Toyako Honten Restaurant Sendouan 仙堂庵 (Lake Toya, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

We had a full day of activities (well, almost) starting by walking around Lake Toya very early in the morning. That was followed by a tour to Showa Shinzan Bear Ranch (昭和新山熊牧場) and finally, we wrapped things up by taking the Mount Usu Ropeway (有珠山空中纜車) up to the upper station's observation deck (有珠山火口原展望台) for the panoramic views of Lake Toya and neighboring Showa Shinzan. By the time we were done, it was already 3PM.

Scrambling for a place to have a late lunch, we were then hit with some bad news from the folks at our hotel. They showed us a brochure on all the cafes and restaurants by Lake Toya with their opening hours and only a couple would be open at this hour. While most of us decided to skip lunch rather than heading out in the cold again, Jelloman and I opted to check out our two remaining options, which ended up bringing us to Toyako Honten Restaurant Sendouan (仙堂庵). This is a peculiar place for a restaurant to be opened (in the late afternoon around 4PM) considering that it's on top of a large souvenir shop.



Toyako Honten Restaurant Sendouan (仙堂庵) looks like a traditional Japanese restaurant with a jack-of-all-trades food menu. Tempura, sashimi, tonkatsu; you name it and they've got it on their menu.



Not surprisingly, there was no customer here at this hour (who would have thought there's a restaurant here).



Didn't expect such a great view here. And Mount Usu Eruption Memorial Park (有珠山噴火記念公園), an art themed park with some really fantastic sculptures is right besides us.



Despite having sushi and sashimi for four straight days, Jelloman wanted to keep that streak going. Her chopped tuna rice bowl (1,200 yen) came with some nori and fresh chives on top. Not bad. 



I realized I haven't had tonkatsu (deep-fried pork cutlets) on this trip so I went with this set (1,130 yen).



It was made with high-quality Hokkaido pork. Pretty mouthwatering (or am I just too hungry?).



My only complaint was that the batter wasn't crispy or flaky enough. 



This turned out to be a great place to watch sunset with Mount Yōtei (羊蹄山) in the background.



After our quick dinner, we spent some time checking out the Wakasaimo (わかさいも) souvenir shop on the ground floor. Their Japanese taro desserts have been around since 1930. They are very well known in the area making all these white and yellow boxes hot items for souvenirs from Toyako Onsen (洞爺湖温泉).



We ended up buying five boxes of these to bring back home! There are different flavors and packing there but the one to get is definitely the "original" flavor with white bean paste (10-pack for the best value!).



Toyako Honten Restaurant Sendouan (仙堂庵) is one of the few restaurants on Lake Toya that opens from 9AM to 7PM. Go check them out if you're looking for a decent meal at these odd hours (~3PM). 





Food Rating: 4/10
Price: ￥￥￥
Address: 144 Tōyakoonsen, Toyako-cho, Abuta-gun, Hokkaido, 049-5721 Japan
Tel: +81 142-75-2782
Website: www.wakasaimo.com/shop/toyakohonten/