Restaurant in Sapporo, Japan
Six seats, five years of Tabelog bronze.
Shimoyamitenae Izuru is Sapporo's most consistently awarded innovative French counter, holding a Tabelog Bronze every year from 2022 to 2026 and a Silver in 2021. At JPY 30,000–39,999 per head for both lunch and dinner, it is the right choice for fish-focused creative cuisine with serious sake and wine pairing. Book via SMS at least 2–4 weeks out — the counter seats only six.
Yes — if you want the most decorated innovative French restaurant in Sapporo and are comfortable spending JPY 30,000–39,999 per head. Shimoyamitenae Izuru has held a Tabelog Bronze Award every year from 2022 through 2026, earned a Tabelog Silver in 2021, and was selected for the Tabelog Innovative/Creative Cuisine "Tabelog 100" list in 2025. That is a five-year consecutive track record of peer recognition that places it squarely at the leading of Sapporo's creative dining tier. The 6-seat counter format means the room is intimate to the point of being private, and the fish-focused menu draws heavily on Hokkaido's exceptional seafood supply. Book this if you want a serious, quiet room with sommelier service and Hokkaido produce treated through a French-innovative lens.
The venue sits in a low-key building in Minami 9 Jonishi, roughly a 5-minute walk from Nakajima Koen Station. Six counter seats and a sunken seating option give the room a composed, unhurried feel that is rare at this price point. Private rooms accommodate parties of 4 or 6, and the venue can be taken over entirely for up to 20 guests — useful to know if you are planning a milestone event. Strollers are welcome, which is unusual for a restaurant at this level, so families travelling with young children are not excluded.
The drinks program adds genuine weight to the case for booking. The kitchen is noted as particular about both nihonshu (sake) and wine, and a sommelier is on site. For a 6-seat innovative-French counter in Sapporo, that pairing depth is not a given. If you care about how the drink list is matched to course progressions, this is a more considered option than most at the same price in Hokkaido. Compare it to HAJIME in Osaka or akordu in Nara , both operate at a similar intersection of French technique and local produce with serious beverage programs, and Shimoyamitenae Izuru sits in that same tier of intentionality, scaled to Sapporo.
Tabelog score of 4.26 (2026 data) and a Google rating of 3.4 from 65 reviews create a slight divergence worth noting. Tabelog's reviewer base skews toward experienced Japanese diners who grade on technical and ingredient quality; Google reviews tend to reflect a broader range of expectations and languages. Take the Google score as a signal that this is not a crowd-pleaser in the casual sense, not as evidence of inconsistency at the level that Tabelog's sustained Bronze and one Silver award imply.
Shimoyamitenae Izuru has been open since April 2019 and the booking approach is unconventional for a restaurant at this level: the preferred contact method is SMS to +81-90-9434-1700. The venue explicitly asks visitors not to call except in urgent situations, as staff are occupied with prep during service hours. Online reservations are available. There is no official website listed, so your booking route is either the Tabelog reservation system or SMS directly. With only 6 seats and a maximum of 8 for private bookings, availability is tight , plan at least 2–4 weeks out, and further ahead for weekends or if you want a specific seating time.
Service runs in three daily slots: 12:00–14:00, 14:00–16:00, and 18:00–21:00, every day of the week including public holidays. Closing days are not fixed. Credit cards are accepted widely (Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Amex, Diners, UnionPay); electronic money and QR payments are not. Coin parking is nearby. Free Wi-Fi is available.
Quick reference: 6 seats, JPY 30,000–39,999 per head at both lunch and dinner, open daily with non-fixed closures, SMS booking preferred, 5-min walk from Nakajima Koen Station.
Within Sapporo's high-end dining tier, your main alternatives are Arima for sushi, Hanakoji Sawada for kaiseki, and Le Musee IDEA for French. Shimoyamitenae Izuru is the right choice if the innovative-French format is specifically what you want , it is the only venue in this set with a five-year consecutive Tabelog Award streak in that category. If you want the most technically demanding traditional experience in Sapporo, Hanakoji Sawada's kaiseki is the stronger comparison. If you want Hokkaido's seafood in a more focused sushi format, Arima competes directly on ingredient quality.
On price, Shimoyamitenae Izuru sits at JPY 30,000–39,999 for both lunch and dinner , a flat pricing structure that makes lunch an efficient entry point without sacrificing the full experience. Menya Saimi and Nukumi operate at significantly lower price points and different formats (ramen and crab respectively), so they are not direct substitutes , but if your group has mixed spending appetites, pairing a meal at Shimoyamitenae Izuru with ramen at Menya Saimi across the trip covers both ends of what Sapporo does well.
For visitors who have already done one Sapporo fine-dining meal and want a return visit benchmark: Shimoyamitenae Izuru's sustained award consistency across six years is harder to find locally. aki nagao, Hidetaka, and Higebozu all merit comparison depending on your format preference, but none sit in the same innovative-French niche with this depth of Tabelog recognition. If you have already visited and want to extend across Japan, the closest equivalents in ambition and format are Goh in Fukuoka and Gion Sasaki in Kyoto, or internationally, Atomix in New York City for the same counter-format precision.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| shimoyamitenaeizuru | Easy | — | |
| Arima | Unknown | — | |
| Hanakoji Sawada | Unknown | — | |
| Le Musee IDEA | Unknown | — | |
| Menya Saimi | Unknown | — | |
| Nukumi | Unknown | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
Book as early as possible — the venue runs at 6 counter seats and the preferred contact is SMS to 090-9434-1700, not a phone call. The team explicitly asks guests to avoid calling during prep hours. Given five consecutive Tabelog Bronze wins and a 4.26 score, demand consistently outpaces supply, so contact them several weeks out for weekend slots.
No dietary information is confirmed in available venue data, so raise any restrictions directly when you make your reservation via SMS. At JPY 30,000–39,999 per head with a sommelier on hand and a stated focus on fish, the kitchen is clearly working at a level where personalisation is a reasonable conversation to have — just don't assume without asking.
The room is small: 6 counter seats, sunken seating, and private room options for up to 8. Contact is by SMS, not phone. Budget JPY 30,000–39,999 per head for both lunch and dinner. It has held a Tabelog Bronze Award every year from 2022 to 2026 and earned Silver in 2021, placing it in Tabelog's Innovative/Creative Cuisine Top 100 for 2025 — so expectations at this price point are well-founded.
Both lunch and dinner are priced identically at JPY 30,000–39,999, which is unusual and signals the kitchen treats both services with the same weight. There is no data indicating one service is materially different from the other. If scheduling flexibility matters, the three daily slots (12:00–14:00, 14:00–16:00, 18:00–21:00) give more options than most Sapporo restaurants at this level.
Arima and Hanakoji Sawada are the most relevant Sapporo alternatives in the fine-dining tier. Le Musee IDEA covers a similar innovative French direction. Nukumi is worth considering if you want a more intimate counter experience. Menya Saimi sits in a completely different category — ramen — and is not a like-for-like substitute.
Yes — it is listed as family-friendly and children are welcome, but the format (6-seat counter, JPY 30k-plus per head, sommelier service, fish-forward innovative French) is clearly geared toward an occasion dinner rather than a casual family meal. Private rooms are available for groups of 4 or 6, and full private use is available for up to 20 people, which makes it one of the more flexible options at this price point in Sapporo.
Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun, Public Holiday, Day before public holiday, Day after public holiday 12:00 - 14:00 14:00 - 16:00 18:00 - 21:00
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