HUGE King Crab & Seafood Bowls in Otaru! || [Hokkaido, Japan] Best Places to Eat and Explore!

Today I'll be eating the biggest crab I've ever had in my life. This thing is massive. Best crab I've ever had in my life. In this video I'll be exploring the famous city of Otaru. Known for being a port town with tons of fresh seafood. Oh my gosh, what more can I say? And a famous shopping boulevard filled with amazing street food. With whimsical fairytale music filling the streets. My plan of attack for today is see what looks good and try it out. There's a lot to see and plenty to eat so let's get going. What's going on Foodie Ohana and welcome back to our Japan travel series. For today's episode I'm taking you guys along with me to the port city of Otaru here in Hokkaido. To explore some awesome seafood and amazing street vendors. Foodie Ohana we have arrived and a little update. Amanda is not feeling too hot. I don't know what it is. Something we had last night or the day before might have affected her stomach. So she's dealing with a stomach flu right now unfortunately. Comment down below any well wishes you might have for her. But I'm still available so I'll be taking you guys with me to Otaru. Our first stop is right in there. It is known as the Otaru triangle market or as the locals call it here Otaru's kitchen. Bustling with crowds of locals and visitors alike. Here to enjoy awesome seafood. Can't wait to show you guys what I get. Crab for sure. Definitely going for the crab. Guys it is hectic here and crazy jam-packed. You got the vendors yelling out specials of the day. I mean at least I think that's what it is because I don't understand what they're saying. But they're trying to entice you with their fresh seafood. It's so hard to choose which one to go for. But for the most part it's fairly looks like the same price. We're gonna look for crab. I think that's the first thing. So that's gonna be... I'm honestly scared. It's gonna pinch my fingers off. This thing is massive. So how it works is you want to find the vendor that has signs that says eating area okay. Those are the ones where you can buy your fresh seafood. They'll cook it for you how you want it. I got the crab half boiled half barbecued. Best of both worlds. And the one I chose was 3.6 kilograms. That's gonna be about 10 pound. It's a 10 pound crab guys. But the one we're enjoying today is called the Red King Crab. Guys I think it's massive. It's probably gonna be the largest crab I've ever had in my life. So the place I'm eating at is called Kawashima Seafood Restaurant. The owner was mentioning that Mark Eames even ate here. I did not know that. That's pretty awesome. So when he saw me filming he was like super nice about it. Like oh yeah you super come ahead. Like oh that's so awesome. He did mention the Red King Crab which is what we got today is in season right now. Normally you can only choose one but I guess the crab was large enough that we can do half half. Super excited to try it out. The first half of the crab that came out first is the barbecued one. The thing is steaming. I don't know if you guys caught it on the b-roll. The camera lens is fogging up. It smells amazing. Look at this thing. Oh it's too hot. So for the shells they gave us a literal whole bucket to put the empty shells in. And they brought the boiled one. Drop a comment down below. Do you prefer your crab barbecued or boiled? So this is the boiled one. Oh my goodness. I was watching the master over there preparing the crab. The expertise. Let's go for the barbecue one first. Let me use the tool here to extract the deliciousness. That's the one thing I enjoy about eating crab. Trying to get all the meat out in one go and not break it apart. Loosen up the meat. They even cut it down the middle partway so it's easier for you to extract. Just be careful too guys. There's a lot of spikes on the outside shell. There we go. I'm just gonna peel this baby back. Look at all the meat in here. It's piping hot. Piping hot. I gotta use the shell as a spoon. Oh my god. That is so succulent and sweet. Nice smokiness from the barbecue flavor. So simple. Don't even need any sauce, any butter. Just appreciate the pure flavor of crab. Best crab I've ever had in my life. Let's try one of the boiled ones. These ones are even easier to eat. They cut it straight down the center. I guess with the barbecue one, they couldn't cut it all the way. Otherwise, the meat is going to fall out or overcook over the direct flames. The boiled one, however, expertly prepared. They cut it nicely down the middle. Super easy to eat. Holy crab. Look how big this piece is. Oh my gosh. And a little fun fact for the boiled flavor. They boil it in its natural seawater so that you don't lose any of the natural crab flavor. This thing is almost too pretty to eat. Okay, this is definitely not a one-biter. Oh my god. I think boiled is the way to go. I like the natural flavor of the boiled. Right off the bone. Just like that. This is like the beef rib of the sea. Oh my god. One of the chambers, guys. It's the cluster. The cluster meat of the crab. Oh my god. It's like a crab nugget. You can make an entire crab sandwich out of just this one piece. What more can I say? We'll see you guys at the next seafood location. The seafood tour continues through Ohana. And this next spot I'm taking you guys. Amanda and I have been here on our last Sapporo trip back in 2019. And we had one of the best seafood donburi ever in our life. So it is worth the wait. Trust me when I tell you this. But we are number 250. And the wait is about an hour now. Can't rush quality, guys. See you guys then. After the long-awaited one hour. I swear we've been here. I swear I've been here one hour. The time has finally come to order. I already made a mental note what to order. And then I see the menu and I'm just... I want one of everything. That's how amazing everything looks. This is like Genki Sushi on steroids. So excited. So the first thing they brought out is some... I guess like a starter. Dried squid. But it looks like tree roots or dried tea leaves. Pretty interesting. Oh. Wow. It literally tastes exactly like cuttlefish. Probably best served with beer at Ohana. So the first thing I ordered here at this special seafood restaurant is what they call a sailfin poacher. But in a sashimi form, guys. I've never seen this before. I've never had it before. So of course, you know, I had to order it. This thing is gorgeous. I don't think you can get this anywhere back at home. Just look at it. The fish presentation. Beautiful. Expertly prepared. Thinly sliced. I just love that they present it with the whole fish like still on the plate. Not just pieces of the sashimi itself. I'm gonna try one piece by itself. Just to see what it tastes like. It's a very lean tasting fish. Just subtle hints of fattiness at the very end of the bite. Not that fishy at all, which is really good. You would assume just based on the presentation that it's going to be super fishy. Total opposite of what you would experience in like mackerel or salmon. This is an awesome, awesome starter. Can you believe this is only 10 bucks? I'll crave this. I want to show you guys what seafood bowl I get. Guys, my seafood bowl has arrived. Look at this thing. When in Hokkaido, you need to try Hokkaido uni. It's nice and orange. It's the shorter spine cousin of the regular Santa Barbara uni. I was so tempted to get all the other seafood that I usually get like otoro and salmon and stuff. But we've had a lot of that on the other video. So I wanted to try something a little more specific to this region. So each order comes with also a scallop soup. Look, it comes with the whole entire shell. How pretty is that? Wow, so bright. Tiny but bright. The green onion in there actually gives it a little hint of sweetness. The only way to attack this bowl is just to pour a little bit of soy sauce on it. I just want to try a little bit of the uni by itself to see how fresh it is. Oh, instant melt in your mouth butter. The taste of Hokkaido uni is a lot sweeter than the uni we're used to getting back at home. Some ikura or also known as fish eggs. Oh man, nice burst of flavor in your mouth. Mix with the creaminess of the uni. Let's just do it right. The uni is so creamy and smooth. It acts almost like a raw egg yolk. Look how gorgeous this bite is right here. Don't click out just yet. We have more food places I want to show you including a pork village that has awesome food vendors. Stay tuned. This next place for Yohana that we're heading on to is called Otaru Canal. Very famous for its street vendors and shops. They originally started as a seaport catering to all seafarers and fishermen and now it's become a city port serving up locals and tourists as well. Last time Amanda and I went here it was covered in snow. Excited to see what it looks like without the snow and the cobblestone roads. We just got here to Otaru Canal area. Very romantic little kind of like a village area. Also a little fun fact, Otaru is also known for their glassware. That's where Amanda and I made our own glasses at a like drinking glasses at a glass shop. That was a fun experience. Highly recommend you do that if you're visiting here. My plan of attack for today is see what looks good and try it out. All right for Yohana. The first thing I saw that looked good was this thing called Wagyu Menchi Katsu. So basically it's like a hamburger patty that's battered in panko batter and then gently deep fried. It looks super flaky, super moist. I'm trying to do this with one hand because I have nothing to perch the camera on. Okay let me try my best guys. My best to put some of the katsu sauce on here. It's getting everywhere. All right here we go first bite. Oh man it's so messy but it's so good. It's basically like a tender soft hamburger patty that's lightly battered and fried. Oh my gosh. I like the katsu sauce on here as well. Adds a nice tang to it. It's really hard to do it one hand so I'm like dripping everywhere. I don't care. This tastes amazing. The seasoning on the inside too. It's very simple. It's just salt pepper. Very strong peppercorn flavor. I'm Furi Ohana. So I'm here at Le Tao Bakery or Le Tao Fromage Danish. Very very famous. They are touted as Japan's number one cheesecake. They also have a storefront selling like cookies and stuff but we're here for the pastries today. It's super light, very flaky. I saw them take it straight out of the oven. Super excited to try this. Oh that's good. I'm literally salivating. It's a night and tart but at the same time very cheesy. But in a delicate cream cheese type of way. It's not savory and dense like cheddar cheese. It's just very light. Oh my god. I could pound a dozen of these easily. Just listen to the crunch. Oh man. It's like a croissant. It's so flaky. The inside is not hard and dense either. Like a clump of cream cheese or anything. It's very gooey on the inside. Look at it. It's dripping. It's so gooey and soft. It's almost like a custard. They also have drinks here. I didn't want to get something too sweet. So I just got a simple black coffee to offset the sweetness. Very smoky flavor. This is their iced drip coffee. I couldn't even save any of this for later. I have to finish this now. So at their bakery site they only have a few pastries. There's three pastries. They have the danish one called nama fromage danish. Which is the same one I had but just with cream on the edge. And of course they have an Hokkaido apple pie. Look at this thing of beauty. This looks like it's been baked out of a Japanese grandma's kitchen. Look at the layers on this. I'm just gonna eat whatever is flaking off first. I know you guys heard the crunch from there. That's how flaky it is. It's just flaking under the weight of my the pressure of my fingertips. Oh it's like slivers of apple. But why is it so red? I guess we're gonna find out together. I swear it said apple pie. This is a tomato. Am I mistaken? Look at it. It's a tomato. Did I order something wrong? No. It tastes like an apple. I'm so confused but so pleasantly surprised. Oh it's so good but I'm so mentally confused at the moment. But it looks like a tomato with that translucent hue. You guys need to check this place out. I literally have crispy crusty flake of pastry all over me. Cream cheese around my lips. If this is to show that I'm having a good time, I don't know what will. But what's planned ahead? That's another pro tip. In Japan they don't really give too much napkins. So make sure you pack some to go. What's that same cream cheese filling on the inside that makes it? And the flaky pastry. All right foodie Ohana. That's gonna wrap it up for today's video of Otaru seafood and food tour here in Otaru, Hokkaido. Guys I hope you guys had an awesome time because I sure did. And it looks like everything closes a little early today. I'm not sure because it's a national Japanese holiday. But I did manage to pick up some omiyagi for the friends and family if you know what I mean. But anyways guys drop a comment down below. Let me know how I did today solo. And give this video a big thumbs up. If you thought I did okay. You want to see more solo videos. I know it's not as great without Amanda here. But let's hope for a speedy recovery so we can film a lot more content for you guys. But the next time we see you we're going to be in a different destination. So stay tuned see where we head off to next. But until then explore your inner foodie. Eat anything that looks good because you deserve it. Peace out guys. See you on the next one. We're saving our stomachs for later. See you guys back in an hour or so. Oh for you guys it'll be instant. All right for you. Oh why is the thing like this? Man I'm all over the place. I need Amanda. Am I still recording? Okay I'm still recording all right. Very famous for its shop street catering to all seafarers and fish. And of course they have enoha. And give this video a big thumbs up if you thought I did a good job for my first solo debut.