Minshuku Aotsuka Shokudou — Restaurant in Otaru

Local friends in Hokkaido wanted to take me here during our trip in Otaru.

First impression, this place looks like ordinary shokudo restaurant. Menu pretty much basic, full of seafood, mostly raw or grilled. Took me a while to decide what to get but thanks to local friends once again, help me out with their recommendations.

Once everything arrived on the table, I was astonished at the monstrous size of every seafood ingredients! All the dishes look simple with minimal seasoning of salt. But you can taste the freshness of the seafood here, nowhere near what you expected!

Grilled hokke fish is a staple in Hokkaido. I’ve eaten Hokke in Thailand few times in the past which I was never a fan of, due to strange bitter taste. But here it’s completely different, Hokke here taste smoky, salty, the flesh was soft and fatty. I devoured a huge bowl of rice because of how delicious this fish was. Pro tip: ask staff for grated daikon radish, pour some soy sauce. It’s the perfect condiment with grilled Hokke.

Grilled hokki or surf clam also my friend’s recommendation which I never ate before. Crazy how massive these clams are. It’s soft and delicious, you can taste natural sweet flavor from it. I’m a big fan of hokki now!

Grilled squid also incredible but another pro tip here: you must ask the staff for Kewpie mayonnaise + togarashi. Grilled squid taste the most flavorful when dipped in mayonnaise. It’s a balance of sweet, umami flavors.

Grilled scallops and prawns also too delicious. Scallops miso soup with set meals was very memorable. Our table pretty much packed full with seafood, I thought we order far too much but then everything was gone within 20 minutes. Truthfully, we should’ve order more seafood lol.

Staffs here are friendly, service is efficient, grandmother chef can flawlessly grill seafood to perfection. We end up spent about 11000yen, meals worth of 3 people, surprisingly cheap because of these premium, fresh seafood.

I don’t find anything negative to say about this awesome place. Oh, few small flies inside the shop bother our table for quite some time. Eh such tiny problem. There are few bitter reviewers mention about the flies and gave low rating. I just can’t imagine being able to go anywhere while being extremely sensitive 😆

Anyway, this was easily one of the best meals I’ve had in years. Hokkaido truly is the seafood...

Local friends in Hokkaido brought me here since they knew I love seafood.

First impression, this place looks like ordinary shokudo restaurant. Menu pretty much full of seafood, mostly raw or grilled. Then friends help me out with their recommendations.

Once everything arrived on the table, I was astonished at the monstrous size seafood! All the dishes look purely simple with minimal seasoning of salt. But I can taste the complete freshness of the seafood items here, much better than expected.

Grilled hokke fish is a staple in Hokkaido. I’ve had hokke in Thailand few times which I wasn’t a fan of, due to strange bitter aftertaste. But it’s completely different here, Hokkaido’s hokke tastes smoky, salty while the meat itself was so soft and fatty. I devoured a huge bowl of rice because of this fish alone. (Pro tip: ask staff for grated daikon radish, pour some soy sauce. It’s the perfect refreshing condiment for grilled hokke fish).

Then we tried grilled hokki (surf clam), something I never had before but it was friend’s recommendation. I’m amazed how massive these clams were. It soft and delicious, I can taste natural sweet flavor from it. Another crazy good seafood item.

Grilled squid also recommended, the size is huge once again. Don’t forget to ask for Kewpie mayo + togarashi. Those condiments will enhance grilled squid all the way to the top. Richness from mayo, little spice from togarashi goes too well with squid.

Grilled scallops and prawns also pretty good. Our table pretty much full of seafood, I thought we got far too much food but then we finished everything within 20 minutes. Honestly, we should’ve order more, everything was beyond delicious.

Staffs are friendly, service is efficient as always in Hokkaido. Grandmother chef is the one in charge cooking all the seafood, which she grill everything to perfection.

We end up spent about 11000 yen. For meals worth of 3 people, it was surprisingly cheap for such top quality, fresh local seafood.

Overall, I do not have anything bad to say about this shop. Oh, there were few small flies bothered our table for quite some time. Eh, such a small issue. There were some reviews also mention about the flies then gave low stars. People really need to loosen up lol.

Anyway, Hokkaido will always be the seafood lovers heaven. Truly one of the best meals I’ve...

We came at 5pm for early dinner, 2 adults and 2 children. The restaurant was almost empty but lady boss said they still had everything on the menu although considering they are a popular restaurant that opens from 10am to 7pm. We ordered 1 grilled herring (¥1250), 1 grilled Hokke with rice and soup combo meal (¥1650)1 grilled squid(¥1500), 1 uni okura (sea urchin salmon roe) don (¥9500),1 Keisendon (Seafood Sashimi rice bowl (¥3450) which the waitress did not bother to ask us whether we wanted vinegar rice or just steamed rice and we got steamed rice in the end, not nice! Just a few slices of small sashimi and 1 piece of Uni. We also ordered 1 raw oyster (¥600) and she also recommended the grilled abalone (¥3600), very small and really ripped off at this price. Other than the grilled herring which was the nicest of all, the oyster was not fresh, the uni tasted inferior to the one we ate at Hakodate which cost only ¥4000 for a box. The grilled abalone was small and rubbery and so was the grilled squid. The grilled hokke was quite salty. So the only one that was good was the grilled herring but this fish has a lot of tiny bones, not easy to eat. There was a lot of houseflies flying around our table. Both my husband and I had diarrhea and stomach discomfort the next day. I was the only one that ate the oyster , so that must have caused me bad diarrhea. The oyster was not fresh, tasted bitter and mushy. Both my husband and I ate the abalone and he has diarrhea too but not as bad as mine. Will not recommend this place considering the hygiene, the freshness of the seafood and poor service. The waitress did not bother to serve us hot tea. But they served the Japanese customers at the next table. Considering that this is at a remote village next to the sea, the food are rather expensive. Will not recommend. Sapporo has alot of nice eateries that are way better than this and cheaper too. Will not recommend. Did not expect to get diarrhea on our holidays in Japan. This is a real bad experience. Don’t know how they have so many 5...