Otaru: The Serene and Charming City of Hokkaido

2.3.20

Otaru: The Serene and Charming City of Hokkaido

It's heartbreaking to hear that Japan is now listed on the avoid-travel risk level in connection to the current virus outbreak, with many of the cases happened in the island of Hokkaido. This post is one of my last few posts about Hokkaido, and I wanna share with you about my visit to Otaru.

Otaru is only less than an hour train ride from Sapporo, which makes this city a perfect half day trip destination from Sapporo.

It was rainy and gloomy when we went to Furano & Biei the previous day, but it was all sunny and bright when we visited Otaru. We arrived on Otaru Station around lunch time and went to have our lunch right away.

This was where we had our lunch: Naruto Honten. Naruto Honten is a famous fried chicken restaurant in Otaru. From the outside, we thought that there won't be much people inside, but as we entered the place, we could see that it was packed with customers.

As you entered the restaurant, you gotta order and pay at the counter and wait for your order at the designated table.

You could see a glimpse of their menu above. Other than chicken, they also serve other menu like sushi and sashimi.

I ordered the set menu #1 for JPY 1,050. This set meal consisted of a bowl of white rice, half chicken, miso soup, tofu and pickled radish.

And yeah, it was plenty for one person. If you like boneless chicken better, they also have karaage chicken. Well the chicken was not battered or deeply marinated, although it was deep fried, the taste was pretty clean. It was on the salty side, but not that salty. The meat was juicy and tender, and as a true Indonesian, I thought that 'sambal bawang' or 'sambal geprek' would made it taste even better.

After the meal, we started to walk around the town with Otaru Canal as our first destination.

15 minutes walk from Naruto Honten to Otaru Canal was not bad at all. You could spot many interesting buildings around while enjoying the walk. I kinda love the atmosphere of this city. It was quiet, serene, with a historical feel.

Otaru Canal is the main attraction of this city. It was a central part of the city's port in the first half of the twntieth century which was restored in the 1980s and the warehouses along the canal were transformed into restaurants and museums.

I'm not really into museums, but if you're a museum-goers, there are pretty much museums nearby the canal like Stained Glass Museum, Music Box Museum, and others.

A visit to Otaru won't be complete without stopping by for some dessert at LeTAO, the famous Otaru originated confectionery. There are several brances of LeTAO in Otaru, and each branch has its own special menu that might not be available at other branches.

I had this parfait which included a small piece of the famouse Double Fromage. Yum!

After another round of walk, we encountered this interesting non-operating railway called The Temiya Line. This line was in operation until 1985 and used to transport coal and marine goods. The line became a popular tourist attraction in Otaru, where could take some instragammable pictures here.