Weekend trip to Kitami and Abashiri in Hokkaido (first part)|Yakiniku & Ramen
It's been a while since the last report (Travel Mae Edition|Travel Lottery). This time, I will report on the Kitami gourmet experience in Kitami City, the core city of Okhotsk, where I stayed on the first day.
Previous article (Tabi Mae edition) 。
Reporter O takes a bus from Memanbetsu Airport to Kitami Bus Terminal. We arrived in about 40 minutes. The bus terminal is next to JR Kitami Station. From the atmosphere, it feels like the middle of Kitami City. The town hall is also nearby. Kitami City is the largest local government in Hokkaido. I feel that the largest in Hokkaido is the largest in Japan, 4th in Japan That's it.
There was a white mailbox near the station building that promoted the curling town of Kitami City. In Kitami City, there is that Women's curling team "Loco Solare" There are bases of. Curling competitions in which citizens participate are also thriving, and it is the best curling city in Japan in both name and reality.
The accommodation is in the familiar Dormy Inn series ( Dormy Inn Kitami) Are. It is a regular lodging when staying in a local city. It is convenient because it is near the central station and the downtown area. The area across the west side of Odori on the main road that passes in front of the bus stop is the downtown area of Kitami, and the hotel is also in one of them.
Gathering information on yakiniku restaurants at the tourism association
When I crossed Odori West, there was the "Kitami Tourism Association". This time, let's collect information about the "yakiniku restaurant", which is the purpose of going straight to Kitami from the airport. From the staff, " Speaking of yakiniku, it's Kitami. I received a confident booklet and a map of the city area. The booklet is one of the 107 entries in an award sponsored by a regional revitalization organization. It was selected for the award 。
About 60 yakiniku restaurants in the "Kitami area" where reporter O is located were introduced in a row. Photo, store name, address, phone, business hours, holidays. It is marked with charcoal or gas. When I told the staff what type I wanted, they explained it to me by listing several candidates.
Eat at the shopping street in the evening
On the way to the hotel, head for the night at Kitami gourmet other than yakiniku? I wanted to eat. Take a detour and walk along the shopping street. As you approach the menu sign on the sidewalk, you will see the " Kinari Shokudo There is a Japanese and Western restaurant called. My favorite is Okhotsk curry rice. Okhotsk's seafood is fascinating. The broth seems to be melted in. It is the first choice from the beginning. Just ahead, there is another retro coffee shop. cobalt There was. I was also interested in the café menu here. It is a place where you want to take a break during the daytime stroll around the city.
* I forgot to take pictures of each store. I will link to the main text.
Let's look for a little more.
Just before the hotel, I encountered a "ramen specialty Sasaki". Three types of salt, regular oil, and miso, as well as various vegetables. As a result of fighting with Okhotsk curry rice, I decided that it was now noodles and entered the store. It was a difficult choice, but it was because it was close to the hotel and I would be eating rice at a yakiniku restaurant in 2-3 hours.
A long-established restaurant in Kitami, the name of a famous restaurant is worthy of "Sasaki specializing in ramen"
There is only one aunt in the store. Reporter O ordered the regular oil vegetable ramen (750 yen) and the chashu (100 yen). The seats are U-shaped counters with a sense of nostalgia, and the kitchen is right in front of you. Inevitably, I will focus on making ramen. You can tell that one ramen is carefully handmade.
Finally, in front of us, the regular oil vegetable ramen appeared. It is fragrant and beautiful.
The soup, which is concentrated in umami, is smooth with a firm taste. Reporter O doesn't usually drink ramen soup, but he drank it down for the first time in years. I thought it would be a waste if I didn't drink it. The noodles are medium-sized and chewy. It goes perfectly with fresh and crispy stir-fried vegetables.
There was a review that said, "Kitami's people are envious." It's a strange thing to say. Reporter O said that many people don't like ramen, and although they usually eat ramen once or twice a month, "Sasaki specializing in ramen" was a restaurant that I wanted to go to every day.
When I left the restaurant and headed to the hotel, I was soaking in the aftertaste of ramen and remembering Okhotsk curry rice. Seafood that blends in with the roux.
Dormy Inn Kitami
The hotel is just around the corner from the store. From the taste of the building, I feel the early Dormy feeling. I don't know if that's the right way to say it.
Dormy Inn can be used safely at any facility in Japan. Even if it is a facility in a new place, the flow after check-in is the same, so you can understand it. The reason why reporter O uses it is that many of the large public baths are open-air hot springs. A sauna is permanently installed. There is a well-established breakfast buffet, free night soba noodles, lactic acid drinks, ice cream, etc. Dormy Inn is sold as it is. Except for the blunder of drinking too much the night before and missing the morning bath and breakfast, you can check out fresh.
Friday for Weekend Trips
Immediately after entering the room, I opened my computer and started working. I don't have that kind of concentration. The strange thing about a weekend trip that starts on Friday is that after 3 p.m., I am relieved of my intentions, and the remaining work is "Let's go to the beginning of the week for the time being." During the Corona disaster, that awareness has progressed. If Friday becomes a habit, "Let's start the week for now," weekend trips will increase.
The time is 8 p.m. It's time to go out to the city to eat yakiniku. Already two cans of beer are a good feeling. Earlier, I explained a little about "yakiniku". Did you know that Kitami is called "the city of yakiniku"? Reporter O found out about it in March when he stopped by the Kitami booth at a sightseeing event held in Osaka. It was the same booth as Abashiri.
The reason why it is called "Kitami", a city of barbecue
Kitami City is a concentration of yakiniku restaurants, with the largest number of yakiniku restaurants per 10,000 citizens in Japan. Kitami City is focusing on surveys such as referring to the national restaurant survey and visiting yakiniku restaurants in the city. Taking into account the opening and closing of restaurants due to the Corona disaster, there are currently about 70 yakiniku restaurants (City Tourism Division). The rival is Nagano Prefecture Iida I say. Kitami City is leading the way in how to put in PR.
The reason why there are so many yakiniku restaurants goes back to the fact that there was a municipal slaughterhouse south of Kitami Station on the Japanese National Railways in the past. At that time, people from the Korean Peninsula began to use pig offal, which was not used, for cooking. I started serving hormone hot pot dishes at the restaurant. Later, with the improvement of raw meat processing technology, the number of yakiniku restaurants increased.
Currently, there are many meat processing plants in the city, and a supply chain has been built in which fresh meat is distributed. Kitami yakiniku is different from the category of branded meat, and it can be said that it is characterized by the distribution and processing technology of fresh meat. And after all, the environment in which cows and pigs are raised is itself the Hokkaido brand.
Why not climb the ladder to a yakiniku restaurant?
At the tourist association, I heard that it was near the hotel, cost-effective, and charcoal fire. I put a blind eye on some of the stores from the booklet. Among them, the oldest Hormone Bake "Toyo Seven to the ". There was even a willingness to climb two houses that night. After all, I'm in Kitami. Kitami's yakiniku restaurant Kitami City Official "Food & Sightseeing" Guide See also: It comes in a slurry.
It takes about 5 minutes from the hotel to arrive at Toyoshichi. It was located along the roadway off the shopping street. Is the store for local veteran players? Isn't it good, isn't it good? When you enter the store, it is truly a Showa space. The TV in the back of the front (behind the entrance sign) seen from the table seat where the child takes off his shoes is broadcasting a non-fiction book by Loco Solare.
Showa spreads from entering the store
There are two people on the shop side and two male customers. The customer's voice is loud and the conversation becomes the content of the sake. A senior colleague tells his subordinates about the time when he was assigned to a branch in each region. It is a tradition to hear at a bar where you travel in high season at the beginning of the new year. He was a kind senior and the junior was good.
The menu is very simple only on the surface, 5 kinds of beef and 7 kinds of pork. Several snacks and drinks. I don't hesitate, and the meat is cheap anyway. First, I ordered pork hormones, pork guts, beef sagari, grilled vegetables, and a beer jockey. Once I've got these guys down, I'm going to go for rice and beef ribs (I haven't lost my senses).
A nice seven-ring was brought. The crackling charcoal fire increases the appetite. Crisp the meat that has been prepared. More than you can imagine. Each piece of meat is tough.
All hormones (beef sagari, pig hormones, pork guts)
The part that is used to being grilled in Kitami is organ meat. "Pig hormones" and cow diaphragm muscles "Cow Sagari" are the two main signs. Beef sagari is a similar part to harami, but it seems to be rarer. Harami can be obtained from one place per cow, and harami can be obtained from two places (online survey).
Kitami yakiniku is a way to soak the grilled meat in the original raw sauce (unheated). The raw sauce seems to be mixed with onions, which are a specialty of Kitami. By the way Kitami onions are the largest producer in Japan That's it.
New discovery "Kitami yakiniku"
All the meat and raw sauce were delicious. Meat that has been processed cleanly, the energy that the meat that is eaten has (motu) energy. I forgot to take a picture, but it's a pig. The more you bite into it, the more fragrant it tastes like almonds. I liked it. On the way, you can eat rice (small), but not short ribs. I don't go in anymore, and in Kitami, if there is a beef sagari, I think it is good to have the short ribs rest. Accounting 3,050 yen (surprise)
It is difficult to enter the second restaurant easily. Instead, we will introduce the neon lights of the yakiniku restaurants in the neighborhood from Toyoshichi to the hotel.
Kitami Yakiniku Gallery (9 stores — 70 stores = 61 stores left)
Is the high season for Kitami yakiniku in winter?
There is no doubt that Hokkaido is one of the world's top travel destinations in the summer. Despite this, those who want to eat Kitami yakiniku on their annual trip to Hokkaido can't help but talk about winter.
Last year, it was canceled, but every year in early February, " Kitami Cold Grilled Meat Festival A barbecue event is being held. Large-scale and outdoor. Hokkaido with a temperature of 10 degrees below zero. It's definitely a practice. If you dare to participate in the difficult season, you will have an experience that you will never forget. We look forward to the return of the event next year.
In addition, for those who stay at hotels in the city between October ~ March every year, " Kitami Yakiniku Meat Coupons " is sold. It seems that it is a coupon that allows you to eat yakiniku at a great price.
Kitami City is clearly setting up a winter barbecue trip. It seems to have something to do with Abashiri, which is a good friend. We will unravel it in a future report.
The next report is on the second day, when we entered Abashiri by train, rented a car, and toured tourist facilities and the great nature of Hokkaido. I enjoy fishing for the back purpose.
Thank you for reading this far.
Postscript
Since I had free time, I asked the Kitami City Tourism Association and the Kitami City Tourism Division about the information I had forgotten. I was grateful for the response that enthusiastically conveyed the city. (Reporter O).
