On March 4th, my boyfriend and I went out to Sapporo, with our main goals this time around were to see the Sanrio 60th Anniversary exhibition at the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, and to get a haircut for my boyfriend. That’s been long overdue for him, and he’s been kind of waiting until he really can’t stand the length to get one. Well, he’s been annoyed with how it is currently for a while now, but has been putting it off for a bit…Since we’re both going to Tokyo in a few weeks(!), it was also about time to get it done. I also figure going to a salon in the big city would probably be better than any of the small local ones in my town. There’s definitely plenty I’ve seen during my time here, but most likely not English friendly.
Anyway, a bit ago I saw a poster advertising the Sapporo leg of the Sanrio 60th Anniversary exhibition, looked it up, and thought it looked cool since I like Sanrio and cute things. The normal tickets are 1600 yen, but because I basically knew I wanted to go, I was able to snag some pre-registration tickets for 1400! There was also supposedly an early-bird deal for 1200, but by the time I found out, that period was already over. I bought the tickets a while ago, and we can go anytime during the event period.
To get to Sapporo bright and early, we aimed for our usual 7:40 bus. Before getting on our bus, we stopped by our local Family Mart as usual for some morning snacks, and the thing I most wanted to get was the new mango frappe. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, my local Family Mart not only did not have it, but it also only had a singular coffee frappe! Usually they have the full selection, so I was both surprised and sad to see that the supply was nonexistent that day. I left empty handed, and it was during this time that I realized I forgot the bottle of tea I was going to bring with me at home. Oops, not a great start to the day.
Because the bus ride was going to be long, I knew that I would definitely be hungry by the time we arrived in Sapporo, and especially so that I didn’t get anything at Family Mart. The week prior, I looked around Google Maps for a Cafe that would be open to have a quick bite at, but I ended up going with Kitakaro L across the street, a branch of the Hokkaido sweets brand Kitakaro, for a morning snack/breakfast before heading into the museum. It is technically not a cafe, but more of a sweets shop that sells some fresh goods, that also happens to have a small seating area in the corner. I thought it was fine, but my boyfriend didn’t feel comfortable with just eating in the corner that wasn’t clearly designated for eating, so I ate my food outside. Speaking of, I got an apple pie (410 yen), and the L Cream Puff (252 yen). There were many cream puffs to chosoe from that were tempting, but I ultimately went with this one because they advertised it as limited to this branch. I also really wanted their ice cream too, but I managed to hold that back because I was already getting two things. The pie I ate right away, and it was so good, freshly warm, flaky, and had huge chunks of apple in it. I ate the cream puff for breakfast the next day, and that was good as well! There were two types of crusts on it, along with whipped cream and custard cream on the inside.
After that we headed into the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art for the Sanrio exhibition! Everything very cute and informative, and I may or may not have bought a few things…I tried looking up what the merch was going to be online, and the ones showcased on the website were just a few things, and I really was only going for the t-shirt, since that’s pretty commemorative and functional. However, the one thing I couldn’t find in the small merch area was the shirt (sad…), and I ended up with a bit more than I anticipated (oops!). I also literally took pictures of everything, because pictures but not videos are allowed, and I thought it’d be nice to at least have the chance to look at everything again later.
For lunch, I went with Masuda udon, an udon place that was in my bookmarks and was near my boyfriend’s haircut appointment. There’s actually quite a few udon places I have bookmarked around the Sapporo area, and Masuda Udon is one of them. One of their main selling points that they’re apparently famous for is their giant burdock root tempura. They’re also apparently Fukuoka style udon, but I have no idea how to tell different udon types apart. We arrived around noon, and waited for about 20-30 minutes or so. You also known a place is popular when there’s a line, and no other place in the area had one. I did hope the wait wouldn’t be super long, and had some backups in mind just in case, but the line reassured me that it was going to be a good choice.
I knew the toppings I wanted to get, but I couldn’t decide between the meat bukkake (a little bit of soup, cold or hot) or kake (hot soup) version. I really was leaning towards the bukkake the entire time up until we were waiting in line. I like warm noodles, but I also really like cold dipping noodles, which the bukkake style is really similar to. Ultimately though, it was a cold, snowy day, so I decided on the kake for more of the warm broth.
Oh my gosh I knew they were well-known, but this was one of the best udon experiences I’ve had. It was so good! The broth was light but really flavorful, and the udon was a nice texture (I would have preferred it a little chewier, but I did let it sit in the broth, and I’m just glad it was soggy). The chicken I ordered was so unexpectedly juicy and crispy, especially for white meat. I’ve never had a chicken tempura before, so when I saw it on the menu I had to get it, plus to add some more protein to the dish. The meat in the udon was a pretty good amount, and it was marinated to be sweet and tender. The burdock root tempura was as huge as I’ve seen in pictures, and was nicely crispy everywhere. I didn’t super appreciate both of the tempura already being in the soup (I’m not a huge fan of that in general because I like my crispy things crispy), because then that part loses its crispiness and becomes soggy, but it did help to loosen some of the burdock root. I wonder how they get it to stay that shape when they end up frying it.
Oh, and it seems Masuda also owns a ohagi specialty store elsewhere in Sapporo, but when I ended up looking it up on the map, it’s on the other side of East Sapporo. That’s kind of on me for not looking up the location sooner, but I had totally thought it was connected to their udon shop for some reason.
My boyfriend wanted to get a parfait this time around, and I was thinking that if there was time after lunch before his hair appointment we could do before, but if not, we could go after. Turns out, we had about an hour and a half to kill before the appointment, which would be a perfect amount of time to chill in a cafe somewhere. Being prepared for this (ha!), I looked up some potential cafes with parfaits in the area beforehand. My first choice was Johnson Tea Lounge, and so we headed over there. The main parts of the first and second floors were a very stylish home interior store, and I even saw the famous Balmuda toaster when I was browsing around. We got to the cafe area on the second floor, but since it was around 1:30, they were still serving their lunch menu, and wouldn’t serve their cafe menu with the parfaits until 2:30. That was a bit of a bummer, because I thought my boyfriend would like their parfaits, and they seemed pretty unique when I looked up the menu online.
Since that wasn’t available, my next choice I decided to go to was Matcha Cafe & Sweets RiQ, which has a couple parfaits on their menu. We ate in their cafe upstairs, which I think actually just rebranded recently. My boyfriend got the matcha parfait, and since each person had to get one item, I decided on the houjicha jelly. I figured it’d be a light snack, and plus, I was planning on getting a matcha dessert later at a different cafe, so I went with hojicha here!
Overall, everything that came with the set was refreshing, light, and good. It came with salted seaweed for some reason, which I thought was interesting, and maybe as a salty item to balance out the other sweet ones? I was a little confused, but ate it anyway. The milk ice cream was so good, and actually tasted like milk, and not just any plain ice cream. It did melt a little quickly though, so I was a little sad that I had to eat it and finish it first. The hojicha ice cream held up a little better, was a little icy but still creamy, and had a very nice, strong roasty flavor. It even had some flakes of gold on it!
After we chilled for a bit in the cafe, we headed to Hair Brand Goplin, where my boyfriend would get his haircut. I previously attempted to look up some English friendly salons in Sapporo, and among them, my boyfriend went with Goplin this time around. Even though the appointment was for 3 and we arrived a little early, he was able to get started right away, and so I left for another cafe down the street where I had already made a reservation for around 3:10. I made sure to be prepared so I wouldn’t have to wait or anything!
I did get to Shelter Cafe a little earlier than I planned (since we got to the salon earlier than planned), and I did have to wait a bit, which was fine since I was earlier than I told them anyway. It’s a cute cafe that serves some lunch meals, tarts, waffles, and house blend herbal teas, and also offers dried flower services and workshops. I went because the waffles sounded good, but perhaps I’ll go back sometime to try the teas, because they sounded cool after the fact, and since my goal was the waffles, I didn’t want to spend too much extra. They do sell loose leaf bags of their herbal blends though. The interior of the cafe had such big cute and cozy vibes, with the dried flower decor everywhere. They also have free wifi and outlets if you’re close to one!
I ordere the red bean and matcha French Waffle Plate, which comes with whip cream, their freshly made waffle, and house-made gelato. I actually was surprised at first when the waitress asked me what flavor gelato I wanted (I didn’t read the fine print of the menu that carefully, ha!) but I asked for matcha because I was already expecting matcha from the plate, and the gelato was matcha in the picture anyway. When my plate came out, it was super aesthetic, and all the small items were laid out very carefully around the plate. I’d say everything was good, but what I actually liked the most was the light wafer sandwich thing with red bean and kinako(?) warabi mochi inside. The super light and airy wafer went so well with the lightly-flavored squishy mochi and red bean, dipped in some whipped cream. Although I did come here for the waffles, they were real soggy even when freshly brought out to me. That might just be a me thing, because I like my waffles crispy, but the flavors of everything else was solid. The gelato’s flavor was good, but the texture pretty icy. Also, I liked the amount of red beans on the plate, but the ones in the front in particular were the biggest ones I’ve ever seen. Overall, I’d go back to try their other stuff, but maybe not get the waffles again.
After I enjoyed my solo cafe date snack, I headed back to the salon to find my boyfriend waiting for me outside (he said he waited about 10 minutes, oops). He was pretty satisfied with the experiene, especially after receiving a mini head spa for writing a review after. It was a little before 4 at that point, and we were aiming to catch the bus home as soon as possible. Since we had a bit of time, we picked up some takeout food from our I-guess-now-favorite takeout place Sapporo Gyoza Seizousho for their big gyoza, and this time, their zangi! My boyfriend got both, but today I felt like just trying their sauce zangi (560 yen), since I had a lot of carbs/sweets today and felt like just having some protein would be good enough. My boyfriend remarked that we need to eventually actually dine in fresh for once, and I totally agree, since the reason I bookmarked it in the first place is to eat in. I did compare the prices though, and though I would get a teishoku or something if I dined in, the 4 jumbo gyoza and the 3 zangi items themselves are about 20 yen cheaper takeout than their dine-in menu counterparts (which is probably due to the dine-in/takeout tax difference).
If you know me, you know I can’t forget the boba. We actually went back to RiQ, since it’s in the area and also right next door to the gyoza place, and I’ve been wanting to try their boba for a while. You can read about my boba here! We got on the 4:30 bus, and this was actually my first time getting on the bus without getting on at Sapporo station first.
Japan Excursions 
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