Zsup~!

The decor was simple, but quite lovely - of course this opinion comes from someone who has been eating primarily streetfood and convenience store stuff here, but still. It has a number of seating areas, able to suit anyone's whims, from glass-fronted sunny patio type seats to raised stage-area seats, second floor seats and regular restaurant seating. They led us to a strategically positioned table on the raised stage-area, where we got a nice view of the entire restaurant floor as well as the beer brewing window. Plus, it was positioned in such a way that we were able to plonk servings from the freeflow table to ours. (YAY!)

We ordered separate items after deciding to skip dinner (the price of a lunch like this, alas). ZsupCreator got dibs on the local speciality, shio yakisoba (salt fried noodles), while I picked a beef stew with rice (Hokkaido beef, Japanese style).

Those who know me would know I usually shun this vegetable. However, Japan is turning out to be a wonderful place for plant-chomping me. The raw onions tossed into the salad was more sweet than pungent, with hardly any of that nippy taste that usually makes me avoid it. I had several helpings of everything on that table... would blame it on my Singaporean background, but really, it was THAT good. None of the usual cheapozoidal squishy cocktail either. The stuff was firm in texture and just right in sweetness, Del Monte, I believe?

When I first saw my beef stew though, my heart sank a bit. Stew, to me, means a healthy helping of soupish portions. The splatter on a plate hardly sufficed. And it was a flat plate, at that, rather than a deep dish... However, the first taste just blew my doubts out of the water. We could hardly believe that the meat in the dish was beef - it was fatty and soft, more like ter bak than gu bak. The taste was all COW though. Tender and just enough to chew on so the teeth can squeeze the tasty juices out into the rest of the mouth. At 1000yen with rice on the side, I felt pain for my wallet, but this was worth forgoing dinner and supper and tomorrow's breakfast for.

Of course, with the restaurant being named as it was, I could hardly pass up the opportunity to try their unfiltered ale. It went very nicely with the stew, although I can't really say it would be good with the noodles. Pilsener for that, perhaps?

Thumbs up to the Kitami TIC for the great recommendation. This was a clear winner - in our two hours there we saw a constant stream of people coming in for the shio yakisoba and beer, though most left before us (we attribute this to their inability to down multiple helpings of salad/dessert/soup/tea/coffee). All Japanese, incidentally... Kitami is a little bit off the main tourist map, I believe?

Anyway, if anyone is traipsing around Hokkaido in future and doesn't mind a little detour for some fantastic food, The Beer Factory in Kitami is the place to be!

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