“Maru-Bar”, serving Sake with Italian near Sapporo Station

Good evening!
Thank you very much for visiting this blog.
Today’s restaurant is the one in Sapporo, Hokkaido, “Maru-Bar -Hokkaido Shokuichiba Maruumiya-“.

You might notice something from the word “Sapporo”.
You’re right, as well as the last blog, this time is also written by someone else, not me (Administrator).
As you can imagine, it is difficult for me to go to Hokkaido for many reasons about my situation….

The writer who made today’s article is “TAKUMA”.
He was a government employee before, and now he works as a web writer traveling　around Japan and the world.
He runs his own website as well.

I wish I could live like him, but I would starve right away if I did that^^;
Now, please enjoy TAKUMA’s report!

Contents

An Italian restaurant serving Sake near Sapporo Station

Sapporo City in Hokkaido is very famous as a place where good foods and the local delicious sake gather.
I’d like to introduce an Italian restaurant in Sapporo City where you can enjoy both good Italian foods and Sake!

“Maru-Bar” in a convenient location of 1 min. from Sapporo Station

The restaurant I introduce you is “Maru-Bar – Hokkaido Shokuichiba Marumiya-“, which is in a convenient location of one minute from Sapporo Station.
It’s in the ground floor of Hotel Mystays Sapporo.
You can see the restaurant from outside of the hotel as well, so you should find it easily.

The characteristic of this restaurant is that it’s designed like Italian bar where people can drink and eat casually like Japanese Izakaya restaurants.
The interior was modern, and they had both counter seats and table seats in a wide room so big groups could have seats.
The time I visited there was early evening, so many people who looked like company employees were already there and drinking.

Maru-Bar has a service called “Happy Hour Time”, and you can have all the drinks for 198 yen (plus tax) during 5 to 6 in the afternoon.

It’s a fantastic offer for people who love Sake!

Nihonshu at Maru-Bar

This photo below is a shelf on which bottles of drinks they serve are displayed in the room.

It’s a great view of colorful bottles of wine and Sake.
The number of sake which Maru-Bar has is 13.
It is rare to find restaurants which have as many sake as Maru-Bar serves in Sapporo City.

8 of 13 is Hokkaido’s local sake.
The time I entered was “Happy Hour Time”, so all the Nihonshu was 198 yen (+ tax) each.

Kitanokatsu Hoh-oh (Nemuro)

The first one I tried was a local sake, “Kitanokatsu Hoh-oh”.

It is made in Nemuro and has clear and dry taste.
Most of the amount of the brand “Kitanokatsu” is consumed within Hokkaido. It’s very popular among Dosanko (a way to call Hokkaido’s local people).
The taste was very dry as I had heard, and its clear aftertaste matched asparagus of appetizer.

Tokubetsu Junmaishu Otokoyama (Asahikawa)

The next sake was “Tokubetsu Junmaishu Otokoyama”.

This one is made in Asahikawa which is another area in Hokkaido.
As it’s classified as Tokubetsu Junmaishu (a type of classification of Nihonshu which is made in special way compared with other sake in the brewery), the taste was fresh and clear, and it had smooth sweetness.
It was like white wine, so it went very good with the recommended food of the day, “Carpaccio of amberjack with pickled Japanese plum flavor”, which I ordered.

Maru-Bar’s Italian foods which are good with Sake

At Maru-Bar, apart from one-dish meals, you can also order full course meals if you order by the day before.
Now I’d like to introduce their Italian foods which I tried and found nice with Sake.

Carpaccio of amberjack with pickled Japanese plum flavor (800 yen)

The first food menu I ordered to have with Sake was this carpaccio, which was also the special of the day.
It was sashimi of Hokkaido’s local amberjack, and their home-made sauce of pickled Japanese plum was added on the top.
The fresh sourness of the source and the fish matched very well. Of course, it went perfect with Sake.

Maru-Bar’s Tapas of 5 dishes (780 yen)

“Tapas” means an assortment of small dishes which are good for wine in Spanish.
They served different kinds of Tapas depending on the season.
The ones I had on the day were, from the right,

– Burdock cooked in salty-sweet sauce
– Pickled mackerel
– Salted and fermented squid
– Boiled and seasoned egg
– Sunazuri (a type of entrail of chicken)

The red thing which is in the middle is boiled shrimp.
All of them were great as foods for Sake.

They also have Tapas of 9 dishes at maximum, so I recommend you to order the bigger ones when you come with other people.
I think that you should be surprised when you see the 9 dish-Tapas because it’s decorated on the plate very beautifully.

Tomato cream pasta with sea urchin (1380 yen)

As a person who live in Hokkaido, I highly recommend you to have “sea urchin” when you come to Hokkaido.
This pasta is good for the finishing food after drinking as well.

The urchin is very sweet because they are from the Sea of Okhotsk and very fresh.
Urchin’s sweetness and the sour taste of tomato matched very well.
The urchin pieces on the top were sweet and so delicious.
It was perfect with Sake, of course.

The combination of Sake and Italian foods is so good!

Why Sake and Italian foods match so well?
It can be said that Sake is now as popular as wine in the world.
Many famous restaurants around the world have started to serve Japan’s sake.

The reason should be that Sake has smooth and easy taste like wine for foreign people, so people can get familiar with its flavor easily.
Especially, Italian foods are originally nice with wine, so they match Sake as well.
Therefore, I’d like people who love Sake to try the combination with Italian foods.

Conclusion: Come to Sapporo and have great Sake and Italian!

Many people might think that it’s a little strange to make Sake and Italian foods together, but Italian foods actually go perfectly with Sake,
Especially, the foods for white wine are also good for Sake, so you should ask the staff of the restaurant, the menu which are good for white wine, when you have chance to taste Sake at an Italian restaurant.
I think that you will find a new future of Sake!