Even though it's March, there is still a lot of snow in Hokkaido, and it's cold. I met up with a friend for dinner for the first time in 2 months. It's like we're meeting up just to see each other. It's cold, so my friend made a reservation for us at a restaurant. We started with beer, even though it's cold. It was all-you-can-drink, but I switched to something else halfway through, while my friend kept drinking beer the whole time. They're strong! We had a good balance of vegetables and meat, including chicken, pork, and beef, and ate until we were full. After we finished eating, I realized we only took pictures of the beer. Oh well, it's fine.笑

Today's lunch was at a local research restaurant, 'Dahlia' in Ebetsu City. Due to the impact of the new coronavirus infection, I am unable to work outside the region as usual. That's why I have been frequenting Ebetsu and Chitose areas a lot lately. The restaurant I usually go to for lunch was getting a bit monotonous, so I am grateful for the presence of local people. This place is originally a "shabu-shabu" restaurant that operates at night, but now they are open from 11:00. We opted for ramen this time, so I'm not sure if they serve "shabu-shabu" from that time... What should we order? After much deliberation, we decided on the "Tomato Ramen" for 900 yen. The dish was served in a hot pot, so be careful as it's very hot. The ingredients included komatsuna, rock seaweed, shrimp, green onions, dried lotus root, and the flavor of cherry tomatoes giving it a western taste. The soup was delicious, and the chewy noodles from 'Sagamiya Seimen' were also great. I can't quite put it into words, but it was delicious. When the soup is this good, you just have to finish it all! We also ordered a side of rice for 200 yen, sprinkled with pepper and powdered cheese. It was just as delicious as the popular 'Vegetable Potage Ramen jill' in Chitose. Honestly, I had no expectations for ramen at a "shabu-shabu" restaurant, but I was pleasantly surprised. With such delicious ramen, they could probably survive in this competitive ramen area. It was that good!

Date of visit: Around 7:30 PM on April 7, 2021. I headed to "え○じ○" to eat Kamameshi, but it was either closed early or temporarily closed, so I decided to have ramen at "Creative Shabu Shabu Dahlia" instead. I had known about "Dahlia" before, but had never visited, and it was my first visit based on information from Kimumiyu. Since many restaurants in busy areas do not have parking spaces, I parked my car in a nearby parking space. I try not to watch the news to avoid stress outside of work hours, so I'm not sure if it's due to that, but the busy area felt less crowded. There were no other customers when I entered, probably because it was a weekday and not a Friday. Although ramen is usually available for dinner as well as lunch, I confirmed with the staff that it was okay for dinner. I ordered the "Tomato Ramen (¥900)". It arrived in less than 10 minutes. The container was not the usual ramen bowl, but rather a hot plate, probably because it is a shabu-shabu restaurant. I tasted the soup. The base tomato flavor was more sweet than sour, similar to a meat sauce, and seemed gentle on the body. The noodles were curly and seemed to have a lot of moisture. Other ingredients included shrimp, komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach), green onions, boiled egg, and lotus root. I'm not sure if the shrimp miso was mixed in the soup, but I personally liked the soup. The lotus root had a mushy texture, possibly due to being grilled too much. The portion of noodles and soup seemed small compared to the size of the container, so even after finishing, I had a bit of room in my stomach. The cost of ¥900 did not seem to offer good value for the portion size, without my favorite chashu (pork slices) and lacking in richness. Those with a big appetite might be able to eat two bowls of ramen. As I left the restaurant, it started pouring rain. I didn't have an umbrella! On a different note, it's unfortunate that "エ○グ○ター" in the same busy area closed without me ever visiting. I hope a new restaurant with lunch service opens nearby. Thank you for the meal.

Izuchan and I visited this place for the first time. Initially, they were only open at night. But we heard that they started serving lunch and ramen through a local information magazine, so we decided to check it out. We ordered the Soup Curry Ramen with spice level 0 for 1,200 yen, but with a coupon, it was only 500 yen. When we entered, they checked our temperature and asked us to write down our name and phone number, which was a first for us. The interior seemed different from before. It felt a bit strange to visit a place that is usually more suited for nighttime during the day. Even though we ordered spice level 0, it was still quite spicy. They offer spice levels up to 5. The ramen, served in a hot pot, was piping hot with plenty of added water. The curly medium-thick noodles were delicious. They also have creative ramen and abura soba. The tomato ramen sounded interesting. The place was run by a male staff alone, and although we read reviews on Google saying that the service was slow, we did not experience that. Overall, it was a great dining experience.

Shabu-shabu all-you-can-eat restaurant. For 4,300 yen per person, you can enjoy the Platinum Course which includes pork, chicken, beef, and lamb, along with cocktail all-you-can-drink. You can choose between two types of broth for the hot pot or opt for one broth and a yakiniku plate. There are also many dipping sauces available, although it can be a bit of a hassle to go get them with your shoes on. It would be nice to have standard sauces like ponzu and sesame on the table, but there were various other condiments like grated daikon and yuzu pepper available. In the end, I enjoyed using the different condiments to change up the flavors of the meal.

There are a variety of dashi options and various tsukedare sauces, which is exciting. The meat is neatly arranged and served with cute small tongs. You can have unlimited refills of vegetables, mushrooms, and tofu is cut into easy-to-eat pieces when requested. There is a wide variety of drinks, including delicious sour cocktails! You can also choose from different types of noodles for the finale, such as ramen, soba, udon, or pasta. The pasta has a nice chewy texture and goes perfectly with the tomato dashi! Every visit offers a new and enjoyable experience, so it never gets boring and the food is delicious! The staff is also very friendly and helpful!

I used this restaurant again for a personal farewell party for a colleague because it was good last time. But why are we seated at a noisy table with a speaker above us? There are plenty of other seats available! Don't forget to use the coupon for a 500 yen discount per person. We chose the Platinum course for 3300 yen (minus 500 yen each). The course includes all-you-can-drink sparkling wine and cocktails for 900 yen, and all-you-can-drink soft drinks for 400 yen each. We could choose from pork, pork belly, and tsukune, as well as chicken breast, chicken thigh, beef shoulder, beef belly, and lamb shoulder. Even though there were three of us, we were told to choose our two favorite dishes first. We chose pork and beef shoulder with sesame soy milk sauce, and I chose plum sauce and basil for my individual sauces. When we went to get more food, the pot was boiling and the sesame soy milk sauce had mixed with the white miso soup, which was surprising. The staff should be more careful with the heat. Some of us didn't get tsukune at first, but we didn't order it because the other two thought it was fine. When we went to get more vegetables, there was no tofu. I asked the staff, and they said, "Oh, we don't have any." Isn't tofu cheaper than vegetables? What's going on here? There was also a dish that looked like mapo tofu (according to my senior colleague), and it was good. The beef was the most delicious, followed by the lamb. The party was fun, but when we finished paying, they started clearing plates and glasses quickly, as if urging us to leave. It was quite busy this time, unlike the last time when it was almost empty. Maybe because it was the weekend. The number of staff had increased. I wonder if it's okay to have such flashy nails at this restaurant? There were quite a few trash on the floor in the private rooms. Although the ambiance and service were not great, the cost performance was not bad if you just eat and leave.

We visited a shabu-shabu restaurant that recently opened, with Izumugi Brewery on a weekday. We tried the all-you-can-eat course for 90 minutes (Standard Course) for 2,200 yen, plus all-you-can-drink soft drinks for 400 yen for two people. There are three different all-you-can-eat courses available, and we chose the most affordable Standard Course which includes pork, pork belly, tsukune, vegetables, rice, dipping sauce, and condiments. The broth options include basic white broth plus a choice of 6 other broths for an additional 100 yen. We chose white broth and chicken white broth. There are 9 dipping sauces available, and we tried shoyu and sesame. The dipping sauces, rice, vegetables, and condiments are self-serve at the table. For the ending, you can choose from rice, pasta, ramen, udon, or soba, and they will bring it to you upon request. Although we were full and could only drink two glasses, and didn't get to try the ending dish, it's recommended for those with a big appetite. After checking Twitter, we found out that the young owner manages various businesses, and despite initially feeling skeptical, the staff were friendly and the experience was enjoyable. Thank you, Izumugi Brewery, for the wonderful meal.

The first visit was with kimumiyu, and we went to a shabu-shabu restaurant for a 90-minute all-you-can-eat meal after work. The Standard Course (pork, pork belly, tsukune) costs 2200 yen, and I chose chicken white broth for the soup base. All-you-can-drink options include sparkling sake and cocktails for 900 yen, while kimumiyu opted for unlimited soft drinks for 400 yen. There are 9 types of sauces to choose from, and I picked plum sauce, mentaiko, and ponzu. We started with a platter of lean meat, pork belly, tsukune, and vegetables. You can order additional noodles and meat as you like, and refill vegetables from the sauce corner (which also has white rice and condiments). The seating is on wooden flooring, not in a sunken kotatsu, so it can be tiring on the feet. There was a speaker right above our table, and the music was loud and more geared towards young people, which made the atmosphere less calming and more trendy. Unlike other places where you get 4-5 slices of meat per plate, here the portions were larger. Although there was no mention of a limit on the number of plates, we were served two plates initially, so we ordered two more. We ended up with four plates of meat on this day, and it was a satisfying meal with a reasonable price for the quality and quantity of meat, sauces, and vegetables. The all-you-can-drink option was also good.

I didn't receive a receipt. The cashier didn't even ring it up. There are a lot of condiments, so you can change the flavor.