According to my itinerary, the plan was to have ramen in the onsen village of noboribetsu but we just had it the night before at Lake Toya's Ramen Ippontei (一本亭)!
Hence, it took us a while before we settled with this small, little eatery that seemed to be manned by a mother, along the main street. Heck, i didn't even know it's a izakaya (an informal Japanese pub) until i researched more about it when i am back in Singapore.
I kid you not; that's like all the seating in the izakaya, except for 3 more counter seats near the cashier. With only one communal table, we eventually had to share with another group of customers; very cozy.
The three counter seats made from empty beer bottle crates with a cushion pad tied to it; novel no doubt and my sharp ass didn't suffer from sitting on it for extended period of time.
Menu with badly translated English that also happened to be missing words; thankfully the Chinese translation was much better and with the appended pictures, we roughly understood what's available for ordering.
Alex had a hard time deciding what to have but he recalled the amazing okonomiyaki at Masaya in Furano and when he saw the younger lady making okonomiyaki, it was decided he must have one too!
Tempura Scallops - Batter was thin and the scallops, though pretty small in size, were lightly salted and tasted fresh!
Bacon and Cheese Okonomiyaki - appearance wise, i thought it looked legit delicious and as usual, Alex would always kindly allow me a bite so that i can share the review on my blog.
Turned out the sauce was a bit too heavy for my liking and even though there was a healthy amount of shredded vegetables in the middle, their cut was a tad too thick; resulting in them being under-cooked. The flour used also tasted more like the kind used for Korean pancake. As you could probably have guessed, Alex was disappointed with his order.
Gyu Don - when Japanese cuisine started gaining popularity in Singapore, my favourite dish was gyu don and i would always visit this casual Japanese restaurant on the basement of Junction 8 whenever the craving hit.
It's a pity that the eatery had since closed down but well, i am in Japan and i obviously would have to check out their gyu don! It must be better compared to what i have in Singapore right?! Okay, the aforementioned have succinctly explained why i opted for gyu don.
Good and simple with the marination that's the sweeter kind i have always enjoyed and the meat featuring that tender fattiness i like; it wasn't over the heaven kind of gyu don yet i do appreciate the simplicity of what appeared to be a home cooked dish from a mother.
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Location Map
As above
Pricing
Tempura Scallops - 550 yen for two sticks
Bacon and Cheese Okonomiyaki - 850 yen
Gyu Don - 800 yen
(Accepts cash only)
For our itinerary (8 days, 7 nights) to Hokkaido in summer, click here.