あっぱれ亭 Apparetei

Frequently we try to avoid the touristy spots in food especially, because they lack the higher quality and attention a home own shop attempts to maintain. Furthermore, they lack the atmosphere and warmth Ramen shops are so loved for, how these tiny shacks can produce such wonderful food with so little.

Apparetei then, is a paradox. It's big, it's in a tourism hole. And it stands out.

There is a Television Tower just at the end of "Oodori Park", a large strip of park down the center of Sapporo. This television tower is a local tourist trap, complete with pricey food and souvenirs.

Except for Apparetei. This restaurant is quite different.

Apparetei is located in the basement of this television tower. It has a 3.2/5 rating on Tabelog, which slightly makes sense, this is one of four locations in Hokkaido. The original shop is rated at 3.6/5, to put things in perspective. In this way it's not really Sapporo grown; a bit of bias may shoot out from this from reviewers.

Naturally then, like most tourism areas, the personality of the shop is fairly dismal. Bleak white walls, regular staff. A ticket machine, which is amazing for the tourist, but a little impersonal perhaps. But the shop holds a key ingredient that grants it spots in those guidebooks. It's landed in at least two.

That key is the 金ごまラーメン"Kingoma Ramen", the Gold Sesame Ramen.

Just looking at it we can tell something is rather unique about this bowl. It has amazing color, bright yellow with the subtle dots of red, and added green in the center. Despite the un-homely feel of the shop, this bowl is certainly inviting.

And of course, it tastes wonderful. The soup is complex and slightly rich, but not in the way many miso ramen soups taste. The sesame is home ground, and the shop prides itself on using local Hokkaido ingredients, which is always a plus. The pork is cut into bite size pieces of melt in your mouth perfection, mounded up in the center. Slight bit of sweet chili oil accents the richness and adds a bit more depth to the soup. The noodles are cooked well, chewy and medium thickness, and they hold up well to the soup.

I was perplexed by why the ratings for this restaurant were so low. But reading a few of them makes this clear; most people don't try the Gold Sesame Ramen.

Ah... I see.

There's a reason the guidebooks recommended the gold sesame ramen first. It's unique and absolutely delicious, and it's the must try dish of the shop. 

For those in Oodori, this is likely your best bet for Ramen. It's unique, delicious, and certainly satisfying. If you're in the television tower overlooking the city, then this is easily the best choice for your culinary desires. Though the shop look itself is a little lackluster, the food leaves quite the impression.


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Apparetei
Hours:
11:00am - 9:00 pm

Links:
http://www.appare.co.jp/
http://r.tabelog.com/hokkaido/A0101/A010102/1000283/

Ramen Touristy Spots

Ironic as it may be, Ramen is so ubiquitous with Sapporo that there exist actual tourism in the food. Folks from all over will come to Sapporo just to taste something in town. This has lead to some interesting tourist traps that travelers may want to take note.

Two primarily come to mind: Ramen Yokocho, or Ramen Alley, and Ramen Kyowakoku, Ramen Republic. Both are small spaces where various ramen shops have assembled to sell their wares to the masses of tourist flocking to Sapporo for culinary reasons.

But, like many tourist traps, they tend to fall somewhat kind of flat to the true food connoisseur.

Ramen Yokocho, aka Ramen Alley, has existed for around 40 years in the downtown Susukino area, as a place where Ramen restaurants came together and set up shop side by side. It would be silly for me to go in extreme depth about this place, due to the sheer tourism factor it has. There's plenty of websites about Ramen Yokocho in English, with loads of information.

Around 12 shops to tickle your fancy. Unfortunately, they range from completely ordinary to fairly lovely. Some shops like "Shirakaba Sansou"(a miso specialist) and "Keraan" (a shop that has tomato ramen) are wonderful, written about even in guidebooks, and fairly well liked. However, other stores are images of something yearning to be better, but caught in a loop of mediocrity. It's essentially a gamble, but more importantly, it's at best a trap.

Ramen Republic is slightly different in that all of the shops located within are actually branches of already successful companies. They came together in a sort of "Republic", a representative of the main shop sent to a gathering of sorts, to sell ramen in one shared common space, somewhat like a food court. While this may seem desirable, (mutiple already popular ramen shops? sounds good) and indeed, Ramen Republic gets far more traffic than the Alley, some of the quality has to be reduced to fit the constraints of being located on the 9th floor of a multilevel shopping center near Sapporo Train Station.

As an example, Yusura is a well liked semi-chain of ramen shops in Sapporo known for their lovely smoked pork and rich soy sauce ramen. Unfortunately, in setting up shop at the Republic, certain characteristics such as the smoke, the house made stock, among others, had to be cut. The result is something that, while still delicious as Rule 1 says, is not comparable to the original.

Indeed, none of the shops in either of these locations fairs against some of the more legendary or original stops, which have the ability to more aptly deal with service and maintain higher levels of quality. This is not to say the food at either of these locations isn't good, but if one is planning on attempting to eat the best of Sapporo, one must certainly look beyond the tourist traps.

Foodies generally agree, there are very rarely any signs of high ratings for stores in either of these locations, and in the case of Ramen Republic, the original shops virtually always have higher ratings than their stripped down mall counterparts in the republic.

For the tourist that doesn't want any effort, these places will be suitable. Beyond that, it's best to avoid, even Sapporo dwellers don't go to these areas. And we want the best, right?

麺 eiji, Men eiji

There is one Ramen Shop doing things so very differently from everyone else to the greatest recognition. Number 4 on Tabelog in all of Japan, the best ramen shop in Hokkaido. It has the guidebook love, the reviews, even a deal with Yashoku.

The NAME, is 麺 eiji. Men Eiji. Noodle Infant... er... yeah.

This tinsy tiny shop is located in the Toyohira "Ramen Warzone" district of Sapporo, which makes sense considering its wild popularity.

Currently the shop has a 4.02/5 rating, which just barely scrapes by other fan favorite "Menya Saimi".  However, it doesn't seem very fair to compare the two, one specializes in Miso, the other in something called "Seafood Pork bone Broth", a combination of fish stock and pork stock.

There's one thing you notice as soon as you walk in though. Not the small size (about 8 seats), or how the shop was completely full just 10 minutes into service. Nope, none of those things.

Everything is pink. Everything. The counter wood is a light shade of pink, the walls, the seats. Everything is in a shade of pink. (Pardon my less than wonderful camera)

Even the chopstick holders and napkin boxes.

So... pink huh? I assume this is because the word "Eiji" can mean infant, though I really have no idea. Yes I translated it that earlier, but the word "Eiji" on the sign is written in Roman characters, so the meaning is truly unknown. But the place is pink. Certainly a unique characteristic by any regard.

Like many Ramen shops, both popular and not, you order with a vending machine style device. Insert your money, push the appropriate button for the type of ramen you want, and a ticket comes out. You hand said ticket to the cooks, they make your food, and you're good to go. Slurp your noodles, enjoy your meal, and no tip or extra cash to pay.

Eiji is currently known for one of two things, it's tsukemen (dipping noddles) and its Seafood Pork bone broth Ramen. Today we will focus on the Ramen of course. It goes for 850 yen. This is what came.

There's a lot of good to say about this bowl of noodles. It comes with raw diced onions, long onions, hand made noodles, slow roasted pork, and that dark orange jelly like stuff, which is collagen. The broth is rich but not overly thick. The noodles are house hand made, which like any restaurant that sells noodles, is rare, and they are perfect, slightly eggy, just cooked right. The pork is tender, but not totally fall apart mushy like some, it's maintained it's texture. The raw onions are sharp, kind of a nice bite in comparison to the smooth mellow soup, which brings thoughts of gravy to be honest. It's complex and deep, and very satisfying.

That dark collagen, which tastes like pork essence, slowly melts into the soup, making it even richer and delivering a crazy mouth feel.

In a word, it's a very very good bowl of noodles. I can easily see why it has the #1 spot. Everything about this is surprisingly unique and quite lovely. I would refrain from saying however, that it is the best shop in Sapporo, this is a title very hard to merely give away after all. But make no mistake, Eiji will not disappoint.

For the tourist then, this may certainly be worth a look. However, the unique flavor profile might not match up with some of the less adventurous eaters; to them, classics like miso may be easier. But this is clearly top grade culinary stuff. 


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Men Eiji:
Hours:
11:00am-3:00pm, 6:00pm-8:30pm
Closed 3 Tuesdays a month, Closed Wednesday.

Links:
http://r.tabelog.com/hokkaido/A0103/A010303/1005146/