Hokkaido 103 - A-Bu-Cha 2 ( 阿武茶弐 ) @ Niseko • Sassy Urbanite's Diary

A-Bu-Cha 2 ( 阿武茶弐 ) is one of the best izakaya styled restaurants in Hirafu. I managed to make a late dinner reservation back in November, more than 3 months before our visit in February, when some of the other restaurants had been full booked out. Crazy isn’t it? One needs to book at least 3 months in advance for good dinner place in Niseko and I was glad that I did make some dinner reservations even more than 3 month ago.

Our table wasn’t ready when we arrived so we hanged out at the bar for a bit and sampled some local beers. When we were finally seated at our table, we chose one of their signature hot pot, Hokkaido Seafood Sukiyaki for ¥6,500, and some other side dishes including grilled squid, sashimi, corn and edamame. The Seafood Hot Pot was very tasty with fresh Hokkaido crab, prawns and mussels cooked with local vegetables. It was the perfect dish for a snowy winter night. Service was attentive and swift even though the restaurant was fully packed.

Our final bill came up to ¥16,770, definitely not cheap in my standard, but it was sort of expected in a ski town. Then again, we have 4 more nights to go….

My advice is to make early dinner reservations in order to get a table here at A-Bu-Cha 2, and don’t miss out the drunken A-Bu-Cha 2 teddy bear seated at the bar near the entrance for some candid photo moments like the one below…