Donburi is a staple Japanese food that is cheap, tasty and quick to prepare. Japanese fast food that’s surely a little healthier than hamburgers & fries. Donburi are essentially bowls of steamed white rice with ingredients placed on top and seasoned with sauce made from soy, “mirin” (sweet cooking rice wine) and sugar. Consisting of plain white rice and a choice of topping ingredient, donburi are easy to eat even for fussy Western tastes.
As well as being perfect for tourists on a budget, many donburi chain restaurants like Yoshinoya and Sukiya are open very late, sometimes even 24 hours a day. If you need a late-night drunken snack, they will mitigate your future hangover with tasty, life-saving carbohydrates. :)
- Common Types of Donburi -
Price per person:
¥???? ~ ¥???
"Gyudon" (beef bowl) is probably the most common, and famous type of donburi. It’s a bowl of white rice topped with thin sliced beef and well-stewed onion, seasoned with donburi sauce. Sometimes a raw egg and sliced ginger are added as final tasty ingredients.
“Katsudon” (pork cutlet bowl) is topped with a delicious soup-covered pork cutlet, egg, well-stewed onion, and donburi sauce.
“Tendon” is a rice bowl topped with several types of “tempura” (deep fried vegetables & seafood like shrimps) dipped and sprinkled with sauce made from soy, “mirin” (sweet cooking rice wine) and sugar. Some varieties come with salt instead of sauce.
“Unagidon" (eel bowl), sometimes called “Unaju”, is donburi with a delicious, tender grilled eel topping covered with special “kabayaki tare” (eel sauce). The kabayaki tare is sauce commonly used for eels and other fish. It’s a “tare” (sauce) made by simmering a mixture of heavy soy sauce, “mirin” (sweet cooking rice wine), sugar, and sake.
“Kaisendon” (seafood bowl) has delicious selection of seafood on a bowl of rice that’s perfect for fish-lovers.
- Where can I eat it? -
Oh, in so many places! It's a common menu item in all sorts of restaurants, and there are plenty of specialist chain restaurants around, such as "Sukiya" and "Yoshinoya". Click the restaurant guide link below to see one convenient Yoshinoya location in central Namba.
