[Roadside Station Aioi in Aioi] Eat Brown Bear and White Bear!? Pretty Kumayaki

Aioi Bussankan

Aioi Bussankan (相生物産館) is a commercial facility adjacent to Aioi Railway Park (相生鉄道公園) at Roadside Station "Aioi (あいおい)", Tsubetsu town located in the southern part of Kitami city, and is near Shige-chan Land (シゲチャンランド). A restaurant, a souvenir shop and a restroom are at the roadside station, and a kumayaki house is built outside. * It has been renewed since 2018. The Aioi Bussankan is well-known for selling Kumayaki Cake (クマヤキ), a type of Imagawa-yaki Japanese Muffin. Mr. Shigenari Onishi (大西 重成), an owner of the Shige-chan Land, designed the shape of the Kumayaki Cake. The kumayaki house has a line on weekends. A gazebo is also built at the same site, so it is used as a place for custmers to enjoy foods and drinks.

Movie of Kumayaki Cake

Kumayaki Cake

The Kumayaki Cake is a bear shaped Imagawa-yaki Japanese muffin, and 4 types of the Kumayaki Cake, Brown Bear containing Chunky or Smooth Red Bean Paste (ヒグマのつぶあん), Brown Bear containing Soymilk Custard Cream (ヒグマの豆乳カスタードクリーム), Polar Bear containing Chunky or Smooth Red Bean Paste (シロクマのつぶあん) and Cold Brown Bear containing Chunky or Smooth Red Bean Paste and Fresh Cream (ナマクマのつぶあんと生クリーム) were sold. The price was JPY 150 per one.

My first visit was in 2015. I heard from Ms. Tani that the Kumayaki Cake became a popular topic, so I visited here. Only 2 types of the Kumayaki, the Brown Bear containing Chunky or Smooth Red Bean Paste and the Brown Bear containing Soymilk Custard Cream were sold at that time. The price was JPY 120 per one. I was going to purchase those immediately, but only the Brown Bear containing Soymilk Custard Cream was sold. The Polar Bear was sold out. It was popular, after all. As for the the Brown Bear containing Soymilk Custard Cream, the brown pancake was filled with cream and jam bean. The soymilk was also used in the pancake, so a higlight was soft and fluffy pancake. I felt that the pancake was too a little sweet, but I guessed that people got sugar supplementation if they were tired. By the way, the Kumayaki Cake had front and behind perfectly, and the back had a tail, too.

The road station highly recommended the Kumayaki Cake, and types of the Kumayaki Cake increased when I visited here in 2017. The price was JPY 150. It was more expensive, too. I bought a Brown Bear containing Soymilk Custard Cream and a Polar Bear containing Chunky or Smooth Red Bean Paste this time. It was popular with most of visitors to buy the Kumayaki Cake, after all. First I ate the Polar Bear containing Chunky or Smooth Red Bean Paste. The bear shaped dough using Tapioca flour was soft and chewy. The Chunky or Smooth Red Bean Paste produced in Tubetsu was very sweet, so I supposed that it suited for peolpe with a sweet tooth.

Then I ate the Brown Bear containing Soymilk Custard Cream. Its dough with using homemade soymilk without water was fluffy. The custard cream was made from the soymilk. The sweetness was just right. Thanks for the tasty pancakes!

List of Accommodations

Refer to following websites for the accommodations in the Tsubetsu.

Moritsubetsu(奥屈斜路温泉 ランプの宿 森つべつ)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Meet Inn Tsubetsu(体験交流施設 みぃと イン つべつ)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Chimikepp Hotel(チミケップホテル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Guest House Hokkaido Detekoi-land(ゲストハウス 北海道でてこいランド)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
21th Century Forest Park Campsite(21世紀の森キャンプ場)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Lake Chimikepp Campsite(チミケップ湖キャンプ場)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten