12/6/25 Thurs: Off we go at 8am and it was a 30 minutes' drive to Nijo Market for breakfast. While we were on the way, I saw on maps that Sapporo racecourse was not far away, and was told races start on Saturday! I remember it was a chilly morning, probably only about 9 degrees Celcius when we got there... damn just one jacket wasn't enough for me. *parking was 900 yen*There were many shops selling seafood donburi at Nijo Market and Seafood Donbe that I earmarked had long queue, and we decided on Donburi Chaya in the middle of the alley, which still had some seats. How many times would one have sashimi for breakfast right!? Lol. I had the scallop, tuna and salmon don (3,780 yen), and the hotate was so sweet, albeit don portion was a bit small hehe~ FIL ordered a bigger sized one with premium ingredient, so his costed 6,080 yen. We all also had a bowl of crab miso soup each since it was only 350 yen. Finished breakfast in half an hour and it costed us 15,720 yen.There were also many shops that sold dried seafood stuff but honestly, I don't know what exactly is the market rate nor "good stuff" we should buy, so it was just window shopping for us. *Their clams and mussels etc were huge though.*It was a one hour drive to Otaru, and the toll cost 1,240 yen. Parking everywhere was not cheap, but we chose to park at Parking koyoen Otaru Irifunecho, which came up to 1,400 yen for about seven hours. Bought horse oil cream and lotion for mum (4,950 yen) at a souvenir shop before we walk over to Otaru Music Box museum, which was free to enter.There were three stories and quite packed with locals and tourists. The design of their music boxes were intriguing, like those of sushi haha. There was also a cool miniature display on the evolution of music boxes on the second floor. We spent about an hour inside, and LL had to remind Dexter not to overspend because there were many things he wanted to buy lol.We walked over to the LeTAO main store nearby but the cafe was so packed with people at about 12pm, so we decided we could come for dessert later. Brought us to Rokumian that's located at a quieter part of Otaru. *another gloomy day and it was cold because no sun and the wind was almost relentless at times...*There was only one other group of local there when we went in. They only sell two things, and four of us went for the BBQ pork belly slices don (1,000 yen). It was so value-for-money, together with egg and kimchi. *There’s a certain nostalgic feel here too.*Finished our lunch in half an hour by 1.30pm, and we slowly walked back to Otaru main town. We split up into groups and walked on our own before meeting at LeTao for dessert. PotaTOHs chanced upon this grilled squid shop and the smell of their grilled squid was so good that we had to go in and see! *They literally put a fan blowing at this while the squid slices are being shredded … and how not to smell it from the window outside!* These were sold out when we went in first time, and 10mins later, they were re-filled, but sold out again quite quickly. Ended up buying two packets, one spicy and one non-spicy, for 1,728 yen. Also bought some matcha snacks for 1,784 yen when we saw Sa Wa Wa, a matcha shop we had nice desserts and snacks in Asakusa a few years ago. Met the rest at 2.30pm and we had to queue to eat at LeTAO's cafe. *They don't even accede to request of joining tables, so we had to sit separately.* PotaTOHs and LL shared one while Dexter only had coke (660 yen) because he does not like cakes. I'm not a fan of cheesecake, but as it is LeTAO’s signature, I ordered the Double fromage melon (531 yen), and Potato had the double fromage blueberry with coffee set (1,050 yen). LL wanted strawberry tart (572 yen). I preferred blueberry because it was not as sweet. Potato liked mine haha. LL’s tart was not bad! Bill came up to 2,813 yen.At 3.30pm, all of us took a stroll towards Otaru Canal. On the way, FIL was tempted by grilled squid haha, so we had one by the roadside. Potato ate grilled oyster too haha. *He wanted to have the raw ones but decided just in case because he’s driving.*
We walked on for quite a while more before we reached Otaru Canal area. Saw people hoisting up some dirty cloths that was probably used to soak oil in the river, and put clean ones in.Soon, we saw the famous Otaru Canal. Quite nice but not wow la.It was then another bit of walk to our dinner place, Yabuhan Soba, apparently well known for their soba. We got there at 5-ish pm and there was no queue yet. The building had a nice interior, we sat inside a room with a few other guests and I was kind of looking forward to dinner.We all tried the local soba, and I had the nabesoba, which was disappointing because the soba was just soft and the soup was only okay. Potato ate tenzaru soba. FIL had the cold soba set, while MIL ate Nishin soba recommended by them, but she found the fish salty, which I agreed too. Dinner came up to 10,760 yen, but I wouldn't eat here again I think.
Was done by 6.30pm and Potato was very nice to walk back all the way to get the car and come over to drive us back. We stopped by at a convenience store near our Airbnb and I bought shrimp and mushroom pasta, while Potato got two onigiri and melon pan (980 yen) for breakfast the next morning.
All of us shared late night snacks! The non-spicy squid was very delicious! You taste the soft squid and its taste, but the spicy one was a bit too overpowering.
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