{"id":10962,"date":"2017-07-05T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2017-07-04T23:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/?p=10962"},"modified":"2020-03-27T10:56:36","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T01:56:36","slug":"hokkaido-soup-curry-hokkaido","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/hokkaido-soup-curry-hokkaido\/","title":{"rendered":"Enjoy the Delicious Taste of Soup Curry in Hokkaido"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japan<\/strong> is a country that is famous for its amazing food<\/strong>. Although many visitors enjoy trying a variety of\u00a0delicious food only found in Japan, not many have ever heard of soup curry<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What is ‘Soup Curry’?<\/h2>\n

Soup curry<\/strong> is a type of soup that was created in Sapporo<\/strong> to help people warm-up during those cold Hokkaido<\/strong> winters. It is pretty much how the name sounds – it is a soup<\/strong> that has the spiciness of a curry<\/strong>. Even if the name doesn’t make it sound that exciting, trust me, it is absolutely delicious.<\/p>\n

Soup curry is a new type of food and therefore it doesn’t follow any strict rules on what it needs to be, but most places will follow a certain formula. The soup is usually very\u00a0broth-like<\/strong>, and\u00a0has\u00a0a range of different spices<\/strong> added depending upon the cook. You will often see Thai<\/strong>, Indian,<\/strong> Nepalese<\/strong> or Japanese versions<\/strong> and they all taste slightly different.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The spiciness<\/strong> also varies according to each restaurant<\/strong> and most restaurants will let you choose how spicy you want it,\u00a0ranging from mild<\/em> to your-head-and-your-digestive-system-are-going-to-explode-hot<\/em>. Some restaurants also have different types of broth to choose from, including coconut milk<\/strong> versions which are great for people who don’t like\u00a0the heat!<\/p>\n

Lots of chunky vegetables<\/strong> are added to\u00a0the soup, for example carrot, eggplant, lotus root, mushrooms, broccoli and pretty much any other vegetable you can think of. If you choose a meat version, the meat will usually come as a whole piece in your soup – like an entire chicken leg. The soup is cooked separately to\u00a0the meat and veggies, so usually everything in the soup tastes really crisp and fresh.<\/p>\n

When your soup arrives you will also receive a side plate of rice<\/strong> which can be eaten with the soup in whichever way you choose. My favourite way to eat it, is to dip a spoonful of rice into the soup before eating, but you could also eat it in other ways like putting rice into the soup, or eating the veggies and meat with the rice.<\/p>\n

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Where Can You Eat Soup Curry?<\/h2>\n

As it is a Sapporo\u00a0speciality,<\/strong>\u00a0most soup curry restaurants<\/strong> can only be found in Hokkaido<\/strong>. But,\u00a0now that this dish is becoming more popular, branches from the Sapporo favourites are starting to appear in Tokyo and beyond<\/strong>. I have visited three different soup curry restaurants on my travels – all of which tasted delicious and slightly different to one-another.<\/p>\n

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Tsubara Tsubara: My Favourite Soup Curry Restaurant<\/h2>\n

I lived in Niseko<\/strong> (a ski town in Hokkaido<\/strong>) for a few months and there was nothing better on a cold day than heading to my favourite restaurant, Tsubara Tsubara<\/a><\/strong>. It is a little while away from\u00a0the main village of Hirafu,<\/strong> but it is still worth the 10-minute walk or short bus ride to get there.<\/p>\n

\"Tsubara<\/p>\n

The options at Tsubara Tsubara<\/strong> vary between lunch and dinner, but the three main options are chicken and vegetable<\/strong>, tsumire<\/strong> (chicken meatballs) or vegetarian<\/strong>. You can also choose between the\u00a0regular broth<\/strong> and the coconut milk broth<\/strong> – with a spice range from 1-20. There is a small additional surcharge if you choose a spiciness above\u00a0level 5 – which so happens to be my usual choice.\u00a0I find that this level is hot enough to enjoy without burning my\u00a0mouth off. If you’re visiting with children, they also offer a kids version<\/strong> which uses the coconut milk broth – making it \u00a0very family friendly!<\/p>\n

\"Soup<\/p>\n

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Suage Restaurant: My First Soup Curry Experience<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sapporo<\/strong> has numerous\u00a0soup curry restaurants all over the city but many of them are pretty hidden.\u00a0The first place that I tried\u00a0soup curry is in the entertainment district of Susukino<\/strong> and is called\u00a0Suage<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0This restaurant can get\u00a0super busy at times so you know it must be good.<\/p>\n

\"Suage<\/p>\n

On our visit to Suage<\/strong> we tried the chicken<\/strong> and the pork belly<\/strong> versions of the soup curry and they were delicious. You can choose from regular broth<\/strong> and squid ink broth\u00a0<\/strong>at this restaurant, and\u00a0they give you\u00a0different sized bowls of rice to choose from. They\u00a0also recommend you to add cheese<\/strong> to the rice – which we decided to pass on as it was our first time trying it – but it is supposed to be good.<\/p>\n

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Domenica Restaurant: A Diverse Range of Soup Curry<\/h2>\n

Another option in the Susukino<\/strong> area is Domenica<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/strong>This restaurant is\u00a0inconspicuously located\u00a0inside a clinical, office-type building that you would never know was there unless you were looking. To find it, just search for the address and look for the wooden elephant outside.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Domenica<\/strong> offers even more choices with four different soup bases named after their colours – yellow<\/strong> (standard), black<\/strong> (rich flavour), white<\/strong> (soy milk) and red <\/strong>(tomato). We tried the black and the yellow, which were both delicious, but the yellow tasted better to me. The meat choices here include chicken, pork, pig neck<\/strong> or lamb<\/strong> and you also choose the size of rice that you want. If you’d like to try something else, there are a range of add-ons available too. I can personally recommend the fried cheese wafer<\/strong> which is so yummy and goes surprisingly well with the food. This restaurant has opened branches in Tokyo<\/strong> so you can still taste it if you don’t make it to Hokkaido<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Suage's<\/p>\n

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Take Soup Curry Home with You!<\/h2>\n

Soup curry<\/strong> is a food not to be missed on a visit to Hokkaido. <\/strong>Being\u00a0delicious and one of the most customizable meals makes it a great option for everyone. If you fall in love with it like me, I would recommend picking up some soup curry mixes<\/strong> from the supermarkets in Hokkaido. To find them, just look for the packets in the curry section. They normally they have a picture of a chicken leg\u00a0in a bowl of ‘what kind of looks like soup curry’!<\/p>\n