Sankaku Market — Attraction in Otaru

This fish market is quite small. Gets really crowded closer to lunch time so make sure you're there by around 11:15 am. This was as per my experience. We had chirashi zushi type dishes (i.e. different kinds of raw seafood on a bed of rice). Whilst it was good, it wasn't of that excellence above that of what you would typically find in many places in Japan. Of course it was a good experience but if you miss it, it ain't a big deal.

Plus I don't know if we were being scammed or not. But this is what happened. We queued to get seats (we waited about half an hour). We chose our dishes from the pictures along the walls. Later we were given a menu. When we were asked to pre-order, I couldn't find the items we chose on the menu. (Which in itself was dubious, we chose the place based on the the selection on the walls). So I had to point our choices out on the wall. The girl taking our order said something confusing. There were two of us and I ordered two rice bowls and one small side. She was saying it was too much (in broken English) which I didn't understand. She wrote something down on the order slip which was priced JPY3000. Our choices were JPY2000 which were what I pointed at. She later crossed out the item I didn't order but left the JPY 3000 in the amounts column. I was already suspicious at that point wondering why she did not cross out the amount. After we ate and I went to pay, true enough, the other waitress who rang the bill on the till, added the JPY3000 (which we never ordered and never got). I told her, that order was cancelled. She said sorry and recalculated the total.

Not sure if anyone has experienced the above. Could be a couple of waitresses trying to make extra money out of unsuspecting tourists. If you were a bigger group it would be harder to track. Or it could be an honest mistake. You...

We took a day trip to Otaru from Sapporo to have seafood, and this was awesome. Sankaku is right next to the station which makes it very easy to visit, and also means it's very popular and busy. It was very crowded but we were still able to stop at two stalls.

This stall was towards the end of the market (next to a place serving melon). Here we had snow crab and sake. The server was so kind and friendly and she spoke very good English, and was patient with our limited Japanese. The crab was delicious and cut up at the table. They were very busy and did forget my husbands kaisendon, but they didn't charge us for it.

Next we went up to another stall towards the entrance (across from a shop with sliding doors). This one had a wait but was worth it. We ordered a Hanasaki crab and a kaisendon with roe and uni, as well as sake. While waiting the woman who helped us order commented on my Keychain and told me all about the beautiful bird of Hokkaido, the Shima Enaga. She was so sweet and kind!

The Hanasaki crab is the best crab I've ever eaten. It was sweet and buttery and so fresh and meaty. I feel I could have eaten two crabs by myself! It is expensive but very worth the money. The university was smooth and creamy, with a soft touch of brine. And the roe were sweet and mild.

We finished off by grabbing two slices of melon, which were as yummy as always! If you are in Otaru and looking for crab, this is an...

This market is on the left side once you exit the train station of otaru. It’s very short street of the market. About 5 mins walk you are done. There, you get to see the seafood fresh and some stalls offer sit down meals of fresh seafood. My suggestion is upon arrival around 10am you should go register at the famous seafood rice restaurant (sorry didn’t get the name as was in Japanese) there’s only 1 stall you see there’s a queue. Immediately after register (write down your name at the counter n no of people) go queue. They will look for you to give you menu to order first. It’s quite fast. Within 20 mins or so we got our seats tho like 20 people ahead. Once you are seated, the food came. Very efficient. Delicious fish roe, tuna, sea urchin and cold crab. We ordered the soup as well but it is very salty. So just be aware. Note only CASH. We paid about yen12300 for 4 bowls and 1 up size. Compare with Nijo, I still prefer nijio ambience and quality of food. After that you start to see the crowd comes in and you can stroll out to the canal - avoiding the...