Restaurant #01: Picante, Sapporo

This is my second time to visit Picante, the restaurant specialized in "soup curry". Yes, soup curry! You might tried Japanese curry with Katsu or Seafood, which is still popular in Japan. It is quite different than Thai curry or Indian curry. Japanese curry has own history, even though the origin was from India. Soup curry became extremely popular in Sapporo back in around 2002. Since then, the delicious soup curry restaurants were opened everywhere in Japan.

The curry sauce is actually soup with curry powder and spices, then there are some fresh vegetables and chicken or some meats. Rice comes separately. You scoop one, then dip into the soup, then eat with a little bit of soup.

My family and I visited there about 12:30pm on Friday for lunch. The restaurant was already packed, and we waited for 20 minutes. There is always a waiting line, so I recommend you to go there earlier. :)

The interior is simple and I liked it, but there is no A/C. They sometimes use fans, but it is too hot inside.

Pica Chicken

We ordered three different types of soup curry. This is "Pica Chicken" (980 yen). There are two choices for the soup. You can chose "light" taste or "strong" taste. This chicken is with light taste soup. Fried chicken is very crispy and less spices, so you can dip into the soup and enjoy the contrast of crisp chicken and spiced soup. The veggies are so fresh! Green pepper, pumpkin, avocado, carrot, lotus root, and "negi" (green onion) on the top. Do you see the small white thing right next to the slice of carrot? This is a quail egg.

Gyu-suji Nikomi

This is "Gyu-suji Nikomi" (stewed beef chunk) (980 yen) with light taste soup. Veggies are all same as the first one. Oh, now I remembered there are some snap beans and a slice of eggplant under the sliced negi!

Lamb Nikomi

This is my choice; "European herbal taste Lamb chop, with extra topping of broccoli" (980 + 150 yen), with strong taste soup. You can see that the veggies are slightly different than the light soup, and I added a broccoli as a extra topping. There are a sliced eggplant, two sweet green peppers, carrot, pumpkin, and the rounded white stuff next to the carrot is a turnip! Healthy!

Each veggie is fresh and tasty; cooked separately from the soup, so each one has original taste. I tasted each meat. My favorite is crispy chicken. My choice, lamb, was also tender and tasty, but it does not match to curry taste as I expected...

Soup has strong taste, and pretty spicy. You can choose the level of spiciness between level 1 to 5. We chose level 2, but already pretty spicy. We taste curry, but I feel that this is like "curry soup". The soup has richly flavored, I guess it is veggie broth. Of course no MSG.

Rice is not pure Japanese rice. Maybe mixed with Thai rice, so it is not sticky. This rice is appropriate for soup curry, because it does not mix with the soup that much. You can enjoy the independent taste of soup and rice.

Quantity is reasonable. I thought this is not enough, but I felt full after I ate half of it.

It was fun lunch with my family. I would like to visit there again, but I need to make sure that the weather is not too warm. I guess winter time is the best season to eat in here.

By the way, I usually do not order drinks. I love enjoying the pure taste of the food, with a glass of water. If I want to drink, it would be after the meal, in a different place. Also, we do not have a custom to pay the tip for a waiter/waitress. Their service is, most of the time, satisfactory. The price is included tax.

Total cost: 3090 yen (for 3 people)

Picante
Acro View Hokudai Mae 1F
Kita 13-jo Nishi 3-chome, Kita-ku

Sapporo, JAPAN
011-737-1600
http://www.picante.jp/index.html