Jun 24, 2012

Hokkaido Tokachi Butadon

One of the famous gourmet in Hokkaido Tokachi region is their "buta-don", or roasted pork rice with sauce.


Despite I was at Furano in the afternoon and my hotel in Tomakomai for the night, I still drove all the way to Tokachi just for this gourmet. A quick search on Japan's restaurant ranking web I learnt the best restaurant for the buta-don is "Ippin". 


Ippin got an open kitchen where you can see the cooking process, from roasting the pork with a special charcoal preserving its juicy flavour and tenderness. All over the walls were drawings conveying to customers how demanding they are in the quality of pork, rice and sauce, all for the sake of customers.


The rice was superb especially I asked for extra special sauce with the rice. After that,  I had another buta-don in a restaurant named "Hagaten" in downtown Obihiro, probably due to this shop specialized at Tenpura rather than buta-don, it was also delicious but in no way comparable to the previous one I had.


Later it turned out "Ippin" have branches in Sapporo region, with that in mind I can have my favourite buta-don without driving all the way to Tokachi.


Buta-don of "Ippin"

Buta-don of "Hagaten"

2 comments:

  1. I have tried this special pork dish. It comes from Obihiro. You can't even get this dish in Tokyo. One of the fastest ways from Sapporo would be by train.

    JR Hokkaido runs two limited express trains there, which are namely the "Super Ozora" (goes to and from Kushiro) and the "Super Tokachi". To get to Obihiro from Sapporo by train, I would highly recommend you to take the "Super Ozora". The journey with this train takes around 2 hours 10 minutes to 2 hours 30 minutes. At the most, it may take 2 hours 20 minutes, though some trains make additional stops.

    The "Super Ozora" runs 7 times daily in both directions, whereas the "Super Tokachi" does the same 5 times daily.

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  2. Oh, and one more thing. The best time to visit Hokkaido would be between November and March, during the winter season.

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