Gastronomy Hokkaido's famous local rice bowls – A tango between rice and Hokkaido's local delicacies!

Kushiro Washo Market is one of the three major markets of Hokkaido, along with Sapporo's Nijo Market and Hakodate Morning Market. It's known for its kattedon (as you wish bowl), a bowl of rice topped with plenty of fresh seafood, which is also easy to make. First, buy some rice at the market and have it served in a bowl. Next, pick up some ingredients at a nearby fish store and add them to your bowl. After that, you're all set! You now have your very own original kaisendon (fresh seafood bowl). One of the great things about making your own bowl is that you get to choose from such a wide selection of ingredients like tuna, salmon, sea urchin scallops, and much more, with a quantity as much as you like! Aside from the major ones, we definitely recommend the local seasonal ingredients you won't find anywhere else, such as Tokishirazu salmon and Hanasaki crabs. Savor delicious food while experiencing the process of making your own unique kaisendon.

Obihiro City is one of Hokkaido's leading pork-producing sites. The city has over 200 restaurants serving butadon (pork bowl). Among them is the pioneer Butadon Pancho, established in 1933. Its first president invented the butadon. Their top-quality loin meat is first dipped in the store's secret sweet and spicy sauce and slowly grilled over charcoal before finally being served in overflowing quantities atop a bowl of rice. Precisely because it's known for its pork, it's capable of competing using only the taste of the pork itself, without adding any unnecessary ingredients. Savor the fragrant aroma, tender and juicy flavor of charcoal-grilled pork, and the traditional sauce that will never be seen outside Japan. Add in white rice, and you'll have the perfect combo!

Haboro Town boasts the largest sweet shrimp haul in Japan. The Sweet Shrimp Factory: Ebina Gyojyobu is a restaurant specializing in sweet shrimp, run by a sweet shrimp fisherman. Their exquisite ebidon (shrimp bowl) is filled to the brim with so much of the freshly caught sweet shrimp, you won't be able to see the rice underneath! Originally made as a fisherman's quick meal, all the heads and tails are removed beforehand so the fishermen could eat them during their work. With these out of the way, you can enjoy the sweet shrimp with no holds barred. The sweet shrimp that grow on the abundant food off the coast of Haboro are of the highest quality with firm flesh. Savor the fresh prawns' plump texture and sweetness that melts in your mouth. It's something you have to try at least once in your life.

Kitami City is known as the city of yakiniku and has the highest number of yakiniku restaurants per capita in Hokkaido. Its local rice bowl medon (sunny-side-up egg bowl) was originally a secret menu dish served to regular customers at the popular yakiniku restaurant Hanmonten. Its tastiness earned it so much praise, it became a popular dish to eat at the end of your yakiniku meal. The medon is a simple bowl of rice topped with a top-quality, half-boiled, sunny-side-up egg, seasoned with the restaurant's unique flavors, and finished with green laver. Customers from all sorts of places come over just to savor its folksy and addictive taste. This rice bowl is definitely a dish you'd want to enjoy with Kitami's delicious yakiniku.

Shokudo Maruzen is located on the second floor of the ferry terminal at the Oshidomari Port, the gateway to Rishiri Island. The restaurant's unimeshi-don (sea urchin bowl) won the Grand Prix for the nationwide rice bowl competition National Donburi Championship for two consecutive years and became the first rice bowl to ever be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Steamed sea urchin and salmon roe on top of rice cooked in Rishiri kelp broth and sea urchin soup, an extravagant combination only here in Hokkaido! The unimeshi-don was made so that even people who dislike raw sea urchin would enjoy it. It's also available for takeout for ferry passengers.

The Hakodate Morning Market is a massive market where all the fish and flavors of Hakodate gather. The katsu ika odori-don in Ikkatei Taibiji, located in the market's Donburi Yokocho Seafood restaurant avenue, is a hot topic overseas known as the dancing squid bowl. It's a bowl of rice topped with a whole squid that was taken from the area's fish tank and chopped up on the spot. The first thing people would notice is its appearance, which leaves quite an impact. True to its name, the squid starts to dance once you pour wasabi sauce on it. It's also so fresh that its suckers stick to your tongue when you eat it! The squid itself is clear, sweet, and chewy. Anyone who tastes this dish will surely be held captive by its deliciousness.