Location: Sapporo, Japan
Author: My Husband
Since Hokkaido is renowned as a port of entry for Japanese seafood, Christina and I were planning to have a crab meal in Sapporo. But where do we go? Well, as luck would have it, two of our friends, one whom used to be a travel agent and is very familiar with Sapporo, were in town (in the same hotel in fact) the same days we were. We asked him where we should go, and “Kani Shogun” was his reply. We had the concierge make the reservation for us that morning. That evening, soon after “Ramen Hour”, we walked the three or so blocks from Ramen Yokocho to keep our dinner reservation at the restaurant.
And what a restaurant! Similar to the higher-end places in Asia, Kani Shogun actually took up an entire building.
Kani Shogun – “Crab General” – has several locations throughout Japan. Their Sapporo location in Susukino, like many other crab restaurants in the city, has a large mechanical crab with waving claws/legs hung just above its entrance
Here’s a closer look:
The mechanical crab is actually quite detailed. We saw something very similar at a restaurant in Osaka, but I don’t know who had the idea first. But I guess there’s no mistaking the kind of food they serve behind these doors.
My wife and I walked in through the automatic doors, locked away our umbrella in a secure stand, and were formally greeted by the staff. All the female staff at Kani Shogun wore traditional kimonos, and behaved very professionally and formally at all times. We were politely invited to remove our shoes in the grand foyer, and were handed off to a hostess who led us to the elevator for the ride upstairs. We weren’t given a chance to touch the buttons – all the buttons were pressed by our hostess outside the elevator with an efficiency of motion that was astounding. And as the elevator doors closed, she gave us a deep bow. At this point, we didn’t know what we were supposed to do after we reached our floor, but we needn’t have worried. As soon as the doors opened, there was another hostess, who after greeting us with another deep bow, led us to our private dining room.
There were several of these private dining room on each of the floors. Each one is designed to have a little porch with a fence…
… and a miniature rock garden.
Each room has a sliding door, which was always closed when the waitress wasn’t in the room. There was a call-button on the table, and a press of that would have somebody knocking on the door within seconds. The tatami rooms were minimalistic in design, which added to the Japanese-ness of the entire experience. Our two waitresses took care of us very well, and their English was much much better than our Japanese. 
The service at Kani Shogun (well, at all the places we visited in Sapporo) could not be faulted at all.
So after stuffing ourselves silly all day, we had decisions to make. There were several very appealing kaiseki meals available at Kani Shogun; however, we also had the option to order the crab sampler, which consisted of just crabs and nothing else. Since we were here to eat Hokkaido crabs and weren’t all that hungry, it made sense for us to try the crab sampler. However, in an attempt at variety, we also ordered a side dish of crab innard hotpot, and a BBQ king crab leg.
Naturally, one would order Sapporo beer when in Sapporo. Interestingly, the beer is no longer brewed within Sapporo city limits, but at least the brewery is still in Hokkaido.
Crab innard hotpot. Frankly, only in Japan can a serving of crab innards look so good. We mixed all the ingredients together in the pot and allowed it to heat up, then ate it neat. It was oh so rich; sweet, complex, with a slightly bitter finish. This was great – but you wouldn’t want to eat too much of it lest it fills you up before the main course.
Our crab sampler. There was one whole hairy crab, the legs & claws of a queen crab, and the legs of a king crab. This was meant to serve 5, but since it was our main course, we finished it between the two of us (albeit with a bit of difficulty as we were soooo full…). The king crab tasted best – sweet and succulent. The queen crabs were a close second – the meat was sweet, but not as succulent as the king. The hairy crab was the least special – it tasted very much like a Dungeness.
No scissors or crackers were provided because none were needed. In typical Japanese attention to detail, the shell on these crab pieces were trimmed in such a way that you could access every nook and cranny with the crab pick. Very convenient and very thoughtful.
A closer look at the crab.
The BBQ king crab leg. OMG. This was too awesome – it was even more succulent that the king crab pieces on the platter. And again, notice how the shell has been trimmed away – even the knuckles – such that the meat can be extracted easily and conveniently? Simply wonderful.
By the time we slurped up the last of the BBQ leg, we were feeling like a couple of lard asses. Thank goodness were were going to be in town for only 3.5 days, or no post-vacation diet in the world would get us back to our fighting weights. After our meal and feeling veeeeery satisfied, the floor hostess showed us to the elevator and proferred another deep bow as the doors were closing.
We settled our bill at the cashier station on the ground level, and after yet another round of bowing, we found our shoes laid out all ready for us; a male employee was standing by with a shoehorn just in case… What attentive service!
After leaving the restaurant, we decided to walk off the meal, and here are some of the things we saw:
Supersized neon signs…
… all over the place.
The Tanuki Koji Shopping Arcade, which spanned several parallel streets. There were a good number of stores and restaurants here.
And as honest-to-goodness dedicated foodies, we took the chance to visit the restaurant-level at Sapporo station before walking back to our hotel. These are a lot more appealing than pictures in menu, don’t you think?
While walking around Sapporo Station, we came upon a sushi restaurant that would really open our eyes (and tastebuds) to excellent sushi. That post is to come. For my next post – more crabs at the Seafood market in Sapporo.
