Hokkaido’s popular dish – Mongolian BBQ that wafts delicious aromas until the wee hours of the night

Text and photos by /Annie

This time, we chose to stay at a Super Hotel near Susukino in Sapporo. Although Susukino is known as a lively nightlife district (?), it also boasts many famous eateries. When we checked Google Maps, we found several well-known Mongolian BBQ restaurants within a ten-minute walk from our hotel. The most famous among them was this one – だるま (Daruma) Main Branch.

But after trudging through the snowy streets with growling stomachs, we arrived at the restaurant only to find an extremely long line. We immediately gave up on the idea and decided to just pick any Mongolian BBQ place that didn’t require waiting. The main branch here is open until 3 AM, so we figured we wouldn’t eat too much for dinner, go back to the hotel to sleep for a bit, and then come back to queue up at midnight. Little did we know how painful it is to drag yourself out of bed after a full meal and good sleep. Getting woken up from your cozy blankets is truly a struggle.

We arrived at the restaurant around 11:50 PM, and there were already two Koreans ahead of us in line. So we ended up waiting for another twenty minutes or so before we got a seat.

Daruma has a rating of about 3.7 on the food review site Tabelog. While it’s not as high as Asahikawa’s Daikokuya, which scores 4.11, it’s still a pretty impressive score. That said, Daikokuya is genuinely really delicious XDD.

The expansive Daruma chain also has several other branches nearby.

● ETtoday News Cloud reminds you: Don’t drink and drive, and don’t drive after drinking.

Actually, Mongolian BBQ is quite simple – it’s just grilled lamb. I felt the price per serving wasn’t exactly low, and you’d definitely need to spend several thousand yen if you wanted to eat your fill.

The small shop doesn’t have many seats, mainly consisting of counter seating surrounding the cooking area. The whole place gets quite smoky from the grilled meat.

The basic Mongolian BBQ set includes grilled vegetables and grilled lamb. Before cooking the meat, the staff first place a piece of lamb fat on the grill, then add the lamb slices. The lamb is very tender and pairs wonderfully with the sauce, making it great when eaten with rice.

After eating and stepping outside, our entire bodies reeked of Mongolian BBQ. At that moment, we seriously considered rushing to a drugstore to buy a specialized BBQ odor spray. Daruma was indeed good, but if we had to wait for one or two hours, I think we would’ve chosen to eat at a different place.

Daruma Main Branch
Official website:http://best.miru-kuru.com/daruma/
Address: 1F, Crystal Building, 4-4 Nishisanjo, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido
Business hours: 17:00–next day 3:00 (last order 30 minutes before closing)

Annie @ Travel, Food & Play
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