10 Places Where Locals Love to Eat in Sapporo

Bikkuri Donkey is a spacious, bright and child-friendly hamburger restaurant that is a reliable place for a casual meal. Serving a variety of local-style hamburger sets that come with rice and salad, Bikkuri Donkey does kid’s and adult’s meals at very reasonable prices. Salads include local ingredients, such as daikon (giant radish) and tofu. Parents can wash it all down with Bikkuri’s very own beer. The décor of this restaurant chain is quirky and distinctive, looking like a ramshackle hut with a few nods to the American wild west.

Nijo Market sells seafood at its freshest from hole-in-the-wall food stalls. Among the most popular menu items here is uni ikura donburi (sea urchin and salmon eggs on rice). Your sea urchin will be taken out of a seawater tank and served on the spot. Check out some of the biggest crabs you’ll ever see alongside piles of whole salmon and an array of a conch-like shellfish stuck to sides of large tanks.

Kikuzushi is the stuff of sushi legend. This restaurant has been in continuous operation since the Taisho period (1912-26) and is considered to serve some of the freshest sushi and sashimi in the whole of Japan. Sitting up at the counter and watching the chef diligently craft your meal is a memorable experience of Japanese cuisine.

Ask for the omakase set, and let the chef help you choose your meal, including both miso soup and as much green tea as you can drink. Kikuzushi is also renowned for its generous selection of Japanese sake, the perfect accompaniment to sushi, featuring brands from all over the country.

Hanagi serves up traditional dishes from Kyushu, Japan's southernmost major island. This is an elegant-looking restaurant in Premier Hotel Tsubaki Sapporo and an altogether excellent place to try out different aspects of Japanese food.

Order one of the set courses available to experiment with sashimi, grilled fish and seafood, pickled and fresh vegetables, and the famous Kyushu basashi which is thin slices of raw horsemeat accompanied by grated ginger and soy sauce. There’s plenty of beer and sake available, but the best drink to accompany your food here is shochu – a Japanese liquor. The dining rooms are as traditional as the fine-dining cuisine. 

The cold waters around Hokkaido are known and respected as the breeding grounds of the finest-tasting crab in Japan, and Sapporo Kani Honke is one of the best crab restaurants in town. It serves all kinds, from the famous king crab to the tasty hairy crab, in a variety of different dishes. Crab is served as sashimi, steamed or grilled, and always handled with care so the flavour of star ingredient can shine through.  

Traditionally designed, with tatami mat rooms, shoji screens, stone walkways between rooms, and even a pond for the living crabs, Kani Honke could never be called bargain basement cheap, but it has class – and that costs.

There are now 2 Kani Honke restaurants in Sapporo, one near JR Sapporo station and the other near Susukino station. Advance reservations highly advised. 

For a meaty experience with lots of beer to swill it down with, try the Sapporo Beer Garden. Combining a large German-style Bierkeller with an all-you-can-eat buffet – commonly known as Genghis Khan in Sapporo – you get a fun and boisterous experience here.  Handsome on the outside with its red brick facade, the inside is imposing and cavern-like. More of a group experience than a fine-dining event, things tend to get a little boisterous once the beer starts flowing. There are several ‘Genghis Khan’ establishments (so called due to the helmet-like shape of the bowls) in Sapporo, but this is one of the best. It’s an all-you-can-eat affair with beef and pork.

Sky J is a rooftop restaurant situated on the 35th floor of the JR Tower Hotel Nikko. This buffet restaurant has scintillating views of downtown Sapporo and serves a combination of European, American and Japanese flavours. Despite the lack of clear direction, all the food served at Sky J is excellent and worthy of a 5-star hotel. Sky J is a classy and sophisticated restaurant with good décor – but the prices aren't sky high. To accompany your meal, live jazz is played in the evenings. Reservations necessary.