Still the best sushi restaurant I’ve ever been to, I needed to revisit Matsuriya Yamahana with a bigger budget and a bigger appetite!
A short walk from Odori Park, the place where the Sapporo Snow Festival is held each year, is a humble little store known as Matsuriya Yamahana. I visited in the summer of 2023 with a limited budget but thought I’d make an updated article exploring some of the more exclusive high-end dishes.
Salmon Succulence
A truly succulent dish, the salmon sashimi nigiri is Matsuriya Yamahana’s number one menu item for a reason!
The marbling is simply on another level and the size of the salmon blankets the rice in such a way that it’s completely veiled.
For just 230 yen per dish, I’m impressed at how immaculate the quality of these sashimi slices are. I’d call it highway robbery!
Whale Nigiri??
Moving onto the more exclusive dishes that I never tried in my last visit, I was curious, excited, but also scared to try what apparently was a “whale nigiri.”
To think that these small slices of meat were once part of a gigantic creature of sea was a surreal experience.
The texture was quite rubbery, and in all honesty there wasn’t much taste to it. I’d say whale meat is something like the “steak of the ocean,” given its minimal marbling and leathery exterior.
Soulful Sides
Again, my poor budget last time didn’t allow me to explore the sides and desserts, but this time was a different ball game.
I tried these fried Hokkaido potatoes as part of their extras menu. A little dry in all honesty but the accompanying truffle sauce made it palletable.
For dessert I tried the fried pumpkin buns which were absolutely exquisite. Highly recommended!
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