The Sapporo Central Wholesale Seafood Market
Hokkaido is well known for its freshest seafood. In Sapporo, the largest and most well known market is the Sapporo Jyogai Ichiba (also known as Sapporo Central Wholesale Seafood Market, or Curb Market). For those who are interested, there is a tour of the auctions at the wholesale market, which is pretty much similar to the Tsukiji Fish Market. We are just going there for the seafood, pretty obviously.
Seafood Galore at Sapporo Jyogai Ichiba
We were deciding between the Sapporo Jyogai Ichiba or the Nijo Market. Because Nijo Market was walkable from our hotel at The B Sapporo, we headed there first. Good thing we catered time for both because Nijo Market was really just a couple of stalls selling stuff. We immediately headed for Sapporo Jyogai Ichiba right after. The vibes at Jyogai Ichiba were totally different, it was like much livelier and larger of course.
This place is not just a tourist attraction, even the locals love this place. It is about as huge as it can get, with more than 80 stores and restaurants lined along the streets. There were literally tons of crab: snow crab, king crab, hairy crab, whatever you can think of. The usual suspects like sea urchin, fresh salmon, scallops and oysters were all over the place.
The entire market is bustling with activity. Furthermore, it is only 9 a.m. in the morning. Hoards of tourists crowding in front of different stalls eating fresh crabs. You’d basically take your pick, eat it fresh or grilled, anyway you like. It looks tempting but pricey. We decided to resist the temptation as we are having our crab dinner tonight at Ebi Kani Gassen.
The most amazing sight was the live king crabs. Indeed, this place was similar to Addiction Aquatic Development in Taipei, except a lot better. The crabs were insanely huge, and expensive. I cannot bear to spend ¥38,000 on a meal, no doubt it was 3 kg worth of cholesterol.
We also saw a storekeeper demonstrating his tuna slicing abilities. And the tuna head weighs a whopping 103 kg! We never knew a tuna was this large.
Sushi Breakfast at Sapporo Jyogai Ichiba
We decided that it’s time to settle our breakfast. Everyone was eating crab outside, nobody were patronizing the sushi shops so we gonna try that. We ordered a few pieces of random sushi, and the freshness of the sashimi is unbelievably fresh! Oishii!
We also ordered a side dish of bake potato. But instead of the usual butter flavor, we tried the one that is topped with Shiokara. We are not sure what this is, but it seems interesting. Unfortunately I came to realize that shiokara is a dish made from salted, ferment squid viscera. It was slimy, very salty and tasted like rotten seafood. It’s one of those things you’d regret putting in your mouth, like smelly tofu. Somehow apparently Minmin loves it. As much as I wanted to, I cannot, basically I ate the potato and she finished up the Shiokara.
After eating we continued exploring the place. There are also stalls selling fruits and vegetables. They say the fruits in Japan are sweet and juicy, but we cannot bear to pay SGD 10 for 4 pieces of strawberries. And next, we are going to Hokkaido Shrine!
Information About Sapporo Jyogai Ichiba
Address: 21 Chome-2-3 Kita 11 Jonishi, Chuo Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0011, Japan
Opening Hours: 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily (Restaurants open from 7:00 a.m.)
Website: https://www.jyogaishijyo.com/sapporo-central-wholesale-market-crab-market
