Visiting Sapporo for the snow festival, my first stop for a meal is Aki Nagao, a French Japanese restaurant whose entrance is tucked away in a corridor almost invisible unless you look carefully.
The restaurants core concept is showcasing Hokkaido’s bountiful ingredients, with todays menu focusing more on seafood due to seasonality. When introducing each dish the wait staff point out on a small map where key ingredients are from. Felt like I was able to experience Hokkaido in a meal, with featured ingredients like
- Kegani hairy crab
- Akkeshi oysters with seawater jelly
- Notsuke scallop
- Hokuto Wagyu rump
- wild picked vegetables
The scallop risotto is easily the best single bite I had, and very much enjoyed the artichoke soup and Sawara with beurre blanc sauce.
The meal lasted just under 1.5 hours, very easy to book on pocket concierge for solo dining. The course set me back ¥31,000. Didn’t see many other diners, most of em were located in a private room.
I would recommend Aki Nagao to anyone who enjoys French Japanese cuisine which focuses on seasonality and locality.
by misnopeo