Benizakura Garden Park in Sapporo City !

by Kazu

Watching such beautiful garden, delicious Jingisukan Pot is enjoyable
in Benizakura Garden Park in the South District of Sapporo City.
This is where my unforgettable ceremony was held in my life. Beni-zakura means red cherry in Japanese but I am not sure if it has so cherry blossoms with dense color.
The garden is well-maintained by the municipality.  

A cherry tree with pale color flower was in full bloom on the hill that has the entrance to the shrine.
Benizakura Garden Park is located at the foot of Sakura-yama (Mt.Sakura) and known as the place where cherry blossoms in spring,  beautiful red and yellow foliage in autumn, can be seen and enjoyed. It has also the natural forest, Japanese traditional garden, fishing pool and well-maintained trail in the forest.

It has also a beer hall run by Japanese beverage company Suntory but it failed. The wooden building like a mountain lodge is the only place to enjoy Jingisukan Pot with beer, other alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks in the garden now.
"Benizakura Honkan" is the sign of the restaurant.  

Several staff members of the restaurant were working like bees before receiving so many visitors swamp to the restaurant for Japanese "Hanami" in which people enjoy and contemplate the beauty of flowers and blossoms with culinary delights and drinks in spring.

Some kinds of souvenirs and food are sold in the restaurant.

 It accommodates a hundred of people but the most of the table were on tatami floor and it may not be comfortable for occidental people and the the people with back pain.

After heating up the pot enough, the oil from the fat should be expanded on the pot to avoid  too much grilling.

Boiled bamboo shoots, fiddle heads and other wild plants to eat are flavored with broth and soy sauce subtly to extract the very best of the taste of those plants. Carrot is to add the color to them with earth color.

The quality lamb and mutton should be placed on the veggies like a lid of the pot to steam the veggies and themselves. This meat has not been soaked in the typical sauce of Jingisukan pot that the quality and the freshness can not be hidden.  

 The meat should not be grilled too much to the extent where the meat get crisp. As I explained before, the center part of the pot is much higher than the edge.

Bell pepper, onion and sprouts are the "must" in Jingisukan pot. I think everybody in Hokkaido agrees with me in this regard.  

 I do not think the stove can warm up the whole wooden building but it may be available even in winter. I am very sorry for the lack of information on this garden despite the place is so important for my wife and me.

I will post the ceremonial place where our prenuptial ceremony was held in the garden tomorrow;)