capital. Try walking one block without being arrested by the scent
of Kinotoya Bake’s souffle-like cheese tarts warm from the oven.
Forty minutes away, the canals of Otaru, an attractive portside
town once recognised for its booming herring industry, overflow
with sweet-tooths seeking out fancy confectioners like LeTAO
(hello, four-cheese ice cream!) and Rokkatei for its not-to-be-
missed marusei cookies sandwiched with white chocolate
buttercream and rum-soaked raisins. Conversely, they’re queuing
up at Kamaei’s factory shop for artisanal kamaboko (fishpaste
cakes) served fresh from the fryer. It might sound unappetising,
but the deep-fried ‘mayo sandwich’ featuring fish cake, chilli flakes
and Japanese mayonnaise wrapped in white bread is one of those‘OMG’ moments in strange snackery – think prawn-toast on
steroids. Sankaku ichiba market shanties heave with fanatics
devouring sea-treasures at a fraction of the price you’d pay
in Tok yo.HAKODATE
Sincethisphotogenicdestinationbecamedirectlyaccessiblevia
in 2016, it’s received an influx of mainland
day-trippers who come to admire the port town’s exquisitely
preserved Dutch and Russian-inspired architecture and... eat.
Make your first stop Donburi Yokocho, the restaurant corridor
of recently revitalised Hakodate asaichi for a breakfast of
kaisendon – deep bowls of hot rice topped with sea urchin petals,
glossy salmon roe and fresh crab meat, or equally luxe
compositions. Inside the market, snap up souvenirs of ikasumi
sakiika, the most goth-looking bar snack in existence (squid in its
ink, dried and shredded) and a packet of ika senbei (wafer-thin
basketball-sized squid rice crackers). Hakodate’s cephalopods are
also eaten raw in ika somen (thinly sliced noodles of raw squid) –
try it at the stupendous Ryotei Fumoto. And for an entire meal of
immaculate sashimi and sushi head to Kihara’s ocean-view rooms.
Wind back the clock to the mid-1800s by walking along the
Motomachi (historical) quarter’s scenic slopes, concluding with
dinner at restaurant Gotoken for silver-serviced yoshoku
(Japanese-Western fusion cuisine) including the legendary Dutch
curry, borscht or stroganoff. Which should you choose? Never
mind, you’ll be back.CLOCKWISE: Cape
Takashima’s lighthouse
overlooks the former
herring port in Sapporo;
giant seafood senbei (rice
cracker) at Hakodate
market; salmon in
Hakodate asaichi
(morning market).