If you’re feeling a little frosty after a day on the slopes, Tsubara Tsubara is the perfect place to warm up. In fact, if you venture too far along on the chilli scale, you may well find yourself overheating.
Lindsay getting ready to tuck in to her chicken and vegetable soup curry
Japanese soup curry is a specialty of Hokkaido, perhaps because of the cooler climate or maybe because of the abundance of fresh produce that completes each satisfying mouthful. Whatever the reason, you will be glad of it when you are drinking in the spicy broth of this toothsome concoction.
The menu appears fairly basic at first; you choose from curry options including Japanese-style chicken meatball, roast pork and leek, and my personal favourite; chicken and vegetable.
This is where the fun begins. Choose from a variety of added toppings, including lotus root, cheese or a boiled egg; or add extra meat to your dish. The next step is to choose your ‘hotness’, on a scale of one to 20. As you get higher on the scale, the merciless chefs add more chilli peppers and the price goes up in small increments. I tend to hover around the level five mark, although my more adventurous friends scoff at me as they down their level ten curry – that is, when they aren’t pausing to blow their noses or wipe the tears out of their eyes.
Excerpt from Tsubara Tsubara menu, including ‘hotness’ scale
You also get to choose what size rice you would like on the side, and of course order beverages. Upon my last visit I was intrigued by a soft drink called a ‘plain lassi’, which turned out to be a yoghurt drink. It was delicious, but I simply didn’t have enough room for it on top of my curry bowl, and left the table with a protruding food baby.
Things were getting very serious on the level ten side of the table!
Whatever your choice, I can almost guarantee you will leave Tsubara Tsubara feeling warm and satisfied, although you might not be rushing back up the hill straight away! If you have any room left for dessert, check out the lip smacking cakes at Graubünden next door, but it is more likely that you will want to kick back somewhere comfortable with a big smile on your face.