Dining out in Furano

Furano's peak season is in summer (lavender) and winter (ski-ing and snow).  As a result, they do have quite a number of hotels and quite nice little restaurants for a small town.

Toiletries and spa goodies at Hotel Natulux

Most of the hotels, however, are up near the ski slopes or away in the surrounding area so we were lucky to get rooms at the Hotel Natulux, located right by the Furano bus and train station for easy access.  It was a nice hotel, with a superb range of toiletries which of course we appreciated very much!   The hotel came with breakfast too - choice of western or Japanese breakfast, so as we were there for a few nights we had the opportunity to try both.  The best thing about breakfast was the bottle of fresh milk - so rich that the cream has risen to the top and sticks to the foil top - so you have to shake it hard to redistribute the cream again.  

Lunch was largely eaten on the road so we had to make up for it at dinner.  We went to Kumagera, known for their beef shashimi and nabe (hot pot).  The beef shashimi comprised thin slices of wagyu over seasoned rice.  There is a yummy soy-wasabe-savoury marinade which is poured over the beef before eating - probably lightly cooks the beef, much like lemon and olive oil for fish caparccio.  The hot pot nicely complemented the beef too - duck, chicken, venison (one little piece) and vegetables in a miso broth.  Washed down, of course, with Sapporo beer.

Fukuzushi - Chirashi Sushi Bowl

Another night, we went to Fukuzushi, right next to the hotel.  I had a lovely, huge chirashi sushi bowl. Large pieces of sashimi (that's what they are known for, apparently) - really a delight to eat these large fresh pieces of fish.  Probably the best meal I had in Furano!  

We also went to a well-known little patisserie, Furano Delice (I call it "Felice" for short, and I do feel happiness there!).  It's known for its milk pudding but we ate their Double Fromage Cheese Cake - with a normal cheese cake base at the bottom and a mousse-y layer on top.  Really quite light and yummy, so it's easy to

Happiness at Furano Delice

get down.  I must confess that I was also very happy with the mini cheesecake I bought from Furano Marche (the shopping mall for tourists, specialising in local produce) the day before.

Curry Rice at Masaya- check out the milk!

Apparently Furano is also famous for its omelette curry rice, so I had to have that too, at Masaya, an omelette curry rice restaurant at the heart of town.  I got the Furano special, so called because itis meant to showcase the best of local produce. As such it is served with a little bottle of milk (much like what we have been eating for breakfast every morning).  I am not a big fan of Japanese curry (lacks the lemak-lemak flavour of Southeast Asian curries) and I guess this still doesn't change things but I liked the thinly cooked omelette the rice came in, the tender strips of pork and the pickled cabbage (sauerkraut style) on the side.

So that's the run-down on meals in Furano.  The food adventures continue in Sapporo.....

Furano and Biei - a world of flowers

This year, I went to Hokkaido to experience the beauty of Japan in flowers and lavender.  We arrived in the town of Ashikawa on 11 July and such is the tourist appeal of Hokkaido in the summer, that there is a special "Lavender Bus" from Ashikawa airport straight to Furano.  In winter, Furano is all about ski-ing.  But in summer, it is about lavender and indeed there is an entire website devoted to this topic.

There are numerous lavender farms around Furano but one of the most famous is Farm Tomita, so of course that was where we went. And, we were not disappointed. We had selected the timing of our visit carefully.  Lavender, apparently, fluoresces in July and the peak of its fluorescence is in the third week.  The Japanese take it very seriously, just as they monitor and track the opening of the cherry blossoms ("sakura") they also have a fluorescence index to monitor the blooming of the lavender.  But of course the peak of the lavender bloom is when the tourists are out in full force and so we decided we would not compete with them and arrived one week before.  Even so, the fields were beautiful, a deep purple in colour and stretching out across the horizon.

Lavender field, Farm Tomita (Lavendin in front, Lavende at the back)

Now in a previous visit to Provence in France, we had missed the lavender season (and it was raining) but we learnt there that the French felt that only their lavender ("Lavende") was the true lavender and the type found in other countries including Japan was a less form ("Lavendin"). I am forced to say that I personally find the deep purple of "Lavendin" far more photogenic.  But, I should say also that the Farm Tomita features many varieties of lavender, including (I think) "Lavende".  And in truth, there are many different types of lavender available.  A relatively simple list can be found here.

Lavende, complete with bee

Lavendin, I suspect

It was also really quite interesting to track the lavender flowers fluorescing.  Our hotel had a few pots of lavender out in front and we managed to see the little flowers opening up.  I have never really seen the lavender flowers in such profusion before.

Fluorescing

 Lavender products could also be had a-plenty. And in addition, Furano is well known for its Yubari melon,  the price of which can go into the thousands and ten thousands of Japanese yen.Fortunately we got our slice for just 200Y each.

Yubari melon

Lavender Ice Cream

Lots  more photos of my visit to Farm Tomita can be found here.

We would do more flower gazing the next day, at Shikisai-no-oka, a flower farm between Furano and the nearby town of Biei.  Biei is considered one of the most beautiful villages in Japan - a reference really to the peaceful rolling hills and flower farms and fruit farms in the area.  But unfortunately, it was a rainy day when we went there and this discouraged us from roaming around.  The flower farm, however, was all one could ask for. Here're one or two pictures just to spark off some interest.  More photos can be enjoyed on my Flickr page.

Flowers and a distant view of hills

Flower fields, Shikisai-no-oka