TacoCat's TrEats #54: A Clawsome Crab Experience! 🦀

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Cover image source: TravelSifu

Hey Hive!

Yay we're back with another Made in Japan contest! I'm always so excited for these because 1) Japan is my absolute favourite country, and 2) I looove Japanese food and am always happy to share my favourite haunts from Japan.

Anyway, today I want to share a famous restaurant chain in Japan called Kani-Honke!

Source: kani-honke.co.jp

If you've been to Sapporo or Osaka, you'll probably recognise this sign with the huge animatronic crab. And like me, you'll probably think they were the same chain. But they're actually not!

Source: GaijinPot Travel

The restaurant in Dotonbori, Osaka, is called Kani-Doraku, and was one of the first crab restaurants I ever saw in Japan.

I'm not sure which of the two is more famous, and I guess they're rivals, but they're actually found in completely different regions in Japan!

Kani-Honke can be found in the Hokkaido, Tohoku and Tokai areas, as well as Fukuoka and Kanayama. While Kani-Doraku can be found in Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nara, Wakayama and Hamamatsu.

Anyway, in July 2019, we travelled to Hokkaido to beat the summer heat in Japan, and we stayed in Sapporo, the crab capital! Although we're not huge fans of seafood (except salmon and anago sushi), Kani-Honke's crab sign was too inviting to pass up, so we decided to give it a try.

And we were pleasantly surprised! The moment you step into the restaurant - it's a completely different experience.

At the entrance, you're greeted by super polite servers in traditional Japanese kimonos. The interior of the lobby is intricately designed, with traditional wooden chairs (apparently made from precious Japanese Zelkova wood) for customers to sit and wait.

There are also quite a few ponds in the lobby with live crabs of various species.

I'm not sure what the significance of the bear statue is; but he looked pretty menacing with that fish in his mouth.

There was also a takeout counter in the lobby, for people who wanted to buy their crab sushi to-go. They even had various merchandise there!

It was past peak lunchtime when we went to the restaurant so we didn't have to wait long to be seated.

We had to take our shoes off and were then lead to the elevator and we took the lift up a few levels and were shown to a private room!

The room itself was just like a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) with the tatami mat and floor cushions.

I think that's the first time I actually set foot in an authentic Japanese traditional-style room like this so it was really cool!

Before exploring the floor, we looked at the menu and ordered our dishes.

As expected, the menu was pretty substantial; with all sorts of crab sets. They had full course meals that consisted of 9 dishes (including appetizer and dessert) like this:

Source: TripAdvisor

They also had different types of crab sashimi and even in hot pot style (kanishabu)!

Source: kani-honke.co.jp

Since we weren't that hungry, we decided to order a la carte - a main to share and some sushi.

For the main, we decided on rice porrige with crab & pickles.

The egg porrige was pretty standard fare, but tasty all the same. The egg made the rice porrige fluffy and the consistency was perfect. The crab was fresh and tasted really good too!

For the sushi, we decided on the Thick Rolled Crab Sushi and the Snow Crab (pressed type) Sushi.

It was suuuper filling because of all the rice, but the crab tasted really good! It was definitely fresh, and complemented the sushi rice really well. One of my favourite type of sushi is crab meat mayonnaise, so this was like the super high level version of that. 😅

I was sooo stuffed after eating the porrige and sushi! So I took a short walk to the restroom to see what it was like.

There are slippers for you to wear before entering the restroom, which is advisable since the floor can be wet. And one of the worst feelings is wearing wet socks amirite.

I couldn't take a picture, but the restroom itself was really nice and clean, of course.

I was so impressed with the interior of the restaurant. It legitimately looked like a ryokan, with all the private rooms. The green carpet was a nice touch, as it looked just like soft grass.

I read that the wooden material used in all the Kani-Honke buildings are self-sourced to match the self-designed floors of each restaurant. We didn't get to see the other floors, unfortunately, but I bet they looked amazing!

I saw online that they have traditional gardens and stone gardens, with some private rooms even having a garden view!

Source: kani-honke.co.jp

Their Tokyo Castle branch even has a large luxurious hall with thick beams made of Japanese Red Pine!

Source: kani-honke.co.jp

They must reserve those really fancy rooms for their higher class clientele. Either way, I can tell the furniture was all carefully selected and the rooms well decorated. The interior truly brings to life the beauty and dignity of Japanese architecture.

Source: kani-honke.co.jp

So just a little background info; Kani-Honke was founded by Hioki Tatsuo, who is known as "the father of crab cuisine" not only in Hokkaido, but all of Japan! It's a hefty title, but he founded the company in 1971, so it's safe to say few are as experienced when it comes to top-notch crustaceans. I think he's on par with Kiyoshi Kimura, the "Tuna King", but with crabs!

Source: Document Movie of "Father of Crab Cuisine" Tatsuo Hioki