The Northern Fox

It has been a while since the Niseko Webzine has reviewed a restaurant or bar so we thought it was time to venture out from under our rocks and check out The Northern Fox.

The Northern Fox (the old Lodge Ronde entrance) is a new addition to the Niseko night scene this year and was labeled to be the live music venue for Niseko. It is positioned right in the middle of town on the 343 (main road), giving it unsurpassed amounts of foot traffic and potential for a Niseko Hot Spot!

It seems that the decision to turn the old Lodge Ronde into The Northern Fox was a late decision as renovations to the building started very late in the year. From our first encounter with The Northern Fox it seems that the renovations was the only thing they had planned as we were very disappointed with the establishment, well that is not totally true, the renovation has turned it into a great looking bar with the highest level of potential in Niseko! It is just a shame that the purpose of the bar does not match the cliental they are trying to attract!

Traditionally a live music venue is targeted at the "mass" of the demographic in a location; however, The Northern Fox has gone out on a limb! The prices of drinks and snacks of this establishment reflect a high end up market bar, for example, the devil water we like to consume is Jack Daniels with a splash of Coke; The Northern Fox charges 1000 yen or the equivalent of $10 Australian!! Yep and that is only for 1 drink!

Our next point that gets us a little upset besides ridiculous drink prices is service, if you are looking for service just do NOT go to The Northern Fox!! Sitting at the bar (as from our experience this is where you get the quickest service) our first round of drinks took in the proximity of 10 minutes! I would like to mention we were sitting at the bar and the place was far from busy with no more than 50 people inside at the time with 8 staff that we could see on the floor (yes we started to count them after the first 5 minutes of not having a drink in front of us).

So where to go?? Well if you are after an up market bar you can not go past J-Sekka! The service is first class, friendly, quick and the establishment matches the products! J-Sekka also has the advantage of having multiple restaurants on-site! Not just bar snacks that you will find at The Northern Fox! Want some live music? Your best option is to check out bars such as Wild Bills and Barunba to see what is playing at the time!!

Last words of advice - Do not go to The Northern Fox!