Popular Restaurants in Hakodate: Seafood, Sushi and More

About a three minute walk from Hakodate JR station, the Hakodate morning market has over 200 stalls selling freshest seafood. It is one of Japan’s famous morning markets, with many stalls closing around 10 am, after which most of them only offer seafood to buy and don’t serve breakfast. So if you want to eat, get there early.

This morning market allows customers to fish the squid themselves, after which the stall owner turns the caught Ganso squid into sashimi with ginger and soy sauce. It has a crisp texture, and the squid might even suck your tongue, a very fresh taste. If you are buying seafood, make sure to shop around and haggle, as marked prices are quite high, and most stall owners will offer you a discount.

Located in Hakodate morning market, Ashiya Yosakoi Cafeteria is a well-known seafood restaurant covered inside with celebrity autographs and photos.

The delicious seafood bibimbap is freshest every morning, and those who like to confront fresh food should not miss it. We recommend the bibimbap with your choice of 3 kinds of seafood, or with 5 kinds of seafood (there are pictures on the menu to choose seafood, including sea urchin, sea lobster, squid, scallop, salmon, salmon roe, etc.). Ladies with small appetites can choose mini bowl portions. Expect to spend around JP¥2,000 - 3,000 per person.

The Murakami Urchin Store is a restaurant specializing in sea urchin dishes. The sea urchins provided by the restaurant are all freshly sea caught, and the ingredients are a guarantee of the quality of the dishes. It also supplies fresh sea urchins to Tokyo’s Tsukiji market all the year round, and is also a sea urchin processing point popular with many sushi restaurants and high-end restaurants.

They have urchin tea soup, sea urchin with cheese, sea urchin with rice, sea urchin wonton and other specialties, and after 10 o'clock every day, there will be original dishes like vegetables in sea urchin cream sauce, sea urchin fried dumpling and sea urchin tempura, so we suggest you go for your meal after ten o'clock. Due to the popularity of this store it is best to make reservations in advance. Price per head here is around JP¥2,000 - 3,000.

Ryuho Ramen Restaurant is located in Daimon Yokocho snack bar street. The space is tiny, with only 6 seats, but its popularity means it often gets crowded. We recommend you get there early. The price of salted ramen is JP¥750 and fried dumplings are JP¥400.

One of Hokkaido’s three great ramen flavors, Hakodate salted ramen is a local dish you have to try. Shinano Salted Ramen is a specialty shop frequented by locals. The store is small but very warm and the service is friendly and thoughtful. Many visitors will have a hot bowl of ramen to dispel the cold on their return from a trip to admire the scenery from Hakodate Hill. Here the price of ramen is around JP¥700.

Lucky Pierrot mean the lucky clown in the eye-catching signboard of this specialty burger store whose fame has spread beyond the seas. Inside, the decor is American style casual, somewhat idiosyncratic with blue as the dominant color, creating a free and easy atmosphere.

The shop offers three popular burgers. No 1 is a Chinese style fried chicken burger with crispy chicken in a special sauce with a hint of sweet and sour. The portion is generous. The second and third places in the ranking are the egg burger and the fried pork burger. You can even try the mega burger combining all three top burgers into one. What’s more, the cup fries taste pretty good. Expect to spend around JP¥1,000 per person.

Hakataro is the most delicious sushi chain in the Hakodate area, famous for its grilled salmon and conch sushi. Fish and shellfish ingredients are delivered daily to ensure a fresh taste. The store’s sushi chef is very skilled at kneading the sushi, making sure the rice is at just the right temperature.

Hakataro caters for events such as banquets, celebrations, receptions, parties, etc. It also has a deluxe private room and excellent service. The pricing method here is based on the color of the plate, the most expensive JP¥525, the cheapest JP¥125.