Japan Winter Holiday 2017 Part 6 - Ironai Shokudo and Kita no Ice Cream

The morning after our overnight stay in Otaru, we went for breakfast at Ironai Shokudo Cafe. I found it by chance on Google and Foursquare and it had good reviews on both sites for breakfast. It was just a block away from our hotel so even though it was a chilly morning we were able to walk there no problem.

Walking to the cafe

The cafe itself didn't have an obvious sign, so it would be a good idea to look at the front view photo before you go. That's what I did so we found it no problem. Even though the cafe area was located on the second floor, as soon as we walked through the door we saw unusual decorations like drums of green coffee beans. Maybe it was storage instead of decor :D

Decorated in old European style, the seats and objects there were tightly situated. Many items were just left on the seating area. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't untidy nor unclean,..... just unusual setup. We ordered three breakfast sets and drinks, and finished with a cake. It had seemed like there were just a grandpa and a grandma running the place, but later on I saw a young chef came out of the kitchen.

Grandpa as cashier and server

Miss Kiki's Hot Chocolate

When I asked if they had any cakes, the grandpa came out with a tray of sliced cakes that we could choose from. This one below was my choice.

Cake

The breakfast set was very yummy. It was small, but just enough for breakfast.

Breakfast set

Iberico

Very useful minky neck warmer

We needed to check out from our hotel at noon so after breakfast we went back and checked out even though it was still early. We didn't want to have to come back from wherever we were just to check out.

At the hotel lobby

Outside our hotel

We wanted to check out a few things in Otaru before we move on to Sapporo, so we headed out towards Sakaimachi Shopping Street.

Delivery guy

We made a stop at Kita no Ice Cream to try the Uni (Sea Urchin) ice cream they were famous for. Actually they had several unusual flavours in this ice cream store. I just had to give it a taste. My verdict was.... it was so so. The flavour of Uni wasn't bad as ice cream, but the texture of the ice cream wasn't good. In conclusion, it wasn't a bad flavour, it was just not good ice cream. Not to mention the grumpy lady behind the counter...

Ikasumi (squid ink) and Uni (sea urchin) flavour

She was afraid to try but tried it anyway

Even natto (fermented bean) flavour!

We continued walking towards the shopping street and passed Otaru Denuki Koji. This is a shopping street officially but I think a restaurant block is a more appropriate name. There are many shops selling food in this block and prices are generally higher than other places.

Denuki Koji Sign

Nikka Whisky is another famous product from the area. It was founded by a Japanese man who went to Scotland to study the process of distilling whisky, met a girl there, married her, and came back to Japan with her. Rita was his wife's name.