The farmhouse in the Kuriyama fields that opens one month at a time, by telephone, in Japanese — and seats no one who cannot follow the conversation without an interpreter.
By SHOKU NOREN TeamFacts last verified September 2026How we check
In shortSeasonal Japanese course cuisine in a farmhouse of private rooms, an hour east of Sapporo. Reservations run in Japanese and are hard to place from abroad, so our Tokyo desk requests the table for you, by phone and in Japanese.
Price
¥9,900 or ¥13,200 per person, lunch and dinner alike, tax included, plus 10% service
Hours
Lunch 12:00–14:30; dinner 17:30–21:00, enter by about 19:00
Closed
Tuesdays and the second Wednesday, plus dates on the house calendar
Seats
About ten guests a service, all in private rooms — two sunken-kotatsu rooms and one table room, each for two to four
Payment
Cards accepted; 10% service charge
Getting there
Kuriyama Station (JR Muroran Line, or the Kosoku Kuriyama express bus from Sapporo), then 5 minutes by taxi or 20 on foot; about 20 minutes by car from Ebetsu-Higashi or Iwamizawa IC
Party size
No solo diners
Ajidocoro is a farmhouse in the fields of Kuriyama, an hour east of
Sapporo by train or express bus, and one of the most decorated
kitchens in Hokkaido: two stars in the Michelin Guide Hokkaido 2017,
three toques in Gault&Millau 2020, and a Tabelog Award every year since
2019 — Bronze through 2023, Silver in 2024, 2025 and 2026 — alongside
three selections for Tabelog’s Japanese‑cuisine top 100. The owner’s
own statement of intent is plainer than the medals: respect for what
the fields, mountains, rivers and sea give in each season, served at
the moment of making, on vessels old and new that he arranges to suit
the food, in rooms dressed with the wildflowers, branches and nuts of
the month. Everything is private: two sunken‑kotatsu rooms and one
table room, each for two to four, about ten guests a service.
What you eat
One course, the same at lunch and dinner, priced (as of September
2026) at ¥9,900 or ¥13,200 with tax, plus 10% service. The published structure is
classical — sakizuke, a soup bowl, sashimi, a dressed dish, a grilled
dish, a vinegared dish, a simmered dish, rice, fruit, a sweet and
matcha — with order and count shifting by the day. The house is
explicit about what it will not do: it takes allergies, but not
preferences. Someone who dislikes summer vegetables in summer, or
mushrooms in autumn, is told the house cannot serve them. Cards are
accepted.
The booking reality
Telephone only, in Japanese (0123‑73‑6677), and the calendar opens
one month at a time: on the first business day of each month, from
09:00, every date in the following month becomes available — a seat on
5 March is asked for from the first business day of February. Phones
are answered, as far as the kitchen allows, 09:00–12:00, 14:00–15:00
and 16:30–21:00. Bookings close the day before; two guests is the
minimum; preschool children are not admitted. The house rests every
Tuesday and the second Wednesday and posts other closures on its
schedule page, which we check before the call. Then the rule that
matters most to a visitor, stated on the house’s own menu page:
guests who cannot understand Japanese are refused, unless an
interpreter is at the table with them. Our desk can make the call in
Japanese on release morning; the meal itself still needs a Japanese
speaker in the room, and we say so before we book.
Tabelog diners describe the seats as hard to get and worth the wait.
Travelers with a Japanese‑speaking companion and a day to spend
outside Sapporo, who want the province’s most decorated country
kaiseki at a price its medals would not suggest — and who can set a
reminder for the first business day of the month before.
Free release-date alerts: the day before, on the morning of release day (08:00 JST) and about 30 minutes before when the time is known — or a weekly summary if the house opens a little every day.
Ajidocoro: common questions
Can you book Ajidocoro from abroad?
Yes, through our Tokyo desk. Phone only, in Japanese; the following month opens on the first business day at 09:00; two guests minimum. We call the restaurant for you, in Japanese, and the ¥6,000-per-seat fee is charged only if we confirm your table — no seat, no fee.
Some of these links are referral links: if you book through them we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Restaurants never pay us to be listed or ranked. Editorial policy
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