Otaru Masazushi Honten

The famous Otaru fried chicken.....*crunch*

we hopped off our train from Yoichi in Otaru, still feeling all excited from the whisky tour, but our stomachs were drumming away......hungry~~~~~~

While waiting for Papa Bear to get a map of this town - Otaru, Ellen could not resist the fried chicken and bought everyone some. When he returned, everyone was holding a piece and bz wolfing it down to his horror.

Papa Bear: "What are you all doing? we are goin to the best sushi in town!!! and some say in Hokkaido!!!!"

Soon Papa Bear join in. Oh well if you can beat them, join them!!!

Apart from amazing sushis, Otaru is also famous for their crispy moist fried chicken, but that famous store was closed on Monday, so we made do with the stall at the train station. It was Oh-my-freaking-orgasmic good. Marinated with ginger juice and fried with some certain spices. This was god sent!!!!

Follow the captain!!!

We arrived on the dot, bcoz reservation was made at 1pm. When Papa Bear said this restaurant was just being featured on the television the nite before, please expect that the reservation list gonna be long and we may even be turned down. But Papa Bear never fails, he charmed his way and got the counter seating for 7 of us :))))

SEE I told you Consultants are damn good and smooth. But my own papa alwiz tells me consultants are CON-sultant, as in conman. LOL. That's a joke :P bcoz I am a consultant myself.

aaaa and behind the blinds we saw Masterchef himself....

Due to its popularity and expansion plans, there are a few outlets by now. But this one is the mother of all. One can find many good sushi restaurants in Otaru town bcoz its' a harbor city. There's a 2 michelin starred sushi restaurant down the road....and we told ourselves ok next time...next time...we are definitely coming back to Otaru :)))

The beautiful and skilled hands of a sushi master. Slicing and cutting effortlessly with moves so suave you thought he's performing a ritual. 

 
Homemade daikon pickles.....but the star was the rich and creamy orangie fish roe, to be eaten together. The soft fish roe meets the crunchy daikon. The rich flavor paired with the acid from the pickles....such beautiful marriage :)))

Chef prepared all the fresh seafood, and leave it to a certain temperature. U never eat your sushi cold, bcoz then the flavor and sweetness of the sea produce will never be unveil. It has to be at the right temperature so that when it touches your warm tongue, the fats melt and tantalize your tastebud before you sink into the meatiness of sweetness from the sea with a soft crunch.

followed by the sounds of happy, satisfied, orgasmic murmurs from fellow diners...
hhhhHHHHHHMmmmmmmmmmm~~~~~

All sushis here have already being prepared with a small dab of finely grated fresh wasabi so you don't really need to add anything anymore, not even the soy. And the correct way to eat is with your hands not chopsticks.

the rice must not be compact at all, not too warm and definitely not cold!!! it should just crumbles in your mouth with the sensational feeling of the round fluffy firm grains.

Freshly burst in ur mouth ikura. I'm not an ikura fan but only in Japan it's so obnoxiously awesomely good that one can never resist. 

 

Such beautiful trout fish...ever cut was so perfect and pretty.

Okie sorry bout that single grain that I left on my plate from the previous piece of sushi. I'm a messy diner!!!

Watching chef preparing piece by piece and presenting it on the individual plate is such a joy to behold. I guess it's also a sight for the chef to see the satisfied murmurs from his diners. I almost had to perpetually close my eyes all the time as I savor every piece of sushi. So so so so so so so good~~~~

 

a light tempura of onions and shiso leaves. Simple, sweet and hit the spot!!!!

 

just look at the grains will you??? as I've already mentioned, each piece has been lightly season so you don't really need the soya sauce.

Papa Bear mentioned that we can only have a light lunch to prepare ourselves for a BIG BIG dinner later. However he was the Devil and asked if we would like anything else!!! soon orders were top up esp the fresh produce of the day.

Chef Takashi who did not join us on this wonderful day sent a text message reminding us that dinner would be at 6pm and we will need to meet at 5.30pm. Added onto his message "What's for lunch?"

Soon pics were blastered in to his horror

"What are you all doing? Stop eating so much. Tonite's dinner is kappo so don't eat so much!!!"

oh well sorry chef, we can't resist this one....
 

Beautiful piece of fatty tuna. So yummmmsss~~~~~

 

Sea Urchin!!!! madness!!!

Hello peek-a-boo!!!!
I am gonna eat ya!!!

After our last order....we still defied instructions not to have too much of food over lunch and had another last last order. Only greedy buggers last us could have so many times of last order. Kekekekeke.

JS had his last order of a beautiful creamie prawn....its eggs/roe were removed off its legs and placed on top....slurp!!!!

 

its briny saltiness sweetness of the sea was so intense. The "brains" or head of the prawns were removed carefully and placed on top of rice and wrapped with lightly toasted fragrant crispy seaweed. OMG. This was so sinful. Every part of the prawns were consumed, this is how a good chef respect his ingredients. You pay tribute to it by not wasting any parts of it.

After lunch we needed to burn off some of the calories before heading back to Sapporo to prepare ourselves for dinner. In fact all of us were kinda guilty, it's like lil kids waiting to be lectured and spanked for not listening to instructions!!

Sakaimachi Street is a beautiful old preserved merchant street. So much to see, so much to buy....and guess wat? So much to EAT!!!!!

the famed Hokkaido White Sweet Corns. To be eaten chilled on its own....raw....There's also the golden yellow type. The sweetness innit was unbelievable!!!

Yeah I know we couldn't resist food. And more food here we come!!!
Hokkaido MELONS!!!
Melons everywhere and we ate and ate and ate and ate.

Beautiful glasses lined the wall of this ship. There's many glass shops and glass-related souvenirs shops along Sakaimachi Street. When the Herring Fish industry declined back in 1950s, the makers of glass buoys turned into production of glasswares instead.

Here you could purchase anything from jewelries, tableware, glassware, ornaments all made from beautiful and colorful glasses. If you have time, try ur hands in glass blowing classes. Obviously our group wasn't interested in any classes nor those glass ornaments. All went into WINE GLASSES shop.

-_-" it's like a disease u know? everywhere we go, it's either have to be food or WINES related. It's unconscious and we couldn't help it. It's like there's a magnet in us....hahahaha

Monkey & Ellen
We were so intrigued by all the pastries shops along this street. ARGHHH but we were not allowed to buy anymore food to stuff our faces. Dr. Epicurean meanwhile was busy browsing every single wine shop along this street -_-"

The beautiful canal with the original warehouse still intact. If you have time, you could take a short cruise down this river. Most of the warehouses are no longer in used, and have been turned into museums, shops and restaurants.

Notice the 2 birds??? hahahaha

Hurry hurry time to go back to Sapporo!!! we gotta get ready for dinner!!! After all the short walk, stomach is hungry again :D

Soon everyone was trailing behind

Thank you to Papa Bear for being such a wonderful guide for the day. We had an amazing day!!!! and did so much in a short few hours....Nikka Distillery, great sushis, strolled along this romantic canal, visited Otaru town :)))))))))))

As we traced the shadows of a late afternoon, we follow each other's foot step towards the train station, reminiscence on our wonderful afternoon...wishing time didn't past by so fast. Especially when you are on vacation!!!

hahahah but our tummy were drumming loud again. It's time for dinner. Hehehehehe.

For more information on Masazushi Restaurant:
http://www.masazushi.co.jp/shop_zenan_en.html