When you think of Hokkaido, images of magnificent nature and a treasure trove of food probably come to mind. Sapporo, Hokkaido's representative city, is filled with such a diverse range of gourmet food, and is lined with restaurants that will satisfy the palates of both locals and tourists.

Zangi is a popular Hokkaido soul food, along with Jingisukan, ramen, and soup curry. When it comes to Zangi in Sapporo, the restaurant that many people mention is Chinese Cuisine Hotei.

All the dishes on the menu, including the fist-sized Zangi, are very filling. Hotei is not only delicious, but also has a friendly, homey atmosphere that keeps the restaurant attracting regular customers and satisfying the stomachs and hearts of tourists and Sapporo residents alike.

It all started with a bowl of gomoku ramen

The origins of Chinese Restaurant Hotei Main Branch date back to the high school days of current chairman Isao Sato.

"One of my seniors in the newspaper club worked at a Chinese restaurant, and when I went there to deliver the newspaper, he treated me to a bowl of gomoku ramen. It was surprisingly delicious. I was so moved by the idea that something this delicious could exist, and that experience has stayed with me to this day."

This deeply moving experience led Sato to pursue a career in Chinese cuisine after graduating from high school. After gaining experience at a long-established hotel in Sapporo, he opened his current restaurant in 1998 at the age of 50.

A unique combination of sauce and zangi

Hotei is synonymous with its large zangi, which are as big as a fist, but when the restaurant first opened, zangi was not their main selling point, and the size was about half of what it is today. After about 10 years, they changed to serving zangi with their homemade sauce.

"At that time, fried chicken and zangi were often featured on TV and were just starting to become popular. We started serving zangi with a sauce inspired by yulin-ji chicken, and it quickly became popular."

From there, he continued to improve the dish by incorporating customer feedback, and the result was "Hotei's Zangi," which continues to this day. Before he knew it, the portions of the Zangi had grown in size, and the name of the restaurant became known in proportion to that.

How Hotei's Zangi is made

Hotei's commitment to his zangi is to fry it three times in oil at different temperatures, ensuring that the juices are sealed in.

The first deep-frying process forms the shape of the zangi so that the outer coating hardens, and the second deep-frying process is done in medium-heated oil. After that, the zangi is removed from the oil and allowed to rest for a while, allowing the residual heat to cook it through. Finally, it is deep-fried at a high temperature of 180°C until crisp, resulting in juicy zangi packed with meat juices.

At first glance, it may seem possible to recreate the dish by simply following the process, but Sato says, "The taste of our Zangi can never be imitated."

And that's no surprise. The size and condition of the meat, the sound of bubbles popping around the batter while frying... It's only through the experience and skill to discern with a keen sense every single one of these minute changes that that flavor is born. It's not something that can be acquired overnight.

The finished zangi has a crunchy batter and meat juices oozing out from it. The sweet and sour "secret sauce" adds to the zangi's delicious flavor.

A popular menu item born from the staff meal

The second most popular dish after Zangi is "Mabomen." Hot mapo tofu and curly noodles are perfectly mixed together, and the lingering spiciness makes it an addictive dish. In fact, it seems that this dish was created by chance.

"Originally, we often ate mapo tofu as part of our staff meals, but one day, a staff member tried putting mapo tofu on Chinese noodles, and it turned out to be surprisingly delicious. From there, we started thinking, 'Maybe we could commercialize this?' After two months of trial production, we started offering it to our customers."

Not just for "Ma Bo Ramen," but something that Sato values is "listening to customer feedback." When developing a new menu item, he almost always serves prototypes and listens to customer feedback.

"No matter how delicious I think my food is, it's meaningless if the customers don't say it's delicious. The answer is not what the chef thinks, but what the customers think."

We value the voices of people who say it's delicious and the connections we make with them.

"Many of our customers are regulars. Some of them are three generations of family members who have been coming to us. We are truly grateful for that. It's as if this restaurant has been raised by our regular customers."

Chinese Restaurant Hotei started with just five family members. It has now grown into a large company with dozens of employees, but the journey to get to this point was by no means easy. What supported them during difficult times were the customers' comments that the food was delicious. These words were the greatest encouragement for them.

The baton of "Chinese Restaurant Hotei," which he has carefully built up, has been passed on to his son, and the "connections with people" that Sato-san has always valued has been firmly passed down. As proof of this, ornaments given by customers are carefully displayed inside the restaurant.

"People don't line up in the window. In other words, no matter how much money you have, you can't get it. So I tell them to cherish it above all else," says Sato.

It's all for the sake of our customers' delicious food. We hope that the connections between people will continue uninterrupted.

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中国料理 布袋 本店
電話：011-272-4050
住所：北海道札幌市中央区南1条西9-1
アクセス：札幌市営地下鉄東西線「西11丁目駅」から徒歩4分
HP：https://hoteihonten-sapporoodori.foodre.jp
SNS：https://www.facebook.com/zangihotei
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