Sapporo Autumn Fest 2009: Part 1

Sapporo Autumn Fest is a wonderful event that people can enjoy the richness of food production around Hokkaido, share the travel information, and celebrate the autumn harvest from all over Hokkaido. This wonderful event just started last year, but it already became one of popular events in Sapporo. There are some well-known events in Sapporo; Yosakoi Soran Festival (in June), Pacific Music Festival (PMF: in July) and Sapporo Snow Festival (in Feb.). I hope this Autumn Fest would be a big event in the fall season.

Sapporo TV Tower and and visitors

There are two things that I liked about this event. First of all, the event was held from 9/18 to 10/4; yes it’s almost two weeks! During this period, the restaurants had been changed frequently to serve different dishes, so visitors had never got bored. I only visited twice. I wish I could’ve visited more… Second thing is the location. The event was held in the Odori Park (大通公園), the symbolic sightseeing spot in Sapporo. The five sites along the Odori Park bring us to the food and cultural world of Hokkaido. This event showcases not only the delicious food but also wonderful culture and people involved in this event.




My family and I went there on Monday, Sept 21. The weather was cloudy, and it was pretty cold. We started walking from 4-chome site. This site provided some pottery and craft works. I should have taken a walk slowly, but we were so hungry and rushed to 5-chome site.




5-chome site was a huge food court. There were about ten restaurants providing Ramen noodles and local dishes. Since this event is for Hokkaido, the basic rule for the restaurants was to use all ingredients from Hokkaido. We chose two ramen noodles and two local dishes.

“Asahikawa Shoyu Ramen” from Asahikawa

Asahikawa Ramen (旭川ラーメン) is famous for soy sauce taste. This Asahikawa Shoyu Ramen (旭川醤油ラーメン) was 700 yen. The noodle was made of Hokkaido wheat, and Chashu (チャーシュー), roasted pork, was delicious! The pork was also grown in Hokkaido. It was simple, but the broth was well cooked carefully.

“Hokki Clam Miso Ramen” from Tomakomai

Hokki Clam Miso Ramen (苫小牧ホッキ貝味噌ラーメン) (700 yen) was an interesting noodle I even had. This noodle soup was pretty strong taste of Miso (fermented soybean paste) and seafood. I usually do not like seafood ramen, but this one was pretty tasty. I thought the taste of Hokki clam would be too strong, but miso taste kept the good balance between. I liked other ingredients: sprouts and seaweeds.

“Shrimp & Octopus Dumpling” from Haboro

Shrimp & Octopus Dumpling (羽幌えびタコ焼き餃子) (600 yen) was the most popular item of that day. There was a long line in front of the booth. I waited for 45 minutes only for this dumpling. You might think it is not smart. Yet, this was delicious! It was worth to wait! They used the small Sakura Ebi (桜えび: sakura shrimp) yet it had rich flavor, and Tako (たこ: octopus) was amazingly delicious! Of course, all ingredients were made of Hokkaido. You dip it into the sauce or eat it simply with shrimp flavored salt.

“Omelet Curry” from Furano

Unfortunately, Frano Omelet Curry (富良野オムカレー) (700 yen) was already eaten by other family members while I was waiting for dumpling and I couldn’t taste it… (ToT)

to be continued...