[Pancho in Obihiro] Founder of Pork Rice Bowl

Pancho

Ganso Butadon Pancho (豚丼のぱんちょう) is a long-established store specializing in pork rice bowl founded in 1933 in Obihiro city, and is near Obihiro Station. The Pancho in Japanese reading means "A restauran (飯亭)" in Chinese, and is well-known for serving a pork rice bowl for the first time. Mr. Takayuki Abe (阿部 孝之) is a restaurant owner at present. They were awarded the Gold Prize by the 1st and the 3rd Zenkoku Don Grandprix Butadon Section (全国丼グランプリ豚丼部門). The restaurant is also well-known for forming a long line at lunchtime.

The restaurant is not so large, and the interior decoration has an atmosphere of Japanese restaurant such as a tempura restaurant or a buckwheat restaurant. All seats are table seats, so I guess that even family customers enjoy meals. But a long line is expcted at the lunchtime. By the way, a highway bus "Potato Liner (ポテトライナー)" runs between the Obihiro and the Sapporo, and a express bus "North Liner-go (ノースライナー号)" runs between the Obihiro and Asahikawa. Besides, Rent-a-car can be rented around Obihiro Station and Obihiro Airport.

List of Means of Transportation

Highway buses run between Obihiro and Sapporo or Asahikawa. Refer to following the means of the transportation in the Obihiro. As for car rental comparison websites, you can compare vehicle rental prices on Tabi-Plaza Rental Car Reservation (旅ぷらざレンタカー予約), Jalan Rental Car (じゃらんレンタカー) and Rakutem Travel Rental Car (楽天トラベルレンタカー).

Chuo Bus(中央バス)	From Sapporo to Obihiro	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Chuo Bus(中央バス)	From Obihiro to Sapporo	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Takushoku Bus(拓殖バス)	From Asahikawa to Obihiro	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Takushoku Bus(拓殖バス)	From Obihiro to Asahikawa	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Nippon Rent-a-car(ニッポンレンタカー)	Their offices are near the Obihiro Station and the Obihiro Airport.	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Times Car Rental(タイムズカーレンタル)	Their offices are near the Obihiro Station and the Obihiro Airport.	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Toyota Rental Lease(トヨタレンタリース)	Their offices are near the Obihiro Station and the Obihiro Airport.	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Nissan Rent-a-car(日産レンタカー)	Their offices are near the Obihiro Station and the Obihiro Airport.	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Orix Rent-a-car(オリックスレンタカー)	Their offices are near the Obihiro Station and the Obihiro Airport.	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Station Rent-a-car(駅レンタカー)	Their office is near the Obihiro Station.	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Nico Nico Rent-a-car(ニコニコレンタカー)	Their offices are in Nishi 5-jo, Nishi 18-jo and Odori Steet.	HP	Jalan	Rakuten

OBIHIRO

Obihiro (帯広) that about 170,000 people live is the 6th largest commercial city in Hokkaido, and is one of regional hub cities of the Eastern Hokkaido area. It has flourished as the center of the Tokachi district. The Obihiro is also a stockyard for agricultural products in whole Tokachi district, and Potato, Beet, Wheat and Chinese Yam are famous as a local product. As for a climate, it is hot that temperature rises to nearly 30 degrees in a summer, and it is cold that temperature falls to nearly -20 degrees in a winter. It has a large temperature gap, but it has less snow relatively in the Hokkaido. Therefore skating is popular in the winter. Mr. Hiroyasu Shimizu, an olympic gold medalist, come from the Obihiro, and there is much competition population of the skating. Read More

Pork Rice Bowl of Hokkaido

Pork Rice Bowl (豚丼) is a rice bowl dish dished up grilled pork with sauce on rice. It is said that Mr. Hideshi Abe (阿部 秀司), the founder of Pancho (ぱんちょう) in Obihiro, made the Pork Rice Bowl for the first time. So it has been famous in the eastern part of Hokkaido, but the dish is well-known in the whole of Japan now. The feature is that grilled pork overflows from a lid of a bowl. About 200 restaurants sell the Pork Rice Bowl even around the Obihiro, Tokachi. Each restaurants are particular about sauce and types of pork. Standard sauce of pork rice bowl in the Obihiro is salty-sweet sauce, but some restaurants such as "Tsuruhashi (鶴橋)" serve a pork rice bowl with bitter sauce, so each restaurants compete on the original taste. As for types of the pork, a lots of restaurants use various pork such as pork loins, pork ribs, superfine pork loins and superfine pork ribs. Read More

Pork Rice Bowl

Although I visited here around 14:00 on a weekday, some people lined up in front of the restaurant even at that time. After all, they were the founder of the Pork Rice Bowl. After waiting for about 10 minutes, I entered the restraunt. Since the restraunt was crowded, I shared a table. All waitresses were old women, and gave skillful service. I read a menu. 4 types of the Pork Rice Bowl, Matsu (松), Take (竹), Ume (梅) and Hana (華), were written on the manu, and those were the number of sliced pork was different. In addition, customers also can order a bowl of miso soup and drinks if they want to drink. I ordered only the Take Pork Rice Bowl. The price was JPY 950.

About 5 minutes later, the Pork Rice Bowl was served. Sliced porks protruded from a bowl as I expected. It was a typical pork rice bowl. When I opend a top cover, grilled pork and green peas caught my eyes. The appearance looked tasty. I had a bite immediately. Sirloin pork chop grilled by charcoal was tender, and salty-sweet pork was tasty! Rice was poured salty-sweet sauce over, and I could enjoy eating even only the rice. I finished eating in less than 10 minutes. Thanks for the tasty meal!

Pork Rice Bowl and Atmosphere of Restaurant Can Be Watched on Youtube

Movie of Pork Rice Bowl

List of Accommodations

Refer to following websites for the accommodations in the Obihiro. You can get information regarding online reviews and photos.

Onsen Hotel Boston(ホテルボストン)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Midorigaoka Onsen Sauna Business Hotel(みどりヶ丘温泉 サウナビジネスホテル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Obihirominami Onsen Hotel Konan(帯広南温泉 ホテル光南)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Tokachi Gardens Hotel(十勝ガーデンズ ホテル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Business Hotel Plum Field(ビジネスホテル プラムフィールド)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Casa Inn Hotel Obihiro(カーサーイン ホテル帯広)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel Yamako(ホテルやまこ)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Toyoko Inn Hokkaido Tokachi Obihiro Ekimae(東横インとかち・帯広駅前)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel Tokachi Inn(ホテル十勝イン)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel AreaOne Obihiro(ホテルエリアワン帯広)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Dormy Inn Obihiro(ドーミーイン帯広)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel Route-Inn Obihiro Ekimae(ホテルルートイン帯広駅前)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel Paco Obihiro 3(ホテルパコ帯広3)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Obihiro Grand Hotel(帯広グランドホテル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
JR Inn Obihiro(JRイン帯広)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel Nupka(ホテルヌプカ)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Richmond Hotel Obihiro Ekimae(リッチモンドホテル帯広駅前)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Fukui Hotel(ふく井ホテル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel Grand Terrace Obihiro(ホテルグランテラス帯広)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Natural Hot Spring Premier Hotel CABIN Obihiro(天然温泉プレミア ホテル-CABIN-帯広)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel Nikko Northland Obihiro(ホテル日航 ノースランド帯広)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
APA Hotel Obihiro Ekimae(アパホテル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel Musashi(ホテルムサシ)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Comfort Hotel Obihiro(コンフォートホテル帯広)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel Paco Obihiro 2(ホテルパコ帯広2)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel New Obihiro(ホテルニューオビヒロ)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel Sun Park(ホテルサンパーク)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hokkaido Hotel(北海道ホテル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Business Hotel Grandy(ビジネスホテル グランディ)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel Arm Obihirominami(ホテルアルム オビヒロミナミ)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Obihiro Yachiyo Youth Hostel(帯広八千代 ユースホステル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten