Deer Hambagu Soup Curry @ Curry Shop S, Sapporo, Hokkaido

 

Soup curry is one of the main pillars of Hokkaido cuisine.  I had it a few times around the country and I really like it. So it just makes sense for me to try it at its land of origin. However, there is one specific shop I want to try and that is Curry Shop S. 

Welcome to Tsukimino.... wait a minute

It may not be obvious throughout the postings on this blog but I am a big fan of the Like a Dragon/Yakuza series. The game is a serious work of art and anyone who is a fan of Japan and Japanese culture should at least play an instalment of the series. With great attention to detail the company behind it SEGA, collaborates with local businesses in creating a lifelike replicas of real Japanese cities. And in the game Yakuza 5, they have featured Sapporo, specifically the area of Susukino in the form of its fictional counterpart, Tsukimino. However, the one thing that was not fictional was Curry Shop S. 

What a display!

In one of the chapters where they featured runaway prisoner Saejima, Curry Shop S is one of the many real life shops in the game where you can bring Saejima to eat so he can gain health and XP. And they do not shy away from it as in the front of the shop were posters of promotion pieces that talked about it. It was very cool to see such things come to life. With fandom aside, how about the food? 

Oh boy. 

Similar to many curry places in Japan, the shop allows you to choose the spice of the curry and the toppings. Since it is more of a soup than a curry, it tend to have more vegetables than your typical Coco Ichiban. After some looking around I decided to get the most exotic on the menu deer hamburg steak! Standing at about 1880 yen, I thought it was decent considering the exotic nature of the meat I got. for completeness I got the regular soup type at a level 5 in terms of spice. You can choose up to level 10 if you so wish. But after various instances where Icarus went too close to the sun, I decided to take the middle route instead. 

So many things in one bowl. Magical. 

 The bowl that came before me was a treasure trove of ingredients and flavour. First of all, I was quite surprised as to how clear the curry soup is. Despite being somewhat transparent, it was very punchy. There was strong hints of onion, garlic, cinnamon and garam masala. Onion especially since there is half of an entire bulb in there. 

Deceptively clear. 

You would be food to think this is just some tea like colour water.  Also to my surprise, it was also quite spicy. If this was level 5, I cannot imagine how 10 would be like. And I am South East Asian! The heat was tempered with the various types of vegetables where their fibrous nature and sweeter profile help make the curry soup an easier takedown. Having lotus root in there was a genius move and was one of my favourite things in this bowl. 

The first of many great spoonfuls. 

The hamburg steak, or hambagu was also pretty good and with one bite I knew this is not your typical meat. There was a gamey element to it which makes it quite rich. Beef it definitely was not. The spiecs of the soup permeated into the patty, making it very flavourful too. Pairing it with rice help round out the meal overall and in the end makes it a pleasant eating experience despite the strong flavours in the bowl. 

Front of the house. 

Even though my fandom was in full force for this dinner, this is one shop I can definitely recommend whether you are into video games or not. The overall meal was so good that I occasionally had dreams about it. It is however, disappointing to see some 1 star reviews about the place. Mainly they are complaining about the food not being curry. Well, soup is part of the name, so I am not sure where they have lost the plot. Nevertheless, I hope I can make a revisit soon. So if you want to beat me to it, the address is as below:

〒060-0063 Hokkaido, Sapporo, Chuo Ward, Minami 3 Jonishi, 4 Chome シルバービル B1F