Tsubara Tsubara - Quick, Tasty and Fun
Just like this review, Tsubara Tsubara is a quick, tasty and fun little Japanese restaurant on the edge of Niseko as one follows the road east to Kutchan. As it’s in one of the satellite “pension” areas, it can be easier to get a table here for those who walk 5 minutes further than Niseko’s main road.
One of the highlights of this place is the fantastic “dial up the chilli” ordering system. The food itself is fantastic - hearty, full of flavour and covering many of the local produce and seafood options you’d expect. But the chilli system basically works on a scale of 1 to 10. From the happy faces and anime-style children dancing at one point of the scale, choosing options 1 or 2 gets you a mild dose. Around level 3, you start to see interesting oriental dragons, red-faced (happy) diners, and so on. From our experience, up to around level 5 or even 6 was equivalent to a fiery curry, or thai-style chilli stir fry.
Above 7, things are basically insane. The menu is pretty much blood-red at this point, with the Japanese equivalent of skulls-and-crossbones, dire warnings, and volcanoes. If you’re foolish enough to a) order level 9 or 10, and b) be a gaigin, then the head chef will come to the table and assess whether you’re in a fit mental state. With my high-school level spoken japanese, I could just about make out him telling a bunch of snow-boarders that there wasn’t enough snow in all of Hokkaido to quench the flames that would result from their ordering at level 10.
Tsubara Tsubara is a fun, bussling place. Above all, the food is plentiful and tasty. Dial it up as a 10 on the “must eat there” meter.