Lake Onneto and trying the famous butadon at Obihiro

29 August 2023

Our road trip in Hokkaido continued on this day with a long drive, mostly on the expressways, from Lake Akan in the Akan Mashu National Park to Otaru. Otaru is a small harbor city located about 45 minutes drive northwest of Sapporo. The first part of our drive was from our hotel (La Vista Akangawa) in Akanko Onsen, via Ashoro, to Obihiro. I deliberately planned a lunch stop at Obihiro. Obihiro is the birthplace of the Buta-don (rice topped with strips of barbequed pork) and this dish is now famous worldwide!

We left La Vista Akangawa at about 9 AM, with the drive to Obihiro taking about 2 hours. The highway towards Ashoro would passed by the entrance to a slip road that leads to the start of the trail to Mount Meakan and also Lake Onneto.

Lake Onneto is a small lake at the foot of Mount Meakan, in the westernmost region of Akan-Mashu National Park. I have read that Lake Onneto is known as the "Lake of Five Colors." Depending on the weather conditions and time of day, the water appears to change in color from light blue through shades of green to dark blue.

I was debating with myself whether we should spent 30 minutes for a detour to see this lake as the weather was not good and we would probably be seeing something grey and disappointing.

Rather than regretting not going, I told my son who was driving to take the detour when we arrived at the junction of the slip road. It was the same familiar narrow road that we took a few days ago when we hiked up Mount Meakan. Lake Onneto is located just a few minutes further ahead of the trailhead.

Lake Onneto

There are parking spaces for just a few cars along the narrow road when we arrived at a wooden observation deck with unobstructed views of Lake Onneto. From here, visitors can view the lake and also see Mount Meakan and Mount Akanfuji in the background.

What we were supposed to see on the nice sunny day.

As expected, the sky and the lake were grey and there were low clouds shrouding Mount Meakan and Akanfuji.

What we saw at the observation deck at Lake Onneto. It was the same weather conditions that my son and I encountered when we hiked up to the summit of Meakan.

The observation deck at Lake Onneto. Note the narrow road leading to this place.

Although we did not get to see the fantastic views of Lake Onneto (and also Mount Meakan), I have no regrets. At least we can say that we had been here and done that. 

Butadon Pancho at Obihiro

Our next stop was a famous restaurant called the Butado Pancho in the city of Obihiro. There are a few popular restaurants in Obihiro serving this now famous dish such as Butahage, Tokaichi Butadon and Butadon Pancho.

I could only choose one. I selected Butadon Pancho mainly because this restaurant, founded in 1933, is known as the creator of this Hokkaido specialty.

Butadon Pancho’s opening hours are from 11.00 AM to 7.00 PM and there would be usually long queues at this popular eating place. I was planning to avoid the queue by going early, just after the restaurant opens.

We parked our car at the paid parking facility near the restaurant. There is a faint smell of BBQ pork in the air as we arrived at the restaurant at around 11.40 AM. Fortunately, there wasn’t a long queue on this day.

The queue outside Butadon Pancho when we arrived.

We had to register a name and number of persons in our group on a guest book at the entrance, and indicate if we are willing to share tables. There was also a sign that says that photography and videography is not allowed inside. Apparently, this is to discourage food bloggers and/or youtubers from wasting time creating social media content on the table, hence holding up the queue outside.

The queue moved rather fast and we did not have to wait long before we were shown to our tables. The restaurant is not very big, with seats for about 30 people. My wife and I took a small table while my son took another table next to us.

The menu is in Japanese. There is only one main course which is the butadon. We could choose the number of slices of pork that goes on top of the rice bowl and of course the prices vary based on the amount of meat. I understood a little of the kanji text and could recognise that there are 4 options with cryptic names as follows:

• “Pine”, 950 Yen (with 4 slices).
• “Bamboo”, 1050 Yen (with 5 slices).
• “Plum”, 1150 Yen (with 6 slices).
• “Flower”, 1350 Yen (with 8 slices).

Note: the number of slices is not indicated in the menu! I knew what the names meant from what I read about this restaurant.

We ordered the large (“Flower”) bowls of butadon with Coke to go with it. The food was served rather quickly.

The butadon was served with a bone china lid which could barely cover the 8 pork slices overflowing from the bowl of rice. Sitting on top of the delicious looking pork slices were green peas that do not add to the overall taste but definitely enhance the overall appearance of the dish.

Butadon with 8 slices of grilled pork and a side dish of yellow pickles.

The lid came in handy for me to temporarily place some of the pork slices on it while I attacked the remaining pork slices with the rice beneath. The pork is best eaten with the steamed white rice. The fragrant pieces of grilled pork is coated with a very tasty dark sauce that reminded me of the sauce on the unagi (Japanese grilled eel) dish.

Unlike beef, pork has to be well cooked. The texture of the pork would make or break this dish. Because Butadon Pancho uses the finest pork loin, the grilled pork pieces are tender. The little bit of fat on the meat adds to the flavour after grilling.

Overall, this was the first (and hence the best) Butadon I have eaten. I will definitely recommend visitors to try this dish when visiting or passing by Obihiro on your road trip.

Tip: go for the large bowl. You will never regret it.