Family Restaurant & Sapporo Closure (Day 4)

Time to blog again after a good weekend rest. I hope that everyone are well rested too. This posting will eventually sums up the rest of my remaining evening after leaving my fellow readers with an extensive run through inside Japanese Public Baths. Before leaving the public baths, I scaled myself and I lost around 1kg. Honest! I wonder if all the heat from the baths causes extensive body fat to break. I spoke to my parents about it over dinner that if I were to stay in Japan, most probably I will loose 7kg in a week, provided I go everyday. Haha! Dad says I wouldn't survive if I go everyday. I'm curiously curious how does the Japanese does it?

It's 8pm by the time we are done. Another hour to go before most of the shops closes. Since we are leaving rather early tomorrow to catch our flight off to Tokyo, dad suggests that we had our dinner over the department store next to the hotel. I have not highlighted this departmental store on my past few blogs as I didn't really visit the place. Arc City, which is located in between the Shin-Sapporo JR Station consists of 8 levels (Duo 1 and Duo 2 are situated in Arc City). Although it may not be as big as Sapporo Stellar Place, those who live around the vicinity should find this place still shoppable. The main purpose for me and my parents are to get dinner rather than to shop since we have had enough shopping from Rera earlier.

Headed to the top floor where all the restaurants are gathered, again, my parents simply has a hard time choosing the right restaurants for dinner. After looking around and saying "No!" to most of them, I finally found something that I wanted to eat. A Japanese family restaurant dinner would be nice and dad finally agrees. びっくりドンキー (after going through several translation pages, it simply means Surprise Donkey); Bikuri Donkey's first stall was opened in December 1968 in Morioka, Iwate. Although the shop maybe small when they first launched, the owners were proud of the stall and served their best hamburgers they could. Bikuri Donkey chain are now spread all over Japan. I guess that the owners have their heads held up high and be proud of their achievements so far.

Now being a buddhist and we were not allowed to eat beef, we didn't realise that the hamburgers made were half beef and half pork because at the top of the menu, we wanted pork hamburgers. One of the english speaking waitress told us that their hamburgers are made from a mix of the meats. Dad mentions that since we didn't know the orders, so we just continue to eat it. It doesn't matter. So... we proceed to eat with the orders that we have made. Now the line up is very very tasty indeed.

First up, the main dish. Hamburger filled with double cheese of melted standard normal and parmesan cheese.

Garden toss salad Japanese style.

Barbeque squid for mom as she likes it.

As for desserts, mom and dad had their sundae's while me, I just sit and watch. No cold desserts as I was coughing.

And of course, our beverages.

This family restaurant are filled up with secondary school couples hanging out after school. The really surprising thing is this; even though they dated, but when it comes to the bill, they wanted to pay it separately, in front of the counter. In Malaysia, it should be the guy who pays for the meal if the couple are dating, unless it has been stated earlier that the bill will be split and decided to pay back when they are elsewhere but not at the counter. Somehow I felt bad for one couple as the guy didn't have enough to pay for and the gal eventually look flustered,paid for the guy. The guy followed his gf out with his head looking down. Is it a Japanese cultural thing, I wonder? There's just so much to learn about the Japan culture but from who? Hmm...

The place has nice decorations and the ambience is really nice too. With great food and great service that comes along with the ambience, I gave this place a 8 out of 10, just that it's the beef that causes me to stir. This restaurant is a place that must be visited for those who can eat beef and it opens from 10am until 10pm, although last orders are to be made by 9pm.

After meal, I decided to take a stroll around the hotel area since its the last night that I will be in Sapporo. The temperature was cold, around 5celcius with winds picking up from time to time. The weather report did mention that there will be rain for tomorrow, it does makes sense if the wind does blow in the cold chilly winds. However, it doesn't stop me from taking a stroll on my own as my parents they prefer to head back to the room to pack their purchases into the bag.

The map posted above is the walking route that I took around the surrounding area. Although the coverage area is small, but when it comes to actual walking, its a huge coverage. Don't forget the weather and also the condition of the time (it was 9.30pm when we are done with dinner), most of the shops around the area has closed.

Trying to take pictures around the area was a tough challenge as it was dark and lights are scarce. I stopped by one of the convenient stores to purchase some candies that I could only get in Japan. I ended getting a Coke Mentos and 2 boxes of Pocky. Continued my walk around the area, nothing much to be seen as it was dark, so I headed back to the room after taking a few more pictures. My dad were half asleep when I got back to the room, leaving my stuffs around to pack on my own. I had to pack the stuffs that I purchase as tomorrow, I'll be leaving for Tokyo and it's going to be an interesting day.