Marukibune Cafe — Restaurant in Kushiro

This must be proper Ainu culture You feel welcomed the moment you open the door. The decor is bright and nice, the place is spacious and the owner greets you cheerfully. The music played is Ainu music, really cool. Sounds good to make a hip hop track

The food was so good I ordered for 5 people. There was only 2 of us. Somehow the boar kamuy came into me and allowed me to finish all 5 people's portion.

Their porcheta is the best in the whole Lake Akan. Pro tip: order with butter.

Their deer is THE BEST in the whole area. I tried their deer 3 ways:

1. in the soup, the deer melts in your mouth
2. on the rice bowl, the deer slices are thin enough to form a blanket for each mouth of rice
3. the salt grilled deer. I tried deer 3 times in 3 different stores and only this store served grilled deer that was hot. Other stores served deer that looked grilled but was cold. I thought that's how the Ainu eat it.

Will definitely come...

Whilst visiting Lake Akan Ainu Kotan, we came across Marukibune, a small restaurant sharing the same shopfront as a few other businesses (it's the second door from the left).

It was devoid of other diners on a Friday afternoon, so I did have my trepidations, but then again the whole area was very quiet at this time, so thought I should just give it a chance and try it out.

The Yasei-don and Nikku-don were delicious and very tasty, albeit a bit salty compared to standard Japanese cuisine, but it suited my Western palate quite well.

Highly...

It was 1300 Yen for a small bowl of rice topped with pork and leek which is a bit expansive. But bad notation mainly comes from rudeness of owner. My friend was not very hungry and asked for a take out to the waitress. She called her boss who came with a very angry face to say no. She could have tell us nicely but it was like we insulted her...