Marutoma Shokudo

I was told to go here on the recommendation of the guest house owner I stayed at last night. The hours were 5am-2pm, so I thought I would go there for lunch and just hang out and munch for bit while waiting for my ferry. The hanging out part was correct: when I got there, the line was out the door. I was waiting in line for almost 2 hours. Was the wait worth it? I don't know, I didn't try any of the other restaurants in the area. However, the dishes I had were some of the best I've ever tasted of their variety.

When I finally got in, I realized why it was so crowded. This is a small place for locals, not designed to take the brunt of every tourist passing through tomakomai. I came to realize that this place has not yet completely sold out to the tourists: its definitely a still a place for the locals. Some of the dishes are dirt cheap (little fried fish for 50 yen apiece, meat shumai for 20 yen apiece, and that amazing red fish fillet for 200yen). Of course, the famous dishes are jacked up to the usual 1000-1300yen for the tourists. The host (who is also one of the chefs, everyone who works here also works the kitchen) sat me at a table, with space for 2. I saw 2 other customers waiting, so I insisted to move to the bar and sat down next to a very talkative grandma who would drunkenly shout her opinions about foreigners coming to Japan to me over the meal. It was very amusing.

I ordered for about 3 people, and the lady took my order without flinching. Sakhalin surf clams, seafood donburi, and seafood yakisoba. I also got to see the stuff sitting in the glass case at the counter, and ordered that red fish that you see with fried eggplant on the side. To this day I have no idea what that fish is called, but it was the best damn saltwater fish I've had in years. The tiny bit of eggplant they cooked was also perfect: a little bit of batter, a little bit of sauce, and a lot of flavor.

The first dish to come out were the clams, and they were amazing. They surprised me - they're sweeter than any seafood I've ever tasted, and I think the sweet taste comes naturally. It's no wonder those are a local specialty, and they use them in every seafood dish.

The seafood don was pretty typical with the addition of some blue roe I've never seen before, really good raw shrimp, the Sakhalin surf clams, and a freshness I've only ever tasted at the hakodate seafood market and tsukiji fish market. It came with chopped... Pickles I think? The taste was a bit different than pickles so I'm not sure. A bit like sauerkraut. And miso soup. That miso soup was great, had some seaweed (the small fingery kind) and lots of savory ocean flavors.

The seafood yakisoba was the best seafood yakisoba I've had, but also the first seafood yakisoba I've had. It definitely rivals the viet seafood fried noodles you can get for dirt cheap at viet stores in Milpitas, which is (and still is) hands down the best seafood fried noodle dish I've ever had. This one used a bit more onion, obviously used yakisoba noodles instead of the thinner Chinese style egg noodles, and many many clams. My god those clams are good. Did I mention the portions are huge compared to most places?

Sorry for writing an epic: tldr sat next to a drunk grandma, had good seafood at a tiny restaurant. Would recommend.