The mayor of Sapporo - which looks like an old sketch by Gerhard Polt from "Almost like real life" from the 80s sounds, was actually a great honor for us.
Mayor of Sapporo visiting restaurant sansaro
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the twinning between Munich and Sapporo, the mayor of Sapporo in Munich was invited by Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter to a comprehensive Bavarian lunch at the Nockherberg.
According to his official duties and the pound Bavarian cuisine, he obviously didn't want to miss the opportunity to visit a Japanese restaurant in Munich.
Sapporo since 1972 twin city of Munich
So the choice fell on our restaurant sansaro and we had the honor to taste the mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto together with his entourage.
Our team has quickly arranged a small foray into Japanese cuisine and already with the second course, the SashimiThe mayor immediately let it be known that he was interested in the as good as him Japan taste.
This is something special, he says, because there are endless restaurants outside Japan that seem to offer Japanese cuisine - but just not Japanese taste.
We can tell you a thing or two about how Japanese people abroad are (justifiably) always extremely skeptical whenever they see a See restaurant that seems to offer Japanese cuisine...
Sapporo is the capital of the Hokkaidō seafood region.
However, his praise especially right after the sashimi is all the more weighty for us:
The Hokkaid regionō is considered to be one of Japan's culinary treasuries, especially when it comes to seafood. The cool waters that wash around the northern, sparsely populated island are a guarantee for excellent fish and seafood quality. So he knows what he is talking about...
Our first chef 2006 - 2010 Yūri Yagawa, a profoundly trained sushi master like there are very few in Munich, had also undergone his training in a small sushi restaurant in Hokkaidō.
Visit of the mayor a special honor for us
In this respect, we are particularly grateful for the mayor's visit, especially as our Japan-loving boss Alexander Reinelt has of course felt the closeness in spirit between Munich and Sapporo since his childhood.
Beer, winter sports, the 1970s Olympics and certainly much more connects Munich and Sapporo - and the nature in Hokkaidō is breathtaking.
In general, the whole of Japan is a more than exciting travel destination and we very much hope that one day we will all be able to travel to Japan again in an uncomplicated way to experience Japanese culture live and the pleasure that only Japanese lifestyle with onsen can offer, Omotenashi and Washoku can produce, enjoy
Enthusiasm for our commitment to Japanese cuisine
Finally, we had the opportunity to talk to the mayor about our approach to authentically transport Japanese cuisine and culture. The effort behind this is often unimaginable for both sides. What is normal for the Japanese and results from tradition or names, often first has to be translated for Germans and brought into a tangible structure. At the same time, some expectations of German guests and necessities for a restaurant in Germany are not always automatically understandable for the Japanese.
We were able to explain the cultural translation work we do at this point with our sake tasting cards, which we use to try to give customers a quick overview of Sake to give an orientation between brewery names, variety names, Category name, flavor profile and origin.
Finally a yuzu spirit
And finally, there was one thing that could not be missed during such a visit to Munich: a local specialty, which again bridges the gap between the two cultures.
This time in the form of a Yuzu spirit, which we produce together with the Munich distillery Cosmic-Spirits have made. A typical southern German distillation process to obtain a spirit from fruit, with original organic yuzu from Japan, an aromatic citrus fruit, then also a raspberry and a blood orange spirit from Cosmic Spirits.
"Quite strong" was the comment - clearly, in Japan, contrary to popular belief, people rarely drink quite strong brandies or spirits. Sake is, after all, a much milder, more aromatic product and also the japanese liquor shochu is actually not as strong as a Bavarian or Austrian schnapps.
We hope that the mayor in this respect was in a good mood and strengthened for his visit to the town hall the following daywhere he signed the golden book of the city of Munich. We thank you very much for the visit and hope to see you again. Thank you very much and see you soon at sansaro!
