Hakodate sits at the southern tip of Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, and it punches well above its weight for eating. A writer from Traveller (Sydney Morning Herald) recently spent just 36 hours there and barely stopped chewing — a useful template for anyone with a short stopover or a couple of free days.
His trip started, as good ones often do, with a lucky accident. Sheltering from sideways rain at a yakitori joint called Toritatsu, 30 metres from his hotel, he worked through chicken meatballs with egg yolk, umami-heavy liver and shiitake. The highlight: bonjiri, the fatty, cartilaginous cut from above the tail that yakitori fans prize — colloquially, chicken butt. The night got better. A stranger quietly paid the couple's bill and vanished; unable to thank him, they bought the staff a round of beers instead, drawing each staff member out for individual kampai toasts.
Day two was built around breakfast at the Hakodate Morning Market, where boats unload early and restaurants shut by 1pm. Inside the market, he ordered omakase at a sushi counter: prawn nigiri, popping salmon roe, sweet scallops and sea urchin — uni — which happens to be in season locally. The market is also, apparently, a place you can watch Japan's World Cup matches over sushi and beer at 8am, if the timing works out.
A post-breakfast hike up Mount Hakodate was meant to burn it off. The famous night view from the summit stayed hidden behind mist, which is worth remembering: weather in Hokkaido can undo even its most celebrated sightseeing. Down at sea level he skipped Hakodate's most famous restaurant — Lucky Pierrot, a burger chain run by a grinning clown, with 17 branches in a city of roughly 230,000 — in favour of Yamazaki Yofuten, a ramen shop serving prawn wonton ramen and chirashi bowls piled with salmon and roe.
The trip wound down at a vintage clothing store that doubles as a bar (reggae on the stereo, complimentary nuts for dinner) and finished with pumpkin-flavoured soft-serve ice cream from a stand at the JR station. Not every meal was a revelation, but the overall verdict was clear: come hungry, stay flexible, and Hakodate rewards you.
Why it matters: Hakodate is one of Japan's best-value food cities, and most of its highlights cluster around the morning market and the compact city centre, so a day or two is genuinely enough. Seafood is the reason to come — uni, scallops, salmon roe — with yakitori, ramen and quirky soft-serve as supporting acts. It suits independent travellers who like markets, counter dining and walking, and it pairs neatly with Sapporo or a Hokkaido rail trip.
