10 Things To Try At Takashimaya’s Hokkaido Fair 2023, Like Strawberry Daifuku & Snow Crab Bento
For those who prefer not to jostle with the year-end tourist hordes, there is Takashimaya’s Hokkaido Fair, which makes a return this year from now till Nov 20. The Japanese department store, which is celebrating its 30th year in Singapore, has brought in over 30 popular vendors from Hokkaido.
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The stalls are set up at Takashimaya’s Basement 2 atrium. Other than wandering around the food stalls, there are also special events held on the fair’s penultimate day on Nov 19, where you can sample free mochi and probably catch a glimpse of Hokkaido’s governor Naomichi Suzuki.
The dishy 38-year-old, who is also Japan’s youngest governor, is making an appearance here and leading a Hokkaido milk toast (instead of alcohol) at 2pm.
8days.sg gets a preview of the fair before it opens to the public, and here is what’s good to try.
Pota Pota Ichigo
Pota Pota Ichigo is a famous daifuku shop from Sapporo. It specialises in Japanese mochi served two ways with strawberries. The fruit is either crowned on a split daifuku that resembles a tulip ($4.90 a piece), or skewered kushi-style with red bean paste daifukus ($6.20 a stick).
J.Sweets (8 Days Pick!)
Hailing from Sapporo, J.Sweets is known for its souvenir-worthy boxes of Marusei Butter Sandwich, which is basically two crumbly, rich butter cookies cradling a white chocolate filling studded with juicy raisins. So yummy, we could finish a whole box in one go.
You can get it online (via Shopee, for instance) for around $40 for the 10-piece box, but J.Sweets’ Takashimaya pop-up store offers a better price at $17 for a five-piece box and $32 for 10 pieces.
Rakkyo (8 Days Pick!)
No trip to Hokkaido is complete without slurping up a bowl of comforting soup curry, considered the ‘soul food’ of Sapporo. Curry chain Rakkyo, which has seven outlets in Japan, has set up a pop-up stall here with dine-in seats.
4 spiciness levels
What’s unusual about Rakkyo’s curry is that it offers four levels of spiciness: Regular, Hot, Very Hot and Burning Hot (you can also request for a non-spicy version). While the Japanese prefer their curry more sweet than spicy, we went for the maximum Level 4 spiciness, which has 12 chillies on the menu and the warning: “Burning hot!!”
Our Chicken Soup Curry ($18) already smelt potent before it was served to us. The thin broth is spiked with chilli powder accordingly, but we didn’t find it burning hot (it’s a ‘zhong la’ by mala xiang guo standard). But very tasty with the warm, fluffy white rice.
In Ezo
Another dine-in stall is ramen specialist In Ezo, which is also in Singapore for the first time. Fun fact: 'Ezo' is the olden-day Japanese name for Hokkaido.
Kura Rinkou (8 Days Pick!)
Snow crab is currently in season, and you can get a heap of snow crab leg meat in Kura Rinko’s bentos. Compared to the other stalls’ limited menu, there are some 11 types of bentos to try here. Like the Special Snow Crab Bento ($26), which has 12 fresh chunks of crab leg meat over rice, with a side of tamago, Japanese pickled ginger, and konbu.
Prices start from $22 for a basic Snow Crab Bento with three shelled crab legs, to $49 for the King Crab Bento.
Tonbe x Ginza Asai
Hokkaido is famed for its pork, and butadon specialist Tonbe and Ginza Asai is serving up freshly-grilled pork donburis at its stall.
Uni Murakami (8 Days Pick!)
The family-run Uni Murakami serves sea urchin donburi in its native Hakodate. But for its Singapore pop-up, friendly mother-and-son owners Rieko Murakami, 68, and Junpei Murakami, 43, are selling only frozen Bafun uni ($125 for 80g box) from Hokkaido.
Le Varo
This Japanese gelato brand has a takeaway kiosk outside the Esplanade Mall, but it’s also offering its aesthetic ice cream in a cup or waffle cone at the Hokkaido Fair.
Cafe Akira
There aren’t many beverage stalls, save for an Enoteca wine booth and Cafe Akira, which has Hokkaido Strawberry and Melon Smoothies ($8 to $9 a cup) that are blended on the spot.
Baked de Arles (8 Days Pick!)
There’s a very good ‘5 Kinds of Berries Cheesecake’ ($23.80 per box) from Sapporo bakery Baked de Arles’s stall. We could spot strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, cranberries and blueberries on a rich cheesecake base which you can dig in with a spoon. Sinful, but delish.Hokkaido Fair is at Takashimaya Basement 2 Atrium, from now till Nov 20, open daily 10am-9.30pm. For more info, go to www.takashimaya.com.sg.
Photos: Yip Jieying
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