Donburi Chaya — Restaurant in Sapporo

Donburi Chaya (どんぶり茶屋) is a renowned seafood rice bowl (kaisendon) restaurant located within Nijo Market in central Sapporo. Established in the heart of Hokkaido’s culinary scene, it offers a wide variety of fresh and hearty seafood bowls, making it a must-visit for seafood enthusiasts.

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🍣 Menu Highlights

Donburi Chaya boasts an extensive menu featuring over 50 types of seafood bowls, showcasing the rich flavors of Hokkaido. Some notable offerings include: • Golden Sea Treasure Bowl: A luxurious set of seven small bowls featuring delicacies like sea urchin, salmon roe, crab, and more.  • Northern Luxury Bowl: A lavish bowl topped with 13 kinds of seafood, including salmon, tuna, squid, snow crab, and sea urchin.  • Crab and Sea Urchin Donburi: A delightful combination of king crab and sea urchin over rice. • Salmon Enjoyment Donburi: A bowl dedicated to salmon lovers, featuring various preparations of salmon and salmon roe.

Prices range from approximately ¥1,980 to ¥5,980, catering to different preferences and budgets. 

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🕒 Hours & Access • Opening Hours: Daily from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM (last order at 4:30 PM). • Location: 7 Minami 3-jō Higashi 1-chōme, Chūō-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido. • Access: Approximately a 5-minute walk from Odori Station on the Nanboku, Tozai, and Toho Subway Lines.

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🌟 Dining Experience

The restaurant offers a cozy and welcoming atmosphere, reflecting traditional Japanese aesthetics. Guests can choose between counter seating and small tables, providing an intimate dining experience. The staff is known for their friendly service and attentiveness, ensuring a...

There’s got to be at least half a dozen of Kaisen Don shops in Nijo market but Chaya’s advertisement drew me in. The 7 kaisen don combo displayed on their front door was too attractive with a whopping cost of ~6,400yen.

The 3 headliners of that platter must be the Ikura (salmon roe), uni (sea urchin), and the crab don. While the other 4 bowls included more common seafood such as shrimp, salmon, tuna, etc. The bowls of the 7 don are each the size of a standard miso soup bowl and about ½ ~ ⅔ of a normal rice bowl at the shop. I’d recommend the 7-rice bowl combo only if you want to take a picture of it because the other 4 bowls really wasn’t that unique. I would even consider the 4 bowl combo which is half the uni and ikura but includes scallops and the same about of crab meat for 3,000 yen less. The seafood was very fresh although the uni was smaller than other kaisen dons I’ve in the Hokkaido even though it was uni season (October).

The restaurant is very tourist friendly as I saw menus printed in multiple languages including at least English and Chinese. The shop is cash only in case you want to try the pricier platters. The 7 kaisen don combo is the most expensive item on their menu with the majority of the rice bowls costing less than 3000 yen. In fact, you can get a rice bowl with any 3 seafood (excluding uni) for under 1,800 yen which is a much more affordable price.

For those who do not eat raw seafood you can consider their cooked menu which includes fish and rice bowls with grilled toppings including seafood, beef, lamb,...

Wow. Amazing little seafood donbury restaurant hidden away inside one of the buildings at Nijo Market. Came with my wife looking for a sushi breakfast on a Tuesday morning and wandered in. It was already pretty crowded by 9am!

We got the Kogane Kaihou Donburi to share between the two of us, and it was the best decision we made this trip. Basically getting 7 individual mini dons (uni, ikura, amaebi, flounder with yellow tobiko, salmon, crab, and maguro/hamachi ) for 6400 yen.

Seafood was incredibly fresh and tasty, and had all of our favorites! Uni was plentiful and ridiculously fresh and creamy with a bit of sweetness, and the amaebi was some of the best I've ever had. Amazing value! Perfect to share for two, my wife and I were both super full by the end of the meal. Would 100% recommend when...