Soup Curry Treasure, Sapporo

Next up in our series on the best soup curry restaurants in Sapporo, we feature Soup Curry Treasure.

It is my unofficial opinion that Treasure is the “sister restaurant” of Garaku Soup Curry (which is on the same street about three minutes away). The food is nearly identical, but that place seems to be more famous and you can often get a seat there when Garaku has a line out the door. This whole business seems designed to take the overflow from Garaku – I have eaten at both places and I happen prefer Treasure.

Treasure is at the very Eastern end of Tanukikouji, just outside the plaza on the northern edge of the block (very close to Delhi and Sosei Kawa). Year ago the same restaurant was down the street, in a basement location.

If I am remembering correctly, it had a bit of “pirate treasure” theme then. As that building was torn down (they do love construction here in Sapporo), they moved (maybe in 2021?) to a 1F location further down the street (to what used to be an Italian restaurant), which was remodeled for them and has fresh and modern architecture. It’s really nice in here.

I almost always get one of the chicken dishes…

But today, the guy next to me at the counter ordered the hamburg (is it hamburger?) curry, and it sounded good, and it was a fine choice.

There is a bit of process to ordering when you choose the main dish, which sauce you want (three choices, I believe), you tell them how spicy you’d like it to be (I typically choose “two” on the scale from one to 10, which is plenty hot enough for me), and then specify how much rice you’d like (which comes with the meal).

For an additional detail: Treasure Soup Curry includes some vegetables along with the main portion of the dish, and one of those is a few springs of broccoli. I am not certain if the broccoli is baked or fried, but it comes slightly blacked and packed with flavor. It is not often I find myself excited about broccoli but that flavor is amazing and really adds to something to the meal.

In American we talk about “spicy” to mean both how “hot” and the flavorful of the food. I already confessed that I don’t like overly “hot” food (the Japanese can really set your palate on fire if you’re not careful), but Treasure goes beyond the heat, and delivers a deep flavor that makes this special curry indeed.

Soup Curry Treasure has a kind of slogan (or maybe it’s a “core value”) that they display in at least a couple of places on their walls. It goes like this: “Make full use of spices to become a world famous store.” I cannot say exactly why, but there is something so genuine in that line, that I am always inspired by it. It’s entrepreneurial, but simple. And it speaks to the literal and cultural flavor of the place, and makes me love it all the more.

If Sapporo is the best city in the entire world (and it most certainly is), the honest dedication to good soup curry from Treasure is another contribution to why this city is a great place to visit, and a perfect place to live.

There is typically some Western pop music playing overhead. I noticed today as “Dancing on My Own” by Robyn Tove Lo (?) came softly thru the speakers. The version they play in Treaure is a beautiful, sad, R&B rendition of the song, her voice is amazing… and I have this same thought every time I am here. They must have a brief playlist, because I hear that track every time I am in there – but I like it.

Today’s meal was the curry and a delicious Sapporo Classic beer and I paid about Y2100. We’ll worth it. Highly recommended.

For other examples of Sapporo soup curry in the neighborhood, you might try Garaku or for Delhi for Indian flavored soup curry.