izakaya

A keen snowboarder who enjoyed the laid back atmosphere of the Lower Village, 30-year old Shingo Sugiyama from Tokyo has been coming to Hirafu for 10 years.

WHETHER you are or you’re not a subscriber to organic and local food, you won’t be able to resist the fresh izakaya-style menu at famous Niseko locale Wild Bill’s.

THIS issue's recipe is for maguro donburi (tuna sashimi rice bowl) thanks to relaxed Hirafu izakaya Mina Mina.

LOCALS chilled out in 'The Fridge Door Bar' – a.k.a Gyu – last night for the season opening of the Lower Village watering hole down the bottom of Yotei-Zaka Street.

It was a low-key affair, with everyone who squeezed tightly through the bright red little door sitting around sipping on their draft beer, Guinness,

HAVE you experienced the aroma and flavour of juicy yakitori skewers? Niseko’s famous yakitori izakaya owner, Masanobu Saito, came to Niseko all the way from Kyushu 34 years ago, and quickly became famous for his restaurant, Bang Bang. Masanobu invited Powderlife to his cozy restaurant to talk about his love for Niseko, skiing and the community.

ONE of Hirafu’s coolest new restaurants is yakitori joint Yosaku. Yakitori literally means ‘grilled bird’, although ‘bird’ really just means chicken. But there are plenty of other meat and vegetable combinations, which can come cooked in either salt or a dark soy-type sauce. Owner Akihiro Kimura (second from right)

IZAKAYA Sakae may be one of the newer restaurants in Hirafu, but its owners are some of the longest serving business people in the village. 73-year-old chef Masayuki Sakae and his wife Sada opened one of Hirafu’s first pensions, Ryokan Sakae, in the 1960s. The old lodge sadly had to be demolished recently as it was getting too old, and the

By Katherine Bont and Kim Wejendorp, Sekka Dining chefs

WE first visited Senchou when we had only been in Japan for a week, and discovered there wasn’t much concession made for non-Japanese speakers here. At least not in the summertime, when the English-speaking, peak season staff aren’t around. Not that we were complaining,

One of the most popular sections of Powderlife this season was ‘Irasshaimase’, the catch cry meaning ‘welcome’ that staff in Japanese businesses greet their customers with. In each issue of Powderlife, Irasshaimase took a look behind the scenes of great little local businesses – the origins of its owners, the motivations

You’ve heard of the world-famous Kobe Beef. Well now try Kobe ‘horumon’ (offal). Nakaya Izakaya (an izakaya is a casual dining Japanese pub/restaurant), which turns into Pedenki Pub late in the evening, is probably the only restaurant in Hokkaido serving offal from Kobe cows. And most horumon restaurants use pig offal anyway.