Nishizuka — Restaurant in Otaru

Hands down the best meal we had in Hokkaido. We walked in without a reservation at around 1145am and were immediately seated at a table near the counter. Definitely not a touristy spot (unlike much of otaru), and the distance (around a 15 minute drive from the city) is definitely worth the travel for the quality of food you’re getting.

We ordered the 14 and 12 piece nigiri sets, which featured mostly the same nigiri. The 14 piece set came with zuke (pickled tuna) and shako (mantis shrimp) which the 12 piece did not have. The set comes with miso soup.

All of the seafood here was AMAZINGLY fresh. The sushi was constructed well and did not fall apart, with a tailored amount of wasabi placed inside each nigiri. Great textures with no unpleasant fishiness at all across every single nigiri. A stand out to us was the anago. We’ve previously had decent experiences with eel (both unagi and anago) in Japan, but nothing compares to what they served here. We have NEVER had anago as supple (almost melty) as this.

The chef was friendly as well and was happy to have us there even if we were...

We looked through google to find this shop, to our surprise the food here blew our mind. 🤯our objective is to find a good shop out of the city, its not along the river of Otaru so its not so touristy, the chefs and the waitress are certainly very welcoming although we are a foreigner.

I will 💯 definitely recommend the sushi set, the seafood are very fresh, sauce is great too. Definitely order the boiled octupus too, it is out of this world, texture wise it is as soft as sweet potato, and tempura 🍤 is very crispy. Sake? Oh you dont need me to comment you knew it is good if you are in Japan.

Toilet experience 👍🏻- good as well as they have a good heated toilet with Toto Neorest.

I wanted to thank the chefs and waitress for showing their great hospitality and definitely...

We had a reservation for lunch and they accommodated our request for a counter seat. They're also very accessible via the bus that leaves from Otaru station, and they have 2 nearby bus stops that also returns to the station. Despite us being foreigners, they were very accommodating, and the head chef even made casual talk with us despite the language barrier. They also accommodated my husband's many allergies (he is allergic to shrimp, crab, lobster, uni, scallops) and made substitutions for all those. Everything was super good and super fresh, and they also allowed photos and videos. Will definitely...