Famous Hokkaido restaurant Butahage returns to Singapore after 5 years

Butahage may be a familiar name for folks who used to love going for Japanese food at Liang Court (the Japanese-centric mall at Clarke Quay has since been redeveloped). One of the well-loved eateries there, it opened a Singapore outlet in 2015 serving its popular butadon or pork donburi. After three years, it quietly left the Singapore market but we’ll get to that later.

The restaurant hails from Obihiro, a scenic city in Hokkaido which is known for its farming industry like pig-rearing. This explains why it is said to be the birthplace of butadon, originally created as a carb-heavy meal to nourish toiling farmers. “It would be nice if people want to visit Obihiro after eating our food,” chirps Butahage’s owner, Hitoshi Yano, as he points out his hometown to 8days.sg on a map of Hokkaido for this exclusive story. 

THIRD-GENERATION OWNER

The 60-year-old is the third-generation owner of Butahage, which his grandfather founded in 1934. Tanned, smooth-skinned and sprightly, Yano jokes: “The oil from pork keeps me looking young.” He still runs the original shop in Obihiro with his wife and son. The latter now cooks at the restaurant alongside his father.

“It’s a simple dish, our butadon. Just rice, pork and sauce. It’s like your chicken rice,” muses Yano. But what makes an unforgettable bowl of butadon, he says, is the sauce. “It is very critical. We put in a lot of effort to make our secret recipe,” he stresses.

Over the years, the family has become well-known for their excellent proprietary butadon no tare, a sticky sweet-savoury sauce simmered for hours in an old-school cauldron in their shop. This is generously poured over a bowl of short-grain rice topped with freshly-grilled Hokkaido pork before it’s served to their customers.

Other than butadon, Yano’s grandfather also started a separate tempura eatery called Hageten, which the family operates till today. Hageten has two branches, in its native Obihiro and Hong Kong. There are currently three Butahage outlets in Japan and three overseas, in Hong Kong and now Singapore.

BUTAHAGE’S SINGAPORE COMEBACK

Butahage opened its comeback flagship restaurant at Suntec City’s Tower 3 on Tuesday (Aug 1). The 61-seater is franchised by MX Caterers (Asia), the subsidiary of Hong Kong F&B giant Maxim’s Group. The company also brought other popular Japanese brands like Genki Sushi, Yakiniku Like and sushi restaurant Sen-Ryo to Singapore.

ON WHY HE IS OPENING A SINGAPORE OUTLET AGAIN

“I want to bring back the flavours of my hometown, and saw the Singapore market was improving after COVID-19,” says Yano. As for why Butahage left the local market in 2018, he reveals that his restaurants in Japan had been facing manpower issues back then, among other reasons that he declines to share. “So we had to make the difficult decision to focus on our restaurants in Japan,” he explains.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and Hokkaido was also affected. “It was a very tough three years. I challenged myself and did whatever I could to hang on,” recalls Yano. While most proprietors in Japan prefer customers to enjoy their food on the spot, he had to pivot to offering delivery when people were homebound.

“Delivery didn’t used to be very common where we are, but we tried to do that as well. During the pandemic there were more delivery players in the market in Hokkaido and it became prolific, so we have to move with the times too,” he explains.

That said, he isn’t averse to people taking his butadon to go here. Hitoshi quips: “The ingredients we use are good, so our butadon can survive the delivery. Some people choose to microwave it at home too. Okay, very good. Our butadon is good, please do takeaway!”

THE MENU

But we still recommend that you tuck into the butadon hot and fresh here. It is served in two sizes and at different price points, according to the kind of pork you choose. The Obihiro Meibutsu Japanese Pork Loin Don is priced at S$24.80 for the large size (six thick-cut pork slices), and S$19.80 for the regular size (four pork slices).

For those watching their budget, you can also get butadon with Canadian pork loin at S$14.80 for large and S$11.80 for regular, plus a Canadian pork belly don at S$14.80. Each donburi is served with a bowl of miso soup and Japanese pickles, and you can top up S$1.80 for an onsen egg or S$3.20 for chawanmushi.

The Yano family is also offering their tendon here, with tempura served with rice (from S$9.50 to S$16.80 a bowl), or a Hokkaido Special & Noodle Set (S$19.80) with seafood and veggie tempura, and hot udon. You can also get tempura with soba (from S$17.80 to S$18.80 a set).

For those who don’t fancy pork, there are Singapore-exclusive salmon bowls like Salmon Mentai Avocado Don (S$17.80) and Salmon Ikura Oyako Don (S$17.80). You can also get sides like Agedashi Imo Tempura (fried sweet potato, S$3.80), Tori Karaage (S$4.80) and the interesting Butahage Bun (S$4.60), the restaurant’s version of a kong bak pau with grilled Canadian pork loin slices wedged between a fluffy lotus bun with lettuce and mustard dressing.

OBIHIRO MEIBUTSU JAPANESE PORK LOIN DON, S$24.80

While Butahage uses local Hokkaido pork in Obihiro, Kyushu pork is used in Singapore instead. “We checked the rules and regulations and this was what was allowed,” says Yano. It still makes for a very delicious bowl of butadon; the fat-lined slices are grilled at high heat till succulent, and brushed with sticky tare that is imported straight from Yano’s Obihiro eatery.

The thick, porky slices ooze meaty juices flavoured by the umami tare coating them, while the soft, chewy fat adds some unctuous richness to the dish, which comes with five precisely placed peas.

We mop up the remaining sauce with rice: Plump, fluffy Nanatsuboshi grains from Hokkaido. Satisfying enough to justify splurging on the L-sized bowl. An elegant, piquant trio of crunchy Japanese radish and cucumber pickles is served along with the butadon to cut the oiliness and whet our appetite for more.

BUTAHAGE BUN, S$4.60

A Butahage take on our kong bak pau (braised pork belly bun), this consists of a fluffy lotus bun cradling two thick, juicy slices of tare-brushed Canadian pork belly, jazzed up with a tangy mustard dressing and a lettuce leaf. While the Canadian pork is yummy enough, we find that the Kyushu-reared pork here boasts better flavour and richer, more fragrant fat.

HOKKAIDO SPECIAL & NOODLE SET, S$19.80

Despite its pork donburi speciality, Butahage serves a mean tempura platter along with a light but comfortingly soupy bowl of hot Inaniwa udon which is usually served at higher-end restaurants in Japan. The noodles are slender and flatter, with a silky texture and subtle chewiness.

The udon here is a little too soft for our liking, though it pairs well with the delicately crispy tempura. For the Hokkaido Special tempura platter, we got three batter-coated black tiger prawns, a whole tender scallop, crunchy sweet Japanese mountain yam, salmon, squid, asparagus and a shiitake mushroom. Pretty good value-for-money. There’s also a Regular Tempura & Noodle Set (S$12.50), which comes with a prawn, crab stick, Japanese mountain yam, pumpkin and long bean.

TENDON, S$9.50

Unless you are completely averse to noodles, we say go for the udon set here instead of the Tendon, which comes with prawn, crab stick, Japanese mountain yam, pumpkin and long bean tempura on rice drenched in a tentsuyu sauce. While tasty enough and value-for-money at below S$10 a bowl, we find the other offerings here more unique and worth the calories.

SALMON MENTAI AVOCADO DON, S$17.80

Sashimi-grade salmon, draped over rice and topped with a blanket of torched mentaiko mayo and diced avocados. It’s standard crowd-pleasing Japanese fare, but we say it’s the butadon that is the star here.

Butahage is at 3 Temasek Boulevard, #01-625/626, Suntec City Tower 3, Singapore 038983. Open daily 11am to 10pm.

This story was originally published in 8Days.