Jingisukan Sizzling Lamb BBQ & Sapporo Farm-Fresh Medicinal Soup Curry

Officially certified as an intangible Hokkaido Heritage culinary treasure, **Jingisukan** (named after the legendary Mongolian conqueror Genghis Khan) is the island’s most cherished communal feast. The dish is cooked tableside on a specialized convex cast-iron grill shaped like an antique warrior’s helmet, featuring radiating ridges. Slices of tender, succulent young lamb are grilled at the apex of the dome, while mounds of crisp bean sprouts, sweet onions, and seasonal bell peppers ring the base. As the lamb sizzles, its flavorful natural drippings cascade down the iron grooves, caramelizing the vegetables in rich juices before everything is plunged into an umami-packed sweet soy, garlic, and grated apple dipping sauce. The holy grail for savoring this tradition is the historic Sapporo Beer Garden, housed in an atmospheric 1890 Meiji-era red-brick brewery centered around a monumental copper brewing kettle in Kessel Hall. Here, beneath vaulted wooden ceilings, travelers and locals clink frosted mugs of freshly tapped Sapporo Classic—the iconic golden lager brewed exclusively for Hokkaido—while grilling mountains of tender lamb in a lively, smoke-filled hall echoing with convivial laughter. Sapporo’s other modern culinary triumph is **Soup Curry**, pioneered in the 1970s by combining Chinese medicinal herbal soups with South Indian spice traditions. Unlike thick, roux-based Japanese curry, Sapporo Soup Curry is served as a light, fragrant, intensely aromatic medicinal broth simmered for hours with roasted spices, tomatoes, cardamom, and basil. Each piping-hot bowl is laden with fall-apart tender bone-in chicken thighs and an exquisite bounty of flash-fried, farm-grown Hokkaido root vegetables—including sweet kabocha squash, buttery Danshaku potatoes, lotus root, and crunchy baby corn—eaten by dipping spoonfuls of turmeric-infused rice directly into the restorative broth.