This was a place I used to frequent back when it stood along the streetcar street, and since it stayed open even over the New Year holidays, I remember heading there with friends for our first curry of the year.
It is now run by someone different from those days, and while I had visited a few times since its revival, the short walk from the north exit of Sapporo Station always felt like just enough of a detour that I gradually stopped going.
Today I decided to get past that little detour and make my way back for the first time in a while.
The shop sits about five minutes on foot further north from the station's north exit, underground just like the old location, and I arrived at 12:06.
Heading downstairs I found three people already in line, but being a solo diner I was shown in ahead of them, and I was seated by 12:08.
Orders are placed by scanning a QR code that opens a menu inside LINE, and I ordered the Chicken and Vegetable Curry at spice level 1 with less rice, with the order going through at 12:12.
The dining room held about 28 seats by my count, and only a single seat remained open when I arrived, leaving the room essentially full.
They were also preparing around ten takeout curries at the same time, keeping the staff visibly busy, and remembering how there was always a line back in the streetcar-street days, that liveliness clearly has not changed.
Aside from what looked like one group of tourists, the crowd seemed mostly office workers on lunch break and university students, with surprisingly little sense of inbound visitors, and the split between women and men looked roughly two to eight.
Since ordering depends entirely on LINE, it bothered me a little that the phone signal inside was poor and the connection kept dropping.
Two network names that looked like the shop's own Wi-Fi appeared on my phone, but no password was posted anywhere, so they are probably for staff use.
The dish arrived at 12:28, carrying carrot, broccoli, komatsuna greens, kabocha squash, paprika and green pepper, and potato, with chicken thigh meat rather than a bone-in cut.
Every vegetable had been steamed or boiled rather than fried, and with no oil floating on the soup either, the bowl commits completely to a light, clean style.
The soup brought sweetness the moment it hit the tongue, then spice spreading out, and finally a depth of flavor arriving last.
The rice was plain white, served with a wedge of lemon.
The kabocha and potato were cooked to a perfect fluffiness and the carrot was tender enough to break apart with a spoon, while the chicken held its shape more firmly and kept a distinct chicken flavor.
With no oil to soften it, the spice comes through with a sharp, clear edge, and yet the volume rates a solid 4 out of 5, so this seems like a bowl well suited to anyone who prefers to avoid oilier curries.
I finished eating at 12:45; the Chicken and Vegetable Curry came to 1,580 yen, with a 50 yen discount for the smaller rice bringing it to 1,530 yen.
Just as I settled the bill and was heading out, about nine foreign tourists happened to walk in.
I had assumed the crowd was mostly locals, but apparently that is not quite the case.