On August 15th my wife and I went to Curry no Ko Kuroshio, a shop that serves roux curry rather than soup curry.
It is the second branch of the original shop inside the food hall at Sapporo's outer wholesale market.
You will find it in the Keiwa Aji no Meitengai arcade on the second basement floor of the Keiwa Odori Building 50, right up from Exit 26 of Odori Station.
You can also walk over from Pole Town or Aurora Town, and because the building connects directly to the underground concourse, you can get here without stepping outside even on a snowy day or while wheeling a suitcase.
The storefront announces "European-style keema curry" in large letters, and the curry here comes as a roux, not a soup.
We walked in at 12:55, and although it was a Saturday in the middle of the Obon holidays, only two other groups were in the shop.
We ordered at 12:59.
I chose the chicken leg curry at 1,450 yen, heat level 3, with a medium portion of rice.
My wife chose the Kuroshio Black Curry at 1,700 yen, also at heat level 3, with the mini rice.
Heat runs from level 1, the mild setting, up to level 10, and rice can be picked from a 150-gram mini up to a 400-gram jumbo.
Writing a Google review gets you a free lassi, so I had the plain one and my wife had blueberry.
You simply show the review on your phone when you pay.
The plates arrived at 13:07.
The chicken leg was braised until it came apart with a spoon.
The garnish was lotus root, carrot and broccoli, all lightly deep-fried.
A lemon wedge and pickled fukujinzuke sat on the plate as well, and the roux carried a swirl of cream along with what I take to be chilli oil.
A taste of it was not especially hot, and it smelled of garlic.
The roux is very thick, and I thought the salt was balanced really well.
Because it is so thick, though, I found a little rice left over as I worked toward the end of the plate.
A bit more roux, or a slightly looser one, might suit me even better. Probably, at least.
My wife's black curry is built on squid ink, with squid and prawns as the toppings.
Rather than seafood in general, it tasted purely of the sea.
It felt less like something simmered for hours and more like the ingredients being cooked and folded into the roux to order, which struck me as careful work. Probably, at least.