Today, I revisited Sushi Koubou Yama after realizing that they were closed last Monday. I arrived at 12:05 pm and found no other customers in the restaurant. I ordered the lunch special, Chirashi for 1,050 yen, and the recommended item, the rare Wagyu Otoro for 360 yen. The master chef mentioned that the Wagyu Otoro is a rare cut. The Chirashi included a variety of fresh and delicious toppings such as mackerel, tuna, surf clam, scallop, salmon, shrimp, crab, squid, octopus, tamago, ikura, and tobiko. The sushi rice was perfectly seasoned and the homemade pickled ginger was sweet and tasty. The Wagyu Otoro was incredibly tender and flavorful. Overall, it was a delightful dining experience.

After watching a fireworks display at the Ban'ei Racecourse, I decided to have a meal in Obihiro, a city relatively close to the sea. Thinking that there would be a good selection of seafood, I searched on Tabelog for a sushi restaurant. The first place I had in mind was fully booked, so I called the next restaurant on the list. Luckily, I was able to get a table without any hassle. The first floor only had a counter, so we were seated towards the back. There were two regular customers in the middle, who the owner praised for their great singing voices. I must say, their voices were really powerful. I guess you could say they had "voices that could break glass" (laughs). We decided to go for the chef's choice sashimi platter. They had a wide selection of sake as well. There was a blackboard right in front of the counter with various items listed, but some seemed to be unavailable (laughs). Everything was priced the same at 680 yen. On that day, the main highlight was the Oma tuna. There was also something called Matsukawa, but I forgot the other name. The texture was indescribable... delicious! I left the selection of nigiri to my wife. When asked, "Which one would you like?" I replied, "The most expensive one!" because I had won at Ban'ei! (It was 1,000 yen though). A lot of dishes were served. When I mentioned that I liked surf clams, they brought out two types - tea surf clams and black surf clams. They explained various things to us. I wonder how many cans were served... I was completely full. It was a delightful evening in Obihiro. The cost performance was great. Thank you for the delicious meal. I will definitely visit again.

The sushi rice doesn't seem to be vinegared properly, the rice grains are too big and the balance with the fish is off, so the overall quality of the sushi is mediocre.

Savoring the real deal at Sushi Koubou "Yama" after a long time. Isn't it nice once in a while? So today, just the two of us, my wife and I, went out to enjoy some delicious food while our son is staying over at my wife's parents' house. It's been years since we visited her hometown, as it is quite far away. We decided to go to a place that we rarely get to visit except on occasions like this. In the past, when we didn't have kids, we used to come here often, but once we had children, we stuck to conveyor belt sushi places. It's been a long time since the two of us visited a place like this together. The city is bustling with preparations for Tanabata and the Heigen Festival. It's a short summer, so we need to enjoy it! We arrived at Sushi Koubou "Yama" after making a reservation, and it was a good decision as the place was quite busy even on a weekday. The owner still had that artisan spirit, and it felt like a warm welcome when he greeted us with "It's been a while." The place has limited seating, especially at the counter, so it's recommended to make a reservation. We started with some beer and then left it to the chef to decide our meal. The chef remembered our preferences, which made us feel at ease. We were served delicious dishes like marinated squid, vinegar squid, vinegared dish, and simmered sea snails. The highlight was the vinegar sea pineapple, which was surprisingly delicious despite some people not liking sea pineapples. The sake selection was excellent, and we enjoyed brands like Dassai Junmai Daiginjo and Gikyou Kaiyamimaru Special Junmai. As the dishes and sake kept coming, we were having a great time. Eventually, the chef started making sushi for us, starting with octopus and squid. We prefer having sushi over sashimi at sushi restaurants, and the chef remembered this preference. We enjoyed a variety of sushi, and the combination of delicious food and sake made for an unforgettable dining experience.

If you walk north from Obihiro Station, you will find a sushi restaurant on the corner of a intersection. They serve Obihiro's specialty beef toro bowl as well as beef toro nigiri sushi, with a good selection of sushi and sake. The first floor has small counter seats and can be a bit dim during lunchtime, but light comes in from outside. There may be seats on the second floor as well, but it's unclear. The sushi mainly features Hokkaido ingredients, offering nigiri sushi and seafood bowls. The variety of sake is also a highlight, with detailed descriptions in the shop. The beef toro seafood bowl for 1,700 yen is recommended, with scallops, octopus, mackerel, salmon roe, squid, crab, and flying fish roe on top of the beef toro. The scallops and squid are sweet and delicious, while the mackerel has a thick texture and great flavor. The beef toro has a rich fatty taste unique to beef, making it a delightful dish. The cold and fatty sensation pairs well with the rice, leaving a good aftertaste. It's rare to find a sushi restaurant near Obihiro Station that offers the famous beef toro bowl from Tokachi Shimizu-cho, making it a great choice. The owner is friendly and approachable, sharing stories about the beef toro bowl and the snow conditions in Obihiro. There are also repeat customers from overseas, making it a relaxed place to dine. I look forward to visiting at night next time.

Eastern Hokkaido, Tokachi Obihiro. This is a "treasure trove of food" that supports Japan's food with a self-sufficiency rate of 1100%, including livestock, dairy farming, agriculture, and fishing. This time, I will review a beloved sushi restaurant in Obihiro. Although the rating on Tabelog is not high, there are many delicious restaurants that are always crowded with locals. "Sushi Kobo Yama" is one such local gem where you can enjoy delicious sushi. When I made a reservation during my business trip to Obihiro the other day, the chef told me, "We have a party going on and the rest of the seats are full. Will it be okay if the dishes are a bit delayed?" I first visited here over 10 years ago when I was taken by a local dignitary. It seems to be in collaboration with Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, sourcing excellent ingredients from local livestock and farmers. Although it is a sushi restaurant, their specialty is the Tokachi beef Toro nigiri, made from Tokachi beef raised in Tokachi Obihiro. The Toro platter is a must-order dish. We arrived at 6:30 pm, just as the first group of people were leaving. At this time, quite a few slightly tipsy older men were coming out of the restaurant. We were seated on the 2nd floor. They had set out small dishes for us since a party of 30 people would be arriving at 7 pm. We started with Kirin beer and appetizers. The simple boiled shrimp can be eaten whole, including the shell. The vinegar dish of local octopus and shellfish is also very delicious. The vinegar dish of locally harvested sea squirt is a perfect accompaniment to alcohol! Next, we had sashimi. There were many shellfish, such as tsubugai, tsubugai uro, and scallops. They were all fresh and delicious. The fact that you can eat tsubugai uro as sashimi is evidence of its freshness. In addition to shellfish, we had sweet shrimp, shime saba, and white meat matsukawa. Matsukawa is a high-quality fish from Hokkaido. It is similar to flounder but has a mild and delicious taste when served as sashimi. I can imagine it would also be delicious when simmered or grilled. Next, before the sushi, we had motsu nabe. Motsu nabe is a hidden menu item here, so you need to reserve it in advance. The beef Toro nigiri and motsu nabe here use low-fat Tokachi beef raised by a professor at Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine (feeding microbes and grazing at the Bonefree Farm in Tokachi Shimizu). The motsu nabe here is truly delicious. And for the second half, we had sushi. Seafood sushi and beef Toro sushi. The seafood sushi included sea urchin, scallops, and crab, all of which are delicious ingredients that Hokkaido boasts. And the beef Toro platter had three types. The pure white beef Toro with only fat melts in your mouth. It's a wonderful sushi. The location is easy to find, right across from Fujimaru Department Store. If you go to Obihiro, be sure to visit this sushi restaurant.

I love the beef nigiri set. I love it so much that I travel to that area just to have it. About ten years ago, I visited for the first time because I wanted to try the beef toro bowl, recommended by a friend. The beef toro bowl is delicious, but the beef nigiri is the best. When you take a bite, you're just speechless. I realized that I've never felt so calm after eating something. By the way, I always add the white meat of the beef (maybe it's called misuji) to the beef nigiri set. I haven't tried any other menu items.

On Wednesdays, the normally 1000 yen chirashi sushi is around 750 yen. The restaurant is not very big, and it quickly filled up. Even the people who came after us ordered a lot of chirashi sushi. It took a bit of time, but all the orders from inside the restaurant came out at once. They must have been making all the orders together, which is why it was slow. The chirashi sushi had a variety of toppings and all of them were delicious. The ikura (salmon roe) had a rich flavor and was especially tasty. I thought the price was cheap. They also had other dishes like beef toro bowl. I'm not a fan of raw meat, but I'd like to try it at least once. Thank you for the meal! ☆

I visited a restaurant for a solo lunch in the mountains! It was past 12 o'clock, and there were no other customers. I sat at the counter seat on the 1st floor. Right after me, a regular customer? arrived. The restaurant played jazz music and had posters of jazz concerts with a message saying "Tickets available". I ordered the Wagyu and seafood rice bowl for 1700 yen (total 2400 yen). The Wagyu used in this dish is from Tokachi Slow Food. I was asked if there were any ingredients I didn't like, but I eat anything, so I was fine with whatever they served, probably something from the sushi case at a reasonable price (laughs). The Wagyu and seafood rice bowl is described as a bowl with raw seafood generously placed on top of the Wagyu rice bowl, and that's exactly what it was (laughs). The seafood on that day included octopus, squid, scallop, flying fish roe, salmon, crab, sea urchin, and more, with shredded ginger and cucumber. Underneath all the seafood, there was Wagyu (plus seaweed and asatsuki) covering the rice. I mixed the attached wasabi with soy sauce and poured it on top. The sea urchin had a crunchy texture and a taste of the sea! Although the ingredients weren't extremely delicious, they were quite fresh and tasty. The rice was warm with a mild vinegar taste, which I prefer over cold rice. The Wagyu was melt-in-your-mouth without any strong taste, like Negitoro with added fat. I personally preferred the wasabi soy sauce. The soup brought from the 2nd floor was okay. They also offer Wagyu rice bowl for 800 yen, double bowl for 1300 yen, and assorted bowl for 2200 yen (each with an option for extra large for an additional 100 yen). For those who want to try more, they have Wagyu battleship sushi for 250 yen each and Wagyu louis roll sushi for 250 yen each, which might be good. They also have lunch menu with chawanmushi, but it takes some time to steam after ordering. Every Wednesday, they offer a lunch special of chirashi for 730 yen instead of 1000 yen (from 12:00 to 13:30), which is a good deal. I enjoyed the combination of mountain and sea in the treasure box lunch. Thank you for the meal!

High-quality Tokachi beef sushi using beef toro. It's surprising that you can eat this for around 2000 yen. You must try it. Among them, the beef toro roll with chives is the best in terms of flavor and texture. They also have a wide selection of rare sake, with a glass costing only 600 yen. The fresh seafood is also incredibly delicious. Truly a top-notch restaurant for Surf and Turf in Japan with a 3-star rating. The conversation with the master is enjoyable, so be sure to sit at the counter. Look for the triangular building across from Obihiro Fujimaru Department Store.

This is a sushi restaurant that I have been going to since a long time ago. The building has remained the same since I first started coming here, about 18 years ago. Back then, the owner was even more stubborn and old-fashioned, but one particular event caught my attention and made me a regular customer. It was during a time when beef culture was not as popular as it is now. They had an event called "Chutoro Festival" where they offered fresh chutoro at a very affordable price. I had been enjoying the chutoro, but eventually got tired of it and looked for something else on the menu. That's when I saw a dish called "Gyutoro" - beef toro. As someone from the Tokyo area, I had no idea what it was. I thought it might be similar to yukhoe, but it turned out to be a dish similar to raw beef tartare, served with wasabi and soy sauce. It was a surprising experience! At a time when beef was not as popular as pork in Hokkaido, this restaurant had the courage to serve raw beef! The owner here was truly remarkable for promoting Gyutoro. The dishes here have a subtle flavor but bring out the richness of the ingredients. The simmered flounder backbone that was served first was incredibly delicious. The meat around the leftover bones from sushi was cooked to perfection and tender. Today's recommendations included a sashimi platter with flounder, tsubu, scallop, and mackerel. It was excellent! I paired it with a bottle of Dassai sake, which was a bit sweet for my taste but went well with the sashimi. I also tried the beef sinew stew, which had a rich and flavorful broth. The owner even prepared a mini Gyutoro bowl for me, which was delicious. The journey from a time when beef was not popular to now, where Gyutoro is a specialty, is truly remarkable. Sushi Kobo Yama continues to serve delicious food, and I will definitely be back. The charm of this place lies in being a traditional sushi restaurant with a skilled owner who is a true craftsman. I remember visiting a sushi restaurant in Isezakicho during the bubble era as a student, and the owner scolded me for being presumptuous and told me to just eat the sushi he served.

We are located on the southeast corner of the intersection north of Fujimaru along Nishi Nijo Street. Is it unique to eat raw beef or raw minced meat in sushi or bowls in Tokachi? There are two main schools of thought, one being the Bone Free Farm by Shimizu = Saito, known as "Gyutoro." The other is the Dream-Filled Ranch in Oki = Kataoka, which is called "Bifutoro." I am not familiar with trademark registration. If you want to eat Bifutoro in Obihiro, the most popular place is the Northern Stall Noya, but for Gyutoro, it would be our shop. Our lunch menu consists of 6 items with prices ranging from 630 yen to 1365 yen. However, the famous Gyutoro can only be eaten in the 735 yen Gyutoro Mix Lunch, which includes only one battleship. If you really want to eat Gyutoro, you may need to order the Gyutoro Don for 800 yen, the Gyutoro Double for 1150 yen, or a single piece of Gyudai Toro for 250 yen. Whether it's Gyutoro or Bifutoro, eating it with wasabi soy sauce creates a perfect combination of beef fat and rice, complemented by the accent of Western wasabi, making it quite delicious. However, I can't help but wonder if it's too easy to call it a specialty of Tokachi. Is it really something that can only be eaten in the production area? Our shop is primarily a sushi restaurant, so we are also interested in other sushi toppings, which I believe are reasonably tasty.

The budget depends on how you eat. For a banquet, it costs this much. The specialty here is the nigiri sushi made with Tokachi beef. It's so tender and delicious. For banquets, they serve hot pot and many other tasty dishes. There's a room with manga and a signature from Yumiko Igarashi, a manga artist who used to live in Obihiro when she was young. Why not check it out? The sushi is also delicious, of course.