bonito on top and we added a little bit of showy. It was so tasty. I like forgot that this existed. And now I’m going to see if I can create this stewed eggplant dish. They had a massive pot of Odin, so we decided to order whatever she recommended. Some of the things I knew because I love ordering Odin at any place that I go to that has it, like the big tofu square. We’ve got the daicon. Then you’ve got some chicken meatballs. And I believe this is celery. Now, when we asked about it, they said it wasn’t celery. It was like a different type of vegetable, but I got to say it looks a lot like celery to me. But my all-time go-to is always going to be daikon, which is just Japanese radish. When they soak it in the dashi, and it just collects all the flavors. They just transform this simple radish into something super tasty and magical. I order it at every single place that has it available on their menu. No fail. And we were also pretty surprised to find these chicken meatballs. Not that they don’t have them in NAB or Hot Pot, but I mostly eat it grilled at Yaki Toy restaurants. It was a very tasty little chicken meatball. Now, as with the Chinese restaurant, I am never going to not order gyoza. So, we had to get a big plate full here. And we also ordered something that was pretty unique. This is natto stuffed inside of dried tofu. It was a little bit on the dry side, but I’d never had natto served that way before. And you’re not going to leave Hokkaido without more seafood. So, we enjoyed butter sauteed scallops and it was just a total delight. I’m honestly so happy to share this footage with you because I didn’t expect anything of Otaru. Not in like a negative way, but I had no expectations. I hadn’t looked up anything touristy. I didn’t think that there was anything special there. But we found so many special places and incredible people and it is a place that we are 100% going back to when we visit Japan. And it’s not just a summertime location. What’s quite funny is it gets bombed with snow. Like I mean rooftop levels. So when you’re looking at the Google photos of different restaurants in Zakayas, you’re like, is this the right place? Because the shot might be from the winter time when there’s like snow to the roof and they carve out little doorways and stuff. So I can’t wait to see it in the winter. It’s also amazing in the summertime and I think way less crowded than what’s happening in Japan and other places and they have great fish markets and all the things that you want to do with just like a little less intensity. If you’re looking for coffee, cucumbers in hand, fresh cheese and wine, they left Otto happy and headed off for their next city in Hokkaido. The end. I hope you enjoyed my storytelling of Otto. No, I did not poop my pants or nearly poop my pants in a taxi. You know, that happens sometimes, but it hasn’t happened to me yet. So, if you expected the story to go that way, I don’t blame you. It did it did feel like that was some foreshadowing, but it’s not the case. I just had such an excellent time. And don’t forget, use

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Come see why Otaru, a charming port town located in Hokkaido, Japan needs to be on your next travel itinerary. With famous ankake yakisoba, seafood as fresh as can be, legit coffee, an Italian wine shop, and many local Izakayas, Otaru was the perfect tiny town for a few days of downtime and exploration by bike or foot.

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– Chapters –

00:51 Best by Bike
01:38 Ankake Yakisoba?
04:51 Free Piano
06:45 Captain UGHHHHH
08:47 Coffee hospitality
10:25 Seasonal Seafood
12:06 Wine Shop
12:50 Local izakaya
15:45 Did I poop my pants?
16:39 Digital Travel Guides are back!

#japanesefood #japan #japantravel #hokkaido #kingkogi #otaru #seafood