Sushi Kokoro Nakamura — Restaurant in Sapporo

I stumbled upon this restaurant by chance after searching for a dinner spot at over 10 restaurants, all of which were fully booked on a Friday night.

My first impression was pure relief—we finally got to have dinner! 🤣 The staff were incredibly kind, dressed in what I believe is a kimono (not entirely sure), and very attentive. They provided menus in English, Japanese, and Korean.

The restaurant is divided into individual tables, with an Omakase area nearby. Even though we didn’t book the Omakase experience, we could still watch the chef prepare sushi and slice fish fresh for us. Before our ordered dishes arrived we were served an appetizer to start.

The menu mainly focuses on sushi and sashimi, and believe it or not, everything was absolutely delicious. I truly want everyone to give this place a try.

The restaurant is located in the basement. Once you go down the stairs, turn right, and you’ll find it on your right-hand side. (I’ve included a photo of the map.)

If I ever return to Sapporo, I’ll definitely come back to try the Omakase.

Thank you for the wonderful meal before I head back to my...

It’s our second visit to this restaurant since three years ago. We don’t speak any Japanese so we were worried that we would seem rude at the restaurant. Contrary to our worries, they were very friendly and seated us at the counter. Our chef was 笹田 and we each ordered the 極上 set (4000 yen) with お茶. He personally brought the menu to us to confirm what we wanted to order and after serving each sushi, he would take out the shell to show us what we shellfish we were served. When we finished our food and were about to leave, he even sent us to the door. The bill was clearly written and there were no hidden nor appetiser charges.

As tourists, we were simply impressed with the Japanese quality of sushi and customer service. Definitely returning the next time we...

We went at around 8 p.m. and were sat at the counter. We were initially rather intimidated as the menu was entirely in Japanese but the chef communicated with us using a mix of Japanese and fairly fluent English. He introduced each nigiri as he served us. We each ordered the Nakamura Nigiri set and the food was amazing! :) He even came out to the door when we left to send us off. We are really glad we visited this restaurant and will return...