郷土料理おおとみ — Restaurant in Otaru

Literally stumbled in here on a whim on my way to 🍣 dori. It's in an alley off of the arcade. They sat me upstairs and on my way up I noticed everyone was a local. Not one foreigner. Perfect.

I ordered a fish called happaku which is a hard scale fish that was grilled and served either shio or miso style. I got the latter and it was delicious. The chef also frieds up the skin into strips that provided a nice crunchy texture.

I ordered the nigiri set as well. I'm not sure why people think the wasabi is too much, to me it was just right. You can eat it the traditional way with your hands, dipping just the fish into soy sauce. The quality was excellent.

The service was so friendly and good, graceful to a foreigner like me whose Japanese is 10...

It’s family run restaurant that serves local seasonal food. A local friend took us to here. Everything we ordered were delicious. Sashimi and seafood were super fresh. Very good value to the money. The sushi rice was very well cooked and well seasoned that it did elevate the flavor of the sushi. The deep fried fish was fried to perfection - every part of the fish can be eaten, the bones, the fins and the fish head. The fish bones were so crispy that it’s almost like chips.

We also ordered mantis shrimps and grilled baby bamboo shoots (looks like asparagus from a distance) as these are seasonal for spring. Both were really good.

The owner’s family were all very friendly and kind. They asked us a few times if we...

◯2025/9/5 ...