Charcoal Hearth "Kushiro Robatayaki", "Zangi" Fried Chicken, "Washo Market Katte-don" & "Nemuro Escalope" Pork Cutlet Rice

The misty eastern port city of Kushiro is the birthplace of Japan's seafood "Robatayaki" hearth-grilling culture, pioneered in the early 1950s by the legendary tavern "Kushiro Robata." Seated around a large U-shaped counter framing a glowing oak-charcoal sand hearth tended by a master grandmother chef inside a smoke-seasoned timber hall, diners savor thick, lipid-rich Atka mackerel (Hokke), authentic Hokkaido shishamo smelt, squid, and giant scallops slow-grilled over embers and handed across the counter on long wooden paddles. Kushiro is also the birthplace of Hokkaido's beloved fried chicken, "Zangi," invented in 1960 at the restaurant Torimatsu by chopping a whole bone-in chicken into bite-sized pieces, marinating them deeply in soy sauce, garlic, and ginger, frying them crisp, and serving them with a tangy Worcestershire-based dipping sauce. For breakfast, Kushiro's Washo Market (one of Hokkaido's Three Great Morning Markets) offers the famous DIY "Katte-don" (Choose-Your-Own Rice Bowl), where visitors buy a bowl of warm rice and stroll from stall to stall selecting single slices of fresh sashimi—from sweet botan shrimp to king crab and fatty tuna. Continuing east to the frontier fishing port of Nemuro, fishermen seeking a fast, high-calorie meal after battling freezing seas inspired the creation of "Escalope" in 1963. An authentic Nemuro Escalope features a bed of fragrant butter rice sautéed with finely diced crunchy bamboo shoots (Takenoko Butter Rice), topped with a thin, crispy breaded pork cutlet and generously ladled with rich, dark demi-glace sauce alongside a crisp side salad.