Kagari Sapporo was the best accidental find during our trip to Hokkaido last year. I have always wanted to try the famous Kagari chicken paitan ramen in Tokyo but never managed to do so before the shop moved out of its previous premises in Ginza.
Despite reading of Kagari’s new premises on the Internet, I still haven’t located the ramen shop in Tokyo. Anyone who knows of the location, please drop me a note!
While we were wandering around in Akarenga Terrace, a office-cum-retail complex two streets away from our hotel in Sapporo, I was attracted to a restaurant poster advertising mizutaki (Japanese chicken hotpot). I love Japanese hotpots and mizutaki is one of my favourites, the other being motsunabe. So we went into the restaurant for mizutaki.
It was only when I flipped through the menu did I realise that chicken paitan ramen is the restaurant’s main fare. Then it dawned on me that this shop had the same name as Kagari in Ginza – os this a Sapporo outpost of the famous Ginza chicken paitan ramen shop? I managed to converse with the chef in a smattering of Japanese phrases and he told me that they also have an outlet in Ginza, Tokyo.
My husband ordered the chicken paitan ramen and I went with the mizutaki for one person. No indecisiveness there! The ramen broth was fabulous – unctuous, creamy and so full of flavour. It was utterly delicious.
The mizutaki came with loads of vegetables, chicken meat and chicken meat balls. The chicken broth in the mizutaki is a lighter version of the paitan ramen broth. The restaurant also served a small jug of chicken broth on the side that is a heavier and fuller version which you could add to the mizutaki to enhance the flavour. Naturally, I added the entire jug into the mizutaki. Can’t let any of that good stuff go to waste.
The mizutaki was excellent. I liked it much better than the paitan ramen, only because I love mizutaki. The vegetables were crisp and fresh, and the chicken meatballs were bouncy and sweet. We enjoyed our meal at Kagari Sapporo so much, we went back two more times during that trip. I am not sure if Kagari serves mizutaki all year round, or during specific seasons. My Japanese was not good enough to ask such complicated questions.
Kagari is definitely going to be on the itinerary the next time we visit Sapporo. It is totally worth a visit and very centrally located too! Just a short walk away from the Sapporo JR Station.
Kagari Sapporo
Address: 〒060-0002 Hokkaido, Sapporo, Chuo Ward, Kita 2 Jonishi, 3 Chome−1-7 (札幌フコク生命越山ビル)
The restaurant is located in the basement of Akarenga Terrace.
