A large Apa Hotel located about a 30-minute drive south from the center of Sapporo. It has over 900 rooms and two types of large public baths. I usually stay in hotels in the city center, so I decided to stay here for a change of pace. I tried the breakfast one day during my stay. The venue was a banquet hall inside the hotel, so there was no view. The lineup was as shown in the photo, with few Hokkaido-specific ingredients, similar to a typical business hotel. The only Hokkaido-like ingredients were boiled Hanasaki crab and miso soup made with crab broth. This was delicious, especially the miso soup, which disappeared quickly. Unfortunately, I encountered a group of tourists from a certain country. I thought that if I went at 6:30 am, it would still be empty, but when I arrived, there were already over 50 people in line. It took about 40 minutes to pick up food. On the other hand, after 7:30 am, the group of tourists had left and it was empty. It's hard to predict. However, everyone in line had good manners, using tongs properly, which was a relief.

In the spring, I found a hotel on Jalan that said "closest to Makomanai Ice Arena! Parking for 200 cars too!!" When I tried to book, it said "not accepting reservations". On the APA official website it said "fully booked". But on a more expensive site, it said "availability". I was confused but I booked it immediately. It cost a little over 19,000 yen for two people. You can see the ice arena from the window. There were vending machines for juice and cup noodles on the first floor. There was also a convenience store-like shop selling sandwiches. When heading to the concert, there were lots of people going in the same direction. 😄

APA Hotel, which is expanding overseas, stayed at APA Hotel & Resort Sapporo for the first time with a shareholder benefit of staying for 2000 yen per person. The hotel is a large mammoth hotel, and I was originally thinking of dining at the seafood izakaya chain "Umi e" on the 1st floor of the hotel. However, I ended up going for the hotel's buffet, which costs 2600 yen with an option to add all-you-can-drink for 1200 yen. The menu is designed with tourists in mind, offering sashimi, sushi, Genghis Khan (grilled lamb), and a self-service ramen where you can top it with crab. Although the menu composition is good, the taste and quality of the ingredients left something to be desired. It was a bit of a disappointment for me as I had high expectations from APA. Hopefully, they will improve in the future! On a side note, the book provided in the room was interesting and I ended up reading it all at once!

I slept soundly, took a morning bath, and now it's time to go eat. I'm heading to the buffet with my friend KS at 8 o'clock! The Asian tour group has finished, so there's plenty of space now. Let's see, I'll load up on Japanese dishes and more. I even had double the amount I usually eat, including dessert... I had two cups of coffee to go, careful not to spill as I made my way back to the 10th floor room. Enjoying a hot cup of coffee after the meal, it's delicious!

The difference between booking with breakfast included and without breakfast was 926 yen. I naturally chose to book with breakfast. The breakfast venue opened at 6:30 am. I went there right away, but the team had not arrived yet. Since they were making noise in the hallway in the middle of the night, I called the hotel a couple of times to do something about it, and they responded each time. So I thought breakfast would be served later, and I arrived early. I put my meal ticket in the box, picked up a tray with chopsticks and a plate, and headed to the dishes. There were quite a variety of options, and they were served in small plates. They had white rice and mixed rice. Everything was delicious. I always tend to overeat at hotel breakfasts, and this time I went back for seconds a couple of times (with large portions). Thank you for the meal.

I had business at a hospital in Sapporo, so I searched for a hotel on Jalan Net. Even though the Sapporo Snow Festival had ended, there weren't many hotels available. In the midst of this, I found "APA Hotel & Resort" with a large number of rooms. The price difference between breakfast included and not included was 1,759 yen. I made a reservation with dinner included. I arrived at the hotel at 3 pm. I parked my car in the bumpy parking lot in front of the hotel and checked in. ... How many foreigners are there? In the lobby, there were many banners for the "Asian Winter Games in Sapporo"!! Oh no, I made a mistake. Since there's no point regretting it, I went to my room. At the designated time, I went to the dinner venue. Of course, the athletes were also there. Dinner time was from 6 pm to 9 pm. I put my meal ticket in the box, took a tray with chopsticks and plates, and went to get my food. There was sushi, sashimi, Chinese dishes, steak, and more. The dish I was most curious about, Genghis Khan, was the type where you grill it yourself with solid fuel. I took some food, asked for beer from the staff, and they said it's 1,000 yen for 90 minutes of all-you-can-drink. I paid at the entrance and got a drink ticket. I went to the beer section with the ticket. The staff poured me a beer, and I went back to my table. Now, let's eat. First, I tried the sushi... hmm, onigiri. It was tightly packed and shaped like onigiri. The shrimp chili had a mild spiciness and tasted like ketchup. The butter-grilled scallop had poor freshness. There were two types of sauce for the Genghis Khan, ponzu and regular. I tried the Genghis Khan with the regular sauce... delicious. The sauce was tasty, and the meat was tender and flavorful. I had four servings of Genghis Khan. Finally, I had the sauce-covered yakisoba, which was also delicious. By the way, the foreigners were eating only the noodles without the sauce. The male staff had placed a sample of the sauce-covered yakisoba on their table. It was a mix of tasty and not-so-tasty dishes. Thank you for the meal.

This is the breakfast at the hotel I stayed at. There were about 10 dishes served in individual bowls, but in addition to that, there were also bread, soba noodles, and seafood bowls available, so it was quite a spread (laughs). The price is a little over 2000 yen, but I think it's good for those who want to try a variety of dishes. I couldn't finish everything, so I just took a little of each dish, but I would like to try different things next time. Thank you for the meal! m(_ _)m

This is a hotel located in Minami Ward, Sapporo in December 2015. It is the only large hotel in the area apart from the hot spring town, so it is often used for events like coming-of-age ceremonies and parties. In the past, it was also used for wedding receptions. I was supposed to meet my father here, but he didn't show up so I went in alone. The venue was filled with posters and a well-known figure from Kitami was on stage, talking about next year being crucial. Everyone seemed to have improved their public speaking skills. I was accompanied by my father, but he didn't want to sit next to me, so I ended up next to an acquaintance who joked about the price increase for the meal. The food included bonito sashimi, roast beef, shrimp chili, fried chicken wings, shumai, ankake yakisoba, and chirashi sushi, all with unlimited drinks. There was no dessert, but the food tasted like what you would have at a traditional wedding reception. The ankake yakisoba was particularly delicious. It was an interesting experience, but I have no desire to go up on stage at all.