Years ago, on a trip to Florence, Italy, a friend and I find ourselves at a restaurant known for its “blueberry steak.”
If that sounds like a strange combination of flavors, it certainly is. I imagine a scenario in which the chef’s husband spills a jar of blueberries on a freshly-grilled t-bone sitting on their kitchen counter.
“Oh mama mia, mia cara. Look what I’ve done to tonight’s dinner!”
“What a mess, you clumsy man! But wait, carrisimo. Take a bite of this … it’s delicious!”
The fact is, our meal IS unexpectedly delicious. In a country known for its pasta and its gelato, blueberry steak ends up being one of the culinary highlights of our trip to Italy.
Something similarly surprising happened to me on a recent trip to Sapporo, Japan.
Now, when you think of Japan, the foods that undoubtedly comes to mind are sushi, tempura or ramen. And Sapporo is a great place for all that. But the city’s hidden culinary treasure is something most people have never heard of — “soup curry”– a dish that you can only find on the island of Hokkaido. Ask a typical Japanese person about soup curry and they’ll likely say, “What’s that. Never heard of it.”
Soup curry is NOT the same thing as Indian curry, introduced to Japan some years ago by the British and featuring a variety of spices. Nor is it your ordinary Japanese curry, which tends to be slightly sweet, thick, and very much like a stew without meat, carrots and potatoes.
By contrast, Sapporo soup curry is essentially a curry-flavored soup served with a bit of meat (optional) and a HUGE variety of vegetables. There are toppings you can add as well, and you can adjust the spice and flavor of the curry accordingly. It’s served with rice, which most people scoop up a bit at a time and dip into the soup.
For me, the BEST soup curry in Sapporo is served at a restaurant called Beyond Age in the city’s Chuo ward. About a 15-minute walk from Horohirabashi station, the restaurant is an unassuming, family-style place that feels almost like a chain. Ordering is a little tricky, as you have to choose meat or vegan (I chose the latter), the spice level and the “base” – either veg broth or coconut. Choosing the latter, with a spice level of 2 (my friend Kaori opts for a 12, which still blows my mind!), I order a large helping of rice and wait for my first soup curry experience.
Unlike the blueberry beef in Florence, there’s nothing “weird,” per se, about my bowl of soup curry. Loaded with eggplant, sweet potato, okra, carrots, potatoes and lotus root, the dish is an explosion of flavor – savory, sweet, and spicy all at the same time. It immediately goes on my top five list of all-time favorite meals. Every bite seems to unearth a new, delightful vegetable, a new subtle taste sensation. It’s sublime.
Soup curry is one of those dishes where I savor each bite and wonder, “Why haven’t I heard of this before? Someone needs to open a soup curry shop in MY hometown!”
As Beyond Age doesn’t offer much in the way of dessert, I recommend Tokachi taiyaki kobo, a fabulous taiyaki shop in the neighborhood. Taiyaki, literally “baked sea bream” is a fish-shaped cake often enjoyed as a street food snack. It has a waffle like exterior and a soft, moist interior, filled with sweetened red bean paste (anko) made from adzuki beans. It owes its name to its fish shape, a symbol of good luck and prosperity.
Tokachi makes their taiyaki fresh in front of you. Biting into that fresh, warm, pancake-y pastry after a mind-blowing bowl of soup curry has got to be one of the great pleasures of a visit to Sapporo – or of anywhere for that matter.
(One of the joys of travel – and of life – is defying expectations. In Italy, I expect to eat a certain kind of food. Who knew such an odd, non-Italian-dish, could be so delicious? Who knew that Hokkaido, Japan offered a dish so different from the stand, national fare, and yet so completely scrumptious? In travel, like in life, do your research. Seek out known treasures. But leave room for the discoveries that arrive unexpectedly, that defy expectations.)
(Dave Blum is the creator of Dr. Clue Treasure Hunts, www.drclue.com, a teambuilding company featuring over 150 treasure hunt locations worldwide. He has visited over 40 countries in his 60+ years of life and plans to keep traveling until he gives up the ghost. Dave lives in Northern California with his wife, Donica, and their 18-year-old Maine Coon, Ava — an indoor cat who dreams of one day escaping captivity and exploring her own neighborhood Wow Places.)