Ikoma Sake Bar (日本酒Bar生駒)

Asahikawa was the second largest city in Hokkaido, with a population of about 340K (Sapporo: 1.95M). However, end September was a quiet time in this part of Japan, much contrast to Sapporo. We walked around Asahikawa downtown, and come across a glass door with the wordings "日本酒Bar生駒".

The bar was run by a couple. The master was the man in the picture. The young lady was one of their 常連さん (jourensan = regular). She tried chatting with us in her limited English. It was always fun to chat with people in such drinking places either with our limited Japanese.

We requested the master for some local Hokkaido sakes. Below were a few of them. Popular sake rice in Hokkaido were 「吟風」(ginpuu) and「彗星」(suisei) and Kitashizuku.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sakebarikoma/
Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/hokkaido/A0104/A010401/1045236/

Hanbey 薄利多賣半兵

The full name of this eatery chain was "薄利多賣半兵". The philosophy of the business was low margin and high volume. With an honest business, it hoped to be able to continue its business by making customers happy. And the theme of the outlets was the nostalgic Showa (昭和) era settings.

Initially we wanted to visit the outlet at Shinjuku, however we did not have time to do so in Tokyo. And we chanced upon it here in Asahikawa. We had the feeling of stepping back in time in a 70s izakaya.

Here are the english menus. The food were value for money.

Website: http://www.hanbey.com/
Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/hokkaido/A0104/A010401/1041770/