Sapporo Beer Museum

Wakame soba 350yen
(about AU$4.40 in Feb 2010)

There's a common misconception that Japan is expensive. It's not.

As long as you're prepared to eat like a local, it's easy to stay within a modest budget. Of course eating like a local does mean less meat, more pickles and embracing the Japanese affection for soba, udon and ramen.

After a night of deep-fried cheese, grilled scallops and a flurry of snow as we browsed the Sapporo Snow Festival sculptures, a steaming bowl of noodles was all we craved for dinner.


Tempura soba 350yen

Pocahontas has the tempura soba--a deep-fried fritter made from julienned sweet potato, carrot and onion known as kakiage--whilst I opt for the clean flavours of wakame soba, a mound of cooked seaweed that is slippery, tender and refreshingly fat-free.


Businessmen at the soba noodle bar

It's a simple meal in simple surrounds, the miso stock a little sweet and salty to complement the chewy firmness of soba noodles, nutty from buckwheat. We perch on stools at the counter in this train station eatery, only a mesh curtain separating us from the passing throng of commuters at JR Sapporo station.


Hotel room dessert party from the convenience store:
Daifuku mochi 110yen, Hokkaido milk pudding 350yen
and strawberry choc-chip ice cream 126yen

Our nightly ritual is the dessert party from our pillage of the local convenience stores. Daifuku mochi is reassuringly cool and chewy, the pounded rice cake satiating all glutinous cravings. Strawberry choc-chip ice cream is creamy and overly sweet but I'm happy enough with my Hokkaido milk pudding, a delicate dessert that is intensely milky and, best of all, is a ceramic pot with lid that I can keep and re-use.


Kitchen staff at Nakau

Breakfast is another cheap eat at Nakau, the "fast food" chain known for gyudon beef on rice and oyakodon chicken on rice.


Nakau

Most of the cheaper eating establishments in Japan use vending machines to collect money from customers. It's a process of efficency, so that by the time the customer takes their seat, a staff member materialises to collect their ticket, knows exactly what they want to order, and relays the message immediately to the kitchen. Your order tends to arrive within minutes, sometimes in mere seconds.


Vending machine


Oyakodon chicken on rice set 450yen


Gyudon beef on rice set 350 yen


Grilled salmon set 390yen
Grilled salmon, tsukemono pickled radish, nori, miso soup and rice

I have the grilled salmon set, a small piece of cooked salmon eaten with rice, pickled Chinese cabbage and a bowl of miso soup.


Egg yolk mixed in rice

A raw egg is commonly mixed in with rice, and whilst I struggle at first, I begin to appreciate the buttery richness the raw yolk adds to the fluffy grains of steamed white rice.


Mister Donut

Mister Donut is a doughnut franchise that can be found all over Japan. In America, the Mister Donut chain was bought out by Dunkin' Donuts and most switched over to the new name. In Japan, both Mister Donut and Dunkin' Donuts exist as separate franchises.


Donut range

Some of our party began to exhibit a certain addiction to Mister Donut's wares, drawn helplessly into the brightly lit stores that were bedecked with row upon row of both yeasted and cake donut offerings. There seemed to be no end of assorted shapes, fillings, icings and sprinkles.

We found the donuts light, soft and airy, without a greasy residue. The chocolate donut with chocolate custard, dusted with so much cocoa it left evidence all over your lips, was a particular favourite.


Strawberry choux 126yen


Sapporo Beer Museum

We caught the local bus to the Sapporo Beer Museum which turned out to be more of a static display of memorabilia, with most of the information panels written only in Japanese.


Beer brewing kettle (mash pan)

An old shiny copper beer brewing kettle, or mash pan, was displayed outside the Museum in the snow, retired from service after an estimated 30,000 uses from 1961 to 2001. The four-metre wide kettle was manufactured by Ziemann in Germany and we were rather bemused to see a large note at the bottom of the information panel that said in bold "This is not an Unidentified Flying Object".


Downstairs bar


Beer tasting 400yen
Black Label, Yebisu and Kaitakushi

The Museum is free but everyone ends up paying for the beer tasting downstairs, 200 yen for one glass or 400 yen for three. Black Label was light and fruity with notes of hops and barley, and I quite enjoyed the Yebisu Black, a dark roasted malt which tasted of toffee. The Kaitakushi is brewed using only malt, hops, yeast and pure water - the hops and barley are grown locally in Hokkaido.


Royce chocolate-covered potato chips

A huge souvenir shop has all kinds of tempting treats: beer jelly, salted ice cream and boxes of Royce chocolate-covered potato chips. I bought a box home with the last of my coins at the airport and can attest that these are deliciously good, the thick potato crisp acting as a perfect salty foil for the thin layer of quality dark chocolate.


Mini snowmen

The grassed area behind the Museum was blanketed with a thick layer of snow and people before us had been busy at work. Not only did we find mini snowmen, but look, a real igloo!


Igloo

The igloo was life-sized and whilst it took some effort for Bellboy to scoot through the entrance, he reported that it was quite warm once inside. The ice seat was still cold though!


Giant ice slide

We also found a giant ice slide! A series of steps on the side led you to the top, and a plastic-mat provided a frictionless ride of speed.

Too. Much. Fun.


View Larger Map

Nakau outlets and Mister Donut franchises can be found all Japan

Sapporo Beer Museum
Kita 7-Jo Higashi 9-chome Higashi-ku, Sapporo
Open 7 days 9am - 6pm
Free (tastings extra)

To get there, take the No.88 bus from the South gate exit of Sapporo JR station


> Read the next Japan 2010 post (King crab, Hokkaido milk and strawberries)
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