I had to post about this amazing tempura (天ぷら) restaurant that was recommended to us on our first night in Sapporo. Ebi-ten serves up the most delicious tempura that I've had—just as amazing as the tempura that we once had in Kyoto at Ten-ichi (a high-end tempura restaurant that Clinton visited during a presidential trip to Japan).

At Ebi-ten, we enjoyed the Hokkaido tempura set meal, which included the most delicate squid tempura, as well as tempura kabocha (カボチャ) or winter melon, succulent hotate (ほたて) or scallop, potato, salmon, Hokkaido surf clam or hokkigai (ほっきがい), and shungiku (春菊) or garland chrysanthemum. We also had to order the kuruma ebi (くるまえび) or Japanese imperial prawn, which is served as a piece of tempura prawn accompanied by a tiny popcorn-sized tempura prawn head (atama, あたま). I firmly believe that I could eat these by the bowlful, which makes me wonder about how potentially delicious crickets and grasshoppers could be served in the tempura style. 

(Below: The ultimate onion ring: a tempura pearl onion)




[1-4. c. lynn]

Hokkaido is famous for their hairy crab, king crab, and queen crab. We tried this delicacy from the Sea of Okhotsk in several preparations: vinegared crab (served cold with sweet vinegar), grilled crab legs, and finally in a delicious shabu-shabu preparation.

Shabu-shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ, ), meaning "swish-swish" in Japanese, is a hot pot preparation where you cook raw meat in a broth of water and sake. You also add vegetables to help build the broth like cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and finally glass noodles. At the end of the meal, when all of the main protein is devoured, you can ask for zōsui (雑炊) or leftover rice/noodle, which are then added to the broth to soak up all of the remaining liquid.



[1. Bryan Chan, 2-3. c. lynn]