Middle Village – Japanese Bar
Serving great tasting yakitori cooked on traditional bincho grills, plus many izakaya-style dishes as well as a wide range of alcohol.
WITH some dishes, it can be the case that less is more. The very same can be understood about Hirafu’s yakitori restaurant and bar, Yosaku.
It’s the simplistic nature of the yakitori food style – which is essentially meat and vegetables on a skewer – that charms and delights my senses every time I dine here.
Upon entering the smoky, cave-like little hole in the wall in the Main Village, just off the 343 on Momiji-Zaka Street, you are overwhelmed by Japanese culture – from a boisterous ‘irasshaimase’ upon entry, to the Japanese-style, wooden izakaya bar overlooking the kitchen’s steamy grill.
You even get to glance over at the latest snowboarding and skiing videos on a big screen TV to get you amped for your next session up the mountain!
But I digress, so back to the food. Yakitori, as a food style, is comprised mainly of bite-sized pieces of meat and vegetables served on a skewer, accompanied by a selection of salts and sauces.
I recommend salt with mushrooms and other vegetable dishes, and teriyaki sauce with most of the meats. But mix it up to your taste, because that’s the name of the game!
And the beauty of this style of eating is you can graze all night while you nurse your Sapporo Classic (which incidentally is perfectly poured at Yosaku!).
Some of the best meat skewer dishes off the grill at Yosaku are the tori (chicken), buta (pork), ramu (lamb) and sagari (beef). My pick of a delectable bunch is the tsukune (minced chicken).
For the vegos, or just to balance up a meaty meal, you can’t go past the shitake mushrooms or the eringi (trumpet mushrooms). You also can’t leave without trying the healthy crowd favourite, a bowl of salted edamame (green soy beans – ¥350).
For a mix of meat and veggies, you’d be hard-pressed finding better than the the shimeji mushroom bacon skewers, or the nikuzume (shitake mushrooms with minced meat). Asparagus the size of your finger wrapped snugly in a bacon blanket also goes down very well.
For those who are a little more adventurous than most, there is a host of interesting, off-centre Japanese alternatives on Yosaku’s menu.
These include, kawa (chicken skin), ponpochi (chicken flank), nekku (you guessed it, chicken neck), reba (liver), hatsu (heart), sunagimo (innards), nankotsu (cartilage) and tontoro (pork neck).
When ordering, I suggest just piling a plate with a mixture of different skewers and sharing them around the table. It’s the Japanese way, and the best option for sampling all that the menu has to offer.
All skewers are reasonably priced too (by Hirafu pricing standards) ranging from ¥180 to ¥220. Those who were here early enough this season would have enjoyed Yosaku’s three-day opening party, which featured all skewers for ¥130, and ¥2000 for a three-hour nomihodai (Japanese for ‘all you can drink’).
An izakaya could not be an izakaya (a Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany drinks) without a comprehensive beverage menu. And Yosaku thankfully does.
From draft Sapporo Classic to sours, cocktails to hard liquor, red and white wine to wines of the plum variety, there is a suitable poison for everyone.
Finally, Yosaku is probably one of the latest izakayas to close up in Hirafu, usually open until around 3am during the winter.
Now you have no excuse but to try it for yourself!
Yosaku: Momiji-Zaka St (Map D3)
Open: 6pm-3am, last order 2pm
Tel: 0136 23 4390
www.powderlife.com/niseko-restaurants
Open till late and serving great tasting yakitori cooked on traditional bincho grills, as well as many different izakaya-style dishes and a wide variety of alcohol.
Open daily (Winter only) –
- Dinner 18:00 – 24:00
Phone: +81 0136-55-8505