Sapporo is famous for their butter and corn enriched miso-based ramen. It’s quite distinctive from other Japanese ramen. We were walking around in JR Sapporo Station after we got back from the ryokan and wanted to get something to eat. I remember a few omurice restaurants around the Paseo area, but we chanced upon Ezokko Ramen (えぞっこ パセオ店), which offers a JPY 1,800 bowl filled with crab, scallops, and shrimp!
My better half wanted to eat here so we popped in to have a proper Sapporo ramen meal. Their noodles are all freshly made daily and it’s the thicker wavy yellow Sapporo style ramen which is very different from the Tokyo style noodles we get locally. It’s more substantial and chewy. I asked for their recommendation and got the house special (which was the RM 82 bowl of seafood goodness).
Ezokko Sapporo Special Ramen (1,800 yen or RM 82)
This looked exactly like the menu! It has crab, scallops, shrimp, pork, corn and butter. The seafood components are all local produce from Hokkaido. The corn and butter is a Sapporo thing – they add the two to their ramen. You’re supposed to melt the (creamy) Hokkaido butter in the soup before you eat it. I went for miso soup, as the waitress recommended, as that’s how the locals eat it.
There is a slotted spoon for you to eat the ingredients, as well as a regular spoon (which fits nicely on the rim of the bowl). The broth is pork based and it’s been cooked for 12 hours with several kinds of vegetables. It was very rich and filling, although I found the house speciality spicy miso soup to be a little strange at first. I got into the groove and learned to love it though. I liked the abundance of seafood inside. The scallops in particular was very nice with the ramen.
Gyoza (380 yen or RM 20)
We also made an order for gyoza (4 pieces). The pork filled dumplings were surprisingly good!
Sapporo Butter Corn Ramen (950 yen or RM 45)
My dear had this bowl. It’s Sapporo style ramen with corn, butter, roast pork, bamboo, leek and a sheet of nori. She had a shoyu (soy) based soup instead of the traditional miso soup and it was pretty good too. Unfortunately, she didn’t quite like the noodles, it’s very filling compared to the ones we’re used to. The fare is heartier in Hokkaido due to the cold weather.
Hokkaido Almond Milk Pudding (270 yen or RM 12)
There was a sign which says they produce only 30 bowls of this Hokkaido milk almond pudding each day and it’s not available once sold out. Luckily they still had one for us. It seems to be something similar to annindofu but made with Hokkaido milk and it was very rich and milky. The cold pudding was the perfect ending to our meal!
My better half didn’t finish her ramen coz she claimed she was already full. I suspect she didn’t quite like the Sapporo style noodles here. We ate at a Michelin rated ramen shop on the last day (not this one) and she really liked that. I love how they stuffed my bowl full of Hokkaido seafood and I think the price is decent. The bill came up to JPY 3,400 (RM 158) for both of us and the service was excellent!
The Ezzoko Paseo Ramen mascot was hilarious too.
I see ramen, I see Sapporo in your title, straight I think of ramen soup with corn already, because I know Sapporo ramen got corn, haha.. And I’m right 🙂
And yesh !! Gyoza is a must-have for me too.. I like “fat” and Big and juicy ones.. Don’t like the small and “penget” ones, I can eat 20 pieces!
Yeah, the have corn and butter! 🙂
It’s quite nice. They are famous for their miso soup base too. Interestingly, ramen shops in Japan ALWAYS also sell gyoza and fried rice. Technically, they consider it Chinese food!
I love what you ate and the price is justified for the generous ingredients & excellent service. I have yet to try the Sapporo version although some others added corns too.
I enjoyed many types of Ramen in Japan as they seem to have their own versions and specialities in different cities. 1,800 Yen is not expensive if we don’t convert, right….? A Japanese blogger took me to chat over coffee at the famous New Otani Hotel in Tokyo and I squirmed at their menu because I was expected to pay my own share. So I ordered just a cup of coffee which came with a complimentary slice of strawberry cake – all for 1,800 yen!!!!! That was the most expensive ordinary coffee I ever drank in my life.. I slapped my face hard and not to convert. LOL
Yup, this place is famous for their house spicy miso base! 🙂
The Japanese consider ramen as “Chinese food” and there are a lot of different ones e.g. Kyushu vs Hokkaido for example. They always sell fried rice too, which we don’t usually consider to go with ramen but it’s to fill up for them. I thought that was very interesting. This place was more expensive while the Bib Michelin and Tabelog rated one is cheaper.
That is pricey and it is really with BUTTER… aikss.. how is the taste with butter? Maybe the butter will make the seafood smells lighter? RM82 for a bowl of ramen? Too expensive jor… Special means with scallops and crabs.
Both of you should go for crab legs buffet – more worth it at Sapporo. I can’t remember where…
Yup, Hokkaido is famous for their butter ramen. 🙂
It’s a slab of locally made butter and you dissolve it into the soup for a more savory taste. It’s nice. Sapporo is famous for this and their miso soup ramen, which is good also. Oh, we had crab several times while in Sapporo but never the buffet, it was with sushi, donburi, on it’s own etc. I love their crab, it’s soooo good eh?
What do you think? The Japanese joints here in Malaysia up to mark or not…or all a pale shadow of the real thing? So many of them here.
I would say the good Japanese based ramens which came to KL are quite decent. 🙂
I can’t say the same about sushi though, it’s a far cry from the real deal in Japan. Not even Nobu KL does it as well as a regular Japanese sushiya.
Look good. Definitely could not find in Malaysia in term of ingredient and taste.
Yeah, Hokkaido style ramen is not popular in Malaysia. 🙂
I’ve only seen one place that specializes in it, also from Sapporo. However, they won’t have the Hokkaido butter and that makes all the difference. The quality of dairy in Hokkaido is amazing, even better than NZ and Australia from how respectfully they treat their cows.
What ramen is the cute mascot eating? Kekeke! 😀 Their speciality?
Haha! Yeah, I would guess so. 🙂
My spouse loves to eat ramen but he doesn’t like butter in his ramen. I love all the seafood in your bowl of ramen but I think the ramen noodle is too chewy (too tough) for me. Here in KL, the ramen at one utama isetan food paradise also I find the ramen noodle too tough/chewy for me.
Yeah, I wouldn’t have thought butter would go well with ramen too! 🙂
It’s how Hokkaido ramen is made though, they always have a pat of butter in it. Corn too. You’ll find this quite tough then coz it’s not as slim/thin as the Kyushu type ramen. It’s a lot thicker and made with egg yolks.
that’s one delicious bowl of special ramen! the price explains it. i would still have one only if i was not allergy to seafood 🙁
i do enjoy the extra kick of having butter with a bowl of soup noodles.
Yeah, it’s a must eat in Sapporo! 🙂
I have to say though, the Bib Michelin ramen that’s rated highly on Tabelog was better though.
The price is decent? To me it is a bit on the higher side. With that size, I think it is good to feed me and the boys.
It’s a standard meal price in Hokkaido though. 🙂
I have seen 1,500 yen dishes per pax at places as common as omurice places! In fact there’s one in the same building which we considered (or rather I considered as my better half doesn’t like omurice) but we went for ramen instead.
Butter in ramen, no thank you, hee hee 🙂
We had to try it at least once in Sapporo and it was good! 🙂
Alamak…cham liao…..after having those, any ramen over here will just be another poor imitation.
Nah…if don’t convert the price to RM then it’s reasonable la. At least can say you have tasted it before. Moreover the portion is same as the picture in the Menu. ☺
Yeah, too bad about that. 🙂
However, the ramen in KL isn’t bad too, quite similar, I’ll say 70% similar. Sushi however is totally different. OMG the sushi in Japan is soooooo good. So different from local ones. Even my dear (who always doesn’t like sushi) can eat the sushi in Japan and love it.
Yup, the average meal price is around 1,500 yen in Sapporo. It’s the same if you ate omurice or McDonald’s.
The price really shocked me! I thought u & Yee Ling sharing that one bowl, LOL
Yeah, it seems like a lot at first! 🙂
However, we noticed that the average price meal meal is about 1,500 yen (per pax) so this is about right. Oh, that’s what she wanted too coz she ordered gyoza and dessert but I wanted a bowl all to myself. Haha.
I’ve been waiting for a ramen post. Haha. I’ve never tried the Sapporo style ramen before but this looks lovely. My favourite ramen style is still the Hakata variant with the tonkotsu broth. Mmm… liquid pork.
This is less familiar to us too! 🙂
We’re more used to the Kyushu style of ramen so the thick and egg yolk infused noodles was a little foreign to us. There is a highly rated ramen place on Tabelog which also received a Bib Michelin rating in a neighborhood in Sapporo too – we went looking for it, it was so far away and so secluded that we felt a bit lost! We were literally walking in front of people’s houses in residential areas. Good ramen though.