Hokkaido Soup Curry • GARAKU, Tiger, 高陣 Takajin Review • Origin Theory

Ben suggested Japanese curry when we arrived in Sapporo, Hokkaido - my first reaction was it was alright though I wasn't overly eager.

My old impression was Japanese curry is usually roux with factory made curry spice mix. (Coming from Southeast Asia, I prefer my curry spice mix made from scratch - okay..., even in Southeast Asia this is becoming rarer.) It is also starch thicken like a gooey sauce - I don't really enjoy it.

Anyway, we went for it and our first target was the スープカレーGARAKU Sitatte Sapporo outlet. But, we gave up as the restaurant was full and there were at least 20 more in the queue ahead of us.

Then, we took a 5 minute walk to Tiger Curry Akarenga Terrace. There was no queue at the less famous brand.

Not our first choice, so I lowered my expectations a little. Turned out I was mind blown by my first experience with Hakkaido soup curry here.

It doesn't have the processed food taste and feel, but felt natural and wholesome.

According to most accounts, Hakkaido soup curry was created only recently, in the 1970s by Ajanta curry restaurant in Sapporo. It's a winning fusion of body warming herbal chicken soup (Yakuzen 薬膳), curry spices (Indian and Southeast Asian) and wholesome fresh Hokkaido produce.

However, I would like to explore an alternative possible origin theory that it might be much older and had came via the Dutch East Indies (today's Indonesia).

In the Dutch East Indies cookbook dated 1843, there is a Japanese curry recipe. It's a chicken soup with spices, vegetables and chicken pieces and / or patty (frikadelle). Eaten with boiled rice, it has some similar DNA as the soup curry we get in Hokkaido today.

My detailed article on the historic Dutch Japanese soup curry here 👈

I have not come across the Japanese curry documented in the 1843 Dutch East Indies cook book in today's Indonesia. More research is required.

Back to today's Sapporo, Hokkaido.

The stock at Tiger was light bodied but loaded with natural bone and vegetable sweetness. The spices added more flavours and aromas, and a spicy hot sting as I opted for more heat.

The Hakkaido contribution was the exceptionally fresh crunchy sweet vegetables like pumpkin, potato and lotus root, and a huge meaty slab of tender juicy sweet deboned chicken thigh. There's dried krill (small shrimp) for crustacean umami too. Everything worked perfectly together in a complementary way.

It tasted and felt different from Japanese curry outside of Hokkaido and curries of Southeast Asia today.

Tiger has the beef patty or frikedel option too.

Tiger's soup curry came with boiled rice, sweet and was a perfect white canvas for the tapestry of flavours from the soup curry.

After Tiger, I was determined to try GARAKU, by far the most popular and famous Hokkaido soup curry.

The main GARAKU outlet (established 2007) is located at Nijo Market, popular for their seafood shops.

The queue here was even longer than at the branch at Sitatte Sapporo. At 1030am, there were 20 ahead of me and another 40 came after me to bake in the Hokkaido midsummer heat, even before the shop opened at 1130am 😱

Scanning the menu, GARAKU doesn't have frikadelle 🤔 They have grilled chicken, fried chicken, grilled pork, etc.

I had the classic grilled chicken in soup curry with vegetables.

The soup was thicker, heavier, more grainy (like a stew) than that at Tiger.

More spice flavour, less vegetable and chicken sweetness. The vegetables were stewed in the soup a little longer, so they were softer, less crunchy.

The grilled chicken thigh was tender but wasn't as sweet as the Tiger one.

After visiting the Royce Factory in Royce Town, we took a train and went two stations up north to little Tobetsu town.

There's a local farmer's market in an old warehouse ふれあい倉庫 with 高陣 Takajin soup curry restaurant.

In terms of taste profile, 高陣's soup curry is closer to Tiger than GARAKU.

The stock is soupy, sloshy, generic curry powder (I believe), but the vegetables were farm fresh and nicely done.

Generous amounts of market fresh, crunchy, naturally sweet eggplant, pumpkin, potato, broccoli, carrot, etc.

Nice fresh tender juicy sweet chicken thigh, though Tiger's was still the best so far for me.

Do I recommend 高陣? Yes, if you want to try soup curry and you are visiting Royce Town for the chocolate factory.

Tobetsu is a very small town with little else to see, so after lunch, the next thing is the ride the train back to downtown Sapporo (or your next destination).

Overall impression of the three soup curries I tried on this trip, I personally favour the rendition from Tiger.

There's one more important soup curry place I had to try before leaving Sapporo - Medicinal Curry Honpo Ajanta Souhonke, reputedly the place where the icon was invented. Unfortunately, we ran out of time in Hokkaido, so have to take a rain check on Ajanta till next time.

Nevertheless, there are many more Hokkaido soup curry places in Hokkaido to try. Which ones have you tried and how did you like them?