[Hokkaido] Dinner at 3 Michelin Stars Restaurant - Hanakoji Sawada, Sapporo

Kitchen situation seen from counter table at Hanakoji Sawada, Sapporo

Japan known as a country with delicious food. No wonder Japan become a country which has the most michelin stars restaurant in the world, especially in Tokyo. It always become my dream to have a fine dining at one of those restaurant. However, due to its popularity, they always full booked so I never had a chance to do that. One day I found Hanakoji Sawada, a restaurant which offers omakase style dining in Sapporo , and their dishes looks very appetizing. After had some research, I just knew that they just received their 3rd star in May 2017, and become 1 of only 3 restaurants with 3 Michelin Stars in Sapporo. Since Sapporo is not as crowded as in Tokyo, I believed it's not gonna be hard to get a seat at this restaurant. Don't want to missed this chance, I was asking hotel concierge to make a reservation 2 months before, and yess.. We got it!

At the entrance of Hanakoji Sawada

Plaza 7.4 (where Hanakoji Sawada located). Source : Google Maps

Hanakoji Sawada located at Susukino area, which known as the city center of Sapporo. It's not too far from Susukino station, and can be reach by walk around 500m. You can easily found it at the 3rd floor of Plaza 7.4 Asai building. Once I stepped out from the elevator, I felt a different ambience. It wasn't feels like we'd have a dinner at a small restaurant at the small building. But it's more like we're going to traditional Japanese restaurant, at the little Japanese village.

Matching Outfit with Ivan in Kenzo X H&M Sweater

When we're making a reservation, we were asked whether we want to sit on the dining table with a private room, or sitting at the bar. We chose the bar seating so we could get a new experience while having a dinner at 3 Michelin Stars restaurant. By sitting at the bar, we could see how's the head chef worked with his team at the kitchen, and even served some of the dishes directly. It was an honour for us to saw their skill to process the food and even had some conversation with them.

I'm so proud with Japanese people. They can cook a lot of dishes and work in silence.

They got 3 starts not without a reason. As you know, not every restaurant can get a star. It's not judged by how expensive the food is, or how fancy the restaurant, but they scored from everything. Starts from the ingredients, cooking technique, the atmosphere at the restaurant, satisfaction in service, which mixed together and makes the guests feel something special that they can't get at another restaurant. After had an amazing dinner at Hanakoji Sawada, I knew why they promoted from 2 stars to 3 stars. Hanakoji Sawada serves kaiseki cuisine with fresh seasonal ingredients that cooked in a perfect way.

Japanese mountain yam (yamaimo) topped with salmon caviar (ikura) and shiso

Our dinner started perfectly with the first dish, yamaimo topped with ikura and shiso. It tasted really fresh and of course delicious..

Corn Fritter

When they're serving the second dish, I was little bit surprised. I never thought a corn fritter became a dish at 3 Michelin Stars restaurant. However I started to realize that it's not about the name of the dish. But, the cooking technique they used, and the special taste of the dish. As you can see on the picture above, it's different with the "original" version of corn fritter. Each corn kernel covered with crispy fried flour, but it's not hard at all. When I bit it, I could feel the texture was really soft and even  there's a sweetness taste of Hokkaido corn.

Japanese Hairy Crab (Kegani)

I know that Hokkaido really famous for its crab. But I never thought I'll eat a hair crab in this portion, personally. Though I've ate snow crab before, but eat a hair crab in this way made a different taste. The hair crab served with a cut of lemon, to give a little bit taste and not fishy. However, I tried a bite before squeeze the lemon, and it's not fishy at all. Eat hair crab in this way gave me the "real" taste of hair crab meat. As I was expecting, it was really juicy and sweet. I was really satisfied with this dish.

Sweet and juicy hair crab meat

Sea urchin (uni) with grilled eggplant

The next dish was uni!! Actually, I'm not a big fan of uni. But, knowing that Hokkaido also famous for its uni (sea urchin), I don't want to missed a chance trying this expensive seafood dish. While usually uni served as a topping of sushi, they served it in different way. The chef served uni with grilled eggplant at the bottom, and little bit sauce in the middle. Well, this dish changed my mind about both of the ingredients. The sea urchin was really sweet, and matched perfectly with the soft and bounce texture of eggplant. For me, this dish makes eggplant going to the next level.

Fugu sashimi

If there's a food that I really want to try in Japan, it's gonna be fugu. Even though it's known as the most dangerous food, and even until know still many people got poisoned after eat it, but my curiosity overcame my fear. I really curious about the delicacy when we eat it raw (as a sashimi), that people always talk about. Thankfully, Hanakoji Sawada gave me a change to try this raw blowfish without getting poisoned. I don't like to eat any kind of sashimi, but this time is an exception. It was really tasty, no fishy smell - at all, and the sauce made it become the best sashimi ever. It was my first experience to eat fugu sashimi, and I didn't regret it.

Seared sea brean (tai)

The next dish was a seared sea bream. This dish was looked very simple, but I could feel the crispness of its skin only by looking at it. The skin was seared until very crunchy, but the fish meat still soft and juicy. A squeeze of lime would give a good taste for this tasty fish.

Nigiri sushi

The sushi?? I couldn't say anything about it. Just scored them 10/10.

Hokkaido Beef Sukiyaki Topped with Egg Sauce

The next dish was beef sukiyaki topped with egg sauce. Looking at its presentation, I thought it's just a simple beef dish. My tummy also started to full, and I lost my appetite. However since I've paid for this dish, I forced my mouth to eat it. After ate a bite, this time it wasn't the appetite I lost, but all the words that came out of my mouth. I was speechless, and had nothing to say. This beef was the best food I ever ate. The tastiness of the sauce, and the soft texture of the meat, they're blowing my mind. Not forgetting a little "surprise" under the meat. That green beans freshen my mouth from the sweet thick sauce of this dish.

Tofu and green beans under the beef

Fresh made soba

So far, none of their food has dissapointed me, until I saw them preparing soba. I'd admit that soba is the only kind of noodle dish that I don't like. Knowing they gonna serve soba as one of the dishes, I just tried to put a positive mind that it's gonna be good. Well, it tasted slightly different with other soba noodles. However it also has a "plain" taste and I don't like it. Sorry to say this, but I thought it's not worth to be served at michelin star restaurant (IMHO).

Seasonal fruit bowl with jelly

Finally, we reached the end of this course, a dessert. Since it wasn't a dish that I was expecting, I didn't put too much hope with it. I've seen before when people eat here, they served a "deconstructed apple" as a dessert, which looks amazing. But again, they could make a simple ingredients become a surprisingly, delicious food. The freshness of the fruits, combined with a soft jelly, made my dinner ended perfectly.

A picture with the chef of Hanakoji Sawada after a great dinner

It was our first experience to have omakase dining in Japan, and I was really satisfied with it. The price also quite reasonable for 3 michelin stars restaurant. It costs ¥25000 for each person (drink not included). Reservation is mandatory to dine in here as they have limited seats. However, they only can be contacted by a phone call. So you might need a help from hotel concierge to make a reservation here.






Hanakoji Sawada
Address : 4 Chome-4 南7条西 3rd floor, 4 Chome Minami 7 Jōnishi, Chūō-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaidō 064-0807, Japan
Phone number : +81 11-562-0088
Opening hours : Mon - Sat 5.30PM - 10PM
Website : http://hanakoji-sawada.com/index.html