I’ve already complained once about a restaurant misleadingly named to suggest it’s fully vegan – I’m afraid this is another such place. Until about May, this place was all vegan, offering a vegan fine dining set menu. Then they introduced a pescatarian menu as well, but have not changed the name. I was still confident enough in their vegan options to go, and I appreciate it is very difficult for all-vegan eateries to stay in business. But it doesn’t help the cause too much when terminology is misused.

Anyway, we wanted to give this place a try as our week in Hokkaido was never going to be the culinary highlight of our trip to Japan and we really wanted to have a big fancy meal to look forward to. I contacted them on Instagram (in English) to make a reservation. It is reservation only, so do not just show up! We confirmed our vegan menu request when booking and on arrival at the restaurant, so there was no room for error. I’m really glad that we booked this, the food was a real treat!

We paid 16-17,000 yen for the two of us, and that was a six course menu with a drink of our choice included. There were a few intriguing non-alcoholic drinks on the menu, so we didn’t feel like we were getting too cheated on that front. Dr HH got the mocktail of the day, which was pomegranate and mandarin, while I got the apple cinnamon drink, which tasted like a strudel!

All of the dishes were vegetable centric and felt quite light, but we were certainly full by the end. At first I thought the flavours might be a bit too subtle, but then I realised I was enjoying tasting nice fresh vegetables. The dishes featuring basil were a particular highlight. I also loved the burdock stew. Each dish was something I’d never had before, and I was really impressed by the creativity. A lot of the vegetables were locally sourced, which was good to hear.

The first course was spinach and basil sauce with a sable, topped with a potato and nori mash, and sliced avocado on top. I love a sable! The nori was a great seasoning for the potato. The basil was so refreshing and tasty – basil popped up a few times in this menu and was amazing every time.

Next came six vegetable appetisers, from left to right: edamame and potato, tomato tart, broccoli and mushroom terrine, red pepper, corn and white chocolate, and a lettuce roll. I was a bit worried about the corn and chocolate, but it was actually really well balanced, not too sweet. The tomato tart was really good, and the terrine had a fantastic earthy hit.

This dish was ravioli filled with black rice, Indian millet, Chinese millet, and nori, served in a nori and shiitake broth. Let’s set aside the fact that it doesn’t look like ravioli! The pasta was nice and thin, and the broth was good, but it wasn’t a mind blowing course.

This was more like it! Here we have a kadayif and polenta croquette, atop a risotto of local rice, basil, and avocado. Again, the basil was really flavoursome. The risotto was quite creamy. I enjoyed the croquette a lot – I’m not sure how many times I’ve had kadayif before, and whenever I see it on MasterChef I’m always jealous. It was so crispy and a really fun texture.

Next came a burdock stew with umeboshi and marsala sauce, radish, cucumber, and courgette, and carrot sauce. It looks like quite a deconstructed stew. It was so tasty, this was my favourite course of the meal. I don’t eat a lot of burdock, but maybe I should?! Everything was so freshy and tasty.

And finally, a vegan dessert plate, from left to right: chocolate ganache, banana and coconut terrine, Japanese sweet potato, a sandwich with tofu, rhubarb, and strawberry, and a peanut butter sand. These were all pleasant. I was especially happy to get to try the peanut butter sand after neglecting that option earlier in Sapporo. The ganache was the highlight, really rich and decadent.

The meal was worth the money in my opinion. Service was excellent, very friendly, and we got all the dish descriptions in English. It’s a lovely place, recommended!

Activities Around Sapporo

As mentioned last week, we didn’t do anything actually in Sapporo, simply used it as the most vegan-friendly base for day trips that we could find. The lavender fields are a huge attraction, but also quite a long day trip. We took the train to Furano and looked at Farm Tomita, the biggest lavender farm there. Then we rode the special lavender train (only running in summer, I believe) to Biei, where we joined a bus trip for the afternoon, which we needed as the sights there are very spread out. We had a whirlwind tour of Shikasi-no-Oka Flower Gardens, the Shrogane blue Pond, and Shirahige-no-Taki Falls, which made for a spectacular day of sightseeing. Then it was a few hours on the train from Biei back to Sapporo. All in all, it was about 12 hours on the go. You might prefer to stay in Furano for a night to make it an easier day – but the vegan options will be fewer. It’s always a tricky choice!