Backdate: Japan Hokkaido Jun 2025 Day 9

18/6/25 Weds: Hakodate morning market for breakfast again! We checked out at 8.30am, drove there and parked for 200 yen. Their hairy crab was more expensive than king crab lor!

FIL picked one because he wanted to have crabs for breakfast as they are typically cheaper in Japan as compared to Singapore. The king crab he picked weighs 1.83kg... and it cost 10,000 yen per kg.

It was my first time trying帝王蟹, and for breakfast somemore haha. We asked for two ways for it to be presented: sashimi and boiled. PotaTOHs love it more when it's boiled because the sweetness was so good~ Look at the amount of roes inside! I only ate a bit only because it's too sinful lol.

Still, all the meat were fleshy and very nice. Downing fresh crab meat just steamed was the best. Their xiao long baos (1,200 yen) were forgettable though. Also had two slices of cut melon for 1,000 yen. Bill came up to 20,500 yen.

At 10am or so, we began our drive towards Noboribetsu. Re-fueled for 3,708 yen on the way and toll was 4,360 yen. Lunch was impromptu when we turned into the town at 1pm or so, but was being rejected by the first restaurant I found on Google Maps, so I decided I want some taiyaki from nearby. The interior was quite a gem find… very much like a garang guni store haha.

Each one cost 200 yen and it was yummy. It filled our stomach a little bit, and after driving into a small stretch of town nearby the our onsen hotel, Ryotei Hanayura, we looked around for a bit before deciding on a ramen shop at 2pm since all the udon shops were closed.

There were only one or two table of guests when we arrived, so we sat at the counter. The chef looked like the son while his mother was busy in the kitchen. She looked very old but still very strong. The miso ramen was a bit too salty for me though. My in-laws had their chashu ramen. Bill was 4,660 yen. While we were walking towards Ryotei Hanayura, my eagle-eyed Potato spotted a wild deer resting under the shades!

We checked into Ryotei Hanayura at about 2.30pm. Very welcoming and the lobby felt comfortable. For our one-night stay which included onsen (separate 1,800 yen onsen tax for 6 pax), breakfast and kaiseiki dinner, three rooms cost S$2,026. We all had the Japanese-style room with open-air bath.

It was a simple, huge and elegant room. Potato changed into the yukata straightaway. We went down to the second floor and saw the make-up room for ladies. 

I walked into the female bath and no one was there when I went, so I took some photos. To me, the outdoor one looks better though. And their policy was that the baths were opened 24 hours wow.

Rested in our room on the sixth floor in the afternoon, while LL and Dexter went out.

Met the rest at the basement because we had our own room for the kaiseiki dinner at 7pm. *Lol FIL wore the S-size yukata~* It was a pretty aisle down to our dining room and we got a corner room.

Omg my eyes lit up at the kaiseki feast~ looked exquisite! *It's okay I don't understand the Japanese menu because Potato can explain haha~* 

There's the starters of sashimi and tofu etc... well, it's delicious, so it's okay to not know what I was eating exactly haha! Their white fish soup tasted so umami-ish!

Those above goes into the kame soup (turtle) soup, which was the best dish for me that night. It was also probably the first time I drank turtle soup too... very tasty. The crab potato croquette was nice too, even though I'm not a fan of croquettes in general.

For their hot plate, there were beef and veggies, so Potato ate the beef for me haha. Their sticky rice with shrimps was interesting, and for the dessert, the strawberries were very sweet! The dash of mango went very well with the fruits, and the grapefruit jelly was good too.

After nearly two hours of dinner, we left with our satisfied bellies lol.

They’d already made the beds for us too. The room was cold at night but the futons were great. PotaTOHs had a good soak in the en-suite onsen before sleep.