Kitami and Lake Saroma's food cultures have different roots in history. The city of Kitami was once home to a city-run meat processing plant that was located behind Japan National Railway's Kitami Station. They also happen to be the largest producer of onions in all of Japan.
In the 1950s, a yakiniku stall popped up nearby using all of the readily available, affordable meat from the processing plant along with the area's excess onions. Translating to "grilled meat" in Japanese, yakiniku was beloved by the Japanese National Railway employees who worked near the stall. This led them to share the eating experience with their family and soon they opened more and more restaurants until it became the city's most popular cuisine.
Lake Saroma on the other hand became popular due to its aquaculture. In 1929, water from the Sea of Okhotsk flowed into Lake Saroma causing the salinity of the lake to increase. This led to a quickly increasing presence of oysters in the lake. Scientists were trying to find a solution to this dilemma until a technician from the Hokkaido Fisheries Experimentation Station saw scallops starting to grow on the shells of the oysters.
The Tokoro Fishermen's Cooperative was formed in 1933 to figure out a way to harvest the scallops commercially. They created a catch-and-release method to control the species, which finally paid off in the 1970s. This vertical growing technique that they developed is still used to this day to provide the area and country of Japan with delicious scallops.
Lake Saroma, the reputed birthplace of scallop cultivation, supplies Japan with most of its scallops. The waters of Lake Saroma are rich in minerals that are perfect for cultivating large and succulent scallops. The scallops are affixed to a rope that is suspended in the water for the four years it takes the scallops to mature. Some of the scallops spend their whole life in the calm waters of Lake Saroma, but others are moved to the Sea of Okhotsk after a year.
When the scallops become nice and plump, they are harvested and ready to consume. Some popular ways to savor the scallops include savory dried scallops that burst with flavor, grilled in the shell over charcoal, or prepared in fresh juicy bites of sashimi or sushi.
One of the best places to try out fresh scallops along with other fresh local seafood is at Tokoro Michi no Ichi, which is a seafood market. You can purchase any seafood that looks delicious and cook it on the spot on the market's charcoal grill.
The best way to experience the bounty of Lake Saroma and the Sea of Okhotsk is to taste its delicacies in their purest forms as sushi or sashimi. Kitami City, which is only an hour away from Lake Saroma, has over 20 sushi restaurants itself. To take in some sushi while enjoying the Lake Saroma sunset, try traveling to the seaside town of Tokoro.
Tokoro is home to both Matsu Sushi and Sushi no Yassan. They both offer Okhotsk sushi platters at affordable prices. These platters highlight the seasonal specialties Lake Saroma and the Sea of Okhotsk have to offer like large shrimp, conger eel, crab roe, king crab, salmon roe, sea urchin, and of course fried, salted, and seared, scallops. You'll experience seafood that has had a very short sea-to-plate journey for a superb gastronomic experience.
You can reach Tokoro by taking a bus on the Memanbetsu Airport Line from the airport 19 stop to the Prison stop. Switch to the Tokoro Line and travel 35 stops to the Tokoro Bus Terminal in the center of the seaside town.
The city of Kitami is home to over 70 BBQ restaurants despite its small population of 12,000 people, earning it the reputation of the "town of yakiniku." This is the most per capita on the island of Hokkaido.
Yakiniku involves grilling tender slices of meat and fresh vegetables over a charcoal stove. Each restaurant has its own unique menu, but the region of Kitami is best known for its beef sagari (hanging tender) and pork offal. The choices of pork offal range from liver and kidney to sweetbreads and neck. The meals come with vegetables to grill as well like onions, peppers, and seasonal vegetables like squash. The meat and vegetables can be enjoyed hot off the grill or dipped into the usually chef-made BBQ sauce. The sauce commonly includes soy sauce, mirin, sugar, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and garlic.
Yojo Horumon is one of the most popular yakiniku restaurants in Kitami and has been around for over 40 years. It is a short distance from Kitami Station and boasts smokeless grills, which lead to a more enjoyable grilling experience.
Every first weekend in February, the city hosts the Kitami Yakiniku Festival, which has been dubbed the coldest BBQ festival in the world. It takes place in the parking lot of the Kitami Arts & Cultural Hall in nighttime temperatures as cold as -10°C on average. The record low during the festival was -38°C in 2019. Visitors and locals both huddle around warming stoves to grill delicious meat and celebrate. The event gets more and more popular every year, with over 2,000 people celebrating in 2021.
The festival typically costs 2,000¥ to enter and tickets, which are sold in advance, do sell out quickly. The entrance fee comes with 300g of sliced meat, a package of local Katami onions, and a souvenir pre-packaged soup mix. A nice surprise is the all-you-can-drink hot shōchū, which keeps you warm from the inside out. There are even bands playing to keep you entertained while you grill your meats and veggies.
If you are heading to the Kitami Yakiniku Festival, get on the Memanbetsu Airport Line at Memanbetsu Airport and ride 6 stops to Kitami Station. You can find the festival by following all of the smoke being emitted by 100s of charcoal grills, just a mere 3 minute walk away.
On your next trip to Japan, be sure to plan a trip to the island of Hokkaido to enjoy delicious yakiniku style BBQ and some of the freshest, tastiest seafood you may ever have. All you need to do to make this dream a reality is book a Japan Airlines flight to the Memanbetsu Airport and you are a short bus ride away from taking part in a culinary journey.
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