Back when i was
planning my itinerary for my first Japan trip to
Hokkaido, i relied
heavily on TripAdvisor and Google
Maps for
places of interest, including potential spots for meals.
In Furano itself,
the restaurants / cafes chosen for lunch, dinner and breakfast were ranked top
three on TripAdvisor and number 2 was Kumagera.
Housed within a
building that looked like it was overrun by money plant, you would definitely be
taken aback by the bunches of overhanging fruits; it's a grapevine! Maybe it
wasn't season yet as the grapes appeared too small.
Waiting for our
turn as the restaurant was full that night! As expected from Japan's exemplary
customer service, there was a notice informing diners that they might take
slightly longer to serve us.
Couldn't quite
pinpoint the decorative style even though as many of you would be aware that i
don't care. Food taste would take the highest priority and in an evaluation
matrix, be accorded the heaviest weightage.
While waiting, i
suddenly caught sight of something red on a table; what the..... Kumagera is in
the Michelin guide?!?! I didn't know how many stars it attained in 2017 but a
search online revealed one start back in 2012.
After a wait of
about 15 minutes, we were brought to the second floor where there were two
additional sections for diners!
Don't understand
Japanese? Ask for a Chinese & English menu! Variety was wide and we had a
hard time deciding what to eat. I was focused on only one thing;
beef.
Prefer something
special? You can try the roasted bear meat with ginger soy sauce meat! I
remember watching an episode of a popular Taiwanese food variety show where the
hosts recommended a restaurant in Hokkaido for bear cuisine (stew bear paw
etc)!
Precautionary
message, in four languages, for those who couldn't wait - "Some dishes would
come early and some would come late because different cooking ways. Thank you
for your understanding."
Alex got the
message and proceeded to take a snooze.
100% Furano Grape
Juice - this came more than 20 minutes later and arrived
at the right time as i didn't drink much water that day. It was filled with the
richness of grapes and super nice to have! Only problem; too
little!
Cheese
Tofu - ordered simply because it was unique and one of
our travel mates was apparently into cheese. I only took a small bite as it's
technically not ordered by me.
Served cold, the
texture was hard, unlike the silken soft tofu we are better accustomed to. It
tasted literally of cheese and i don't know about the others; i would have very
much preferred a block of cheese.
Chicken
Cutlet - a good picture of Japanese style chicken cutlet
although the goodness is merely visual as it wasn't as amazing as i thought it
would be.
The chicken had a
nice crunch (thanks to the breadcrumbs) and tasted not bad although the
marination could have been more memorable. Rasa Sayang's chicken
cutlet would be ranked higher and it's halved the price. Not to
mention as well that it's conveniently located in Ang Mo Kio in
Singapore!
Furano Wagyu Beef
Shabu Shabu - indicated for one person in Chinese, i was
surprised to find such a big pot of soup placed in front of
me!
Meat portion
wasn't as generous though and i would very much like it if the vegetables (tofu,
mushroom, udon, glass noodles and lettuce) were to be replaced by a few more
slices of Furano wagyu beef.
In case you need
a closer look; seven thin slices. Truthfully, i could add another portion of
beef although it would set me back by a staggering 3,500 yen (approximately
S$43). Never mind, i can make do with lesser meat so late at
night.
Soup was bland
and seemed to be seasoned with just kelp and maybe a dash of salt. The
vegetables didn't improve the flavour and i was so tempted to throw in a few
spoonfuls of soya sauce.
The slices of
Furano wagyu beef didn't disappoint though despite the lack of flavorful soup;
they were utterly tender and soft and given the limited pieces, i had to slowly
chew through each piece to lengthen the blissfulness.
Melon with
Sake - a fellow travel mate couldn't resist and he
kindly shared it with all of us! I don't really drink alcohol and i am under the
impression that sake is very potent. However, i am all for taking just a small
sip!
Woah, didn't
regret at all - the melon had soaked up the sake hungrily and there's a
sweetness that made the sake very palatable! Even the pieces of melon tasted
extremely sweet; did the sake catalyse the original sweetness of the
melon?
Pricing at 1,200
yen which wasn't too expensive given that a non-alcoholic Korean bingsoo in
Singapore could already have set us back at around the same
pricing!
=====
Location
3-22
Hinodemachi,
Furano,
Hokkaido
Phone
Number (for GPS)
+81
167-39-2345
Operating
Hours
11.30
am to 11.00 pm
Website
http://www.furano.ne.jp/kumagera/en/top.html
Pricing
100%
Furano Grape Juice - 500 yen
Cheese
Tofu - 500 yen
Chicken
Cutlet - 1,000 yen
Furano
Wagyu Beef Shabu Shabu - 3,900 yen
Melon
with Sake - 1,200 yen
(Inclusive
of Tax)
For
the summary of my 8 days, 7 nights itinerary to Hokkaido in summer
(including a few days of self-drive),
click here.
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