Japan has some original options for fast food, one of which is gyudon. A beef bowl, gyudon is popular because it’s filling, low cost, and delicious. There are gyudon restaurants all over the country, but one of the most popular chains is Yoshinoya, which has been serving its original recipe for more than 125 years and has nearly 1,300 restaurants across Japan.

What Is Gyudon?

Gyudon is a type of donburi, or bowl dish. It is made with beef and onion ladled over rice. The beef and onion are prepared with soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and sake. Granted, all this tells you little about the flavor, as many Japanese dishes use those ingredients. What matters is the amount of each ingredient. In the case of gyudon, they give the bowl a sweet, meaty, and slightly salty flavor.

Gyudon shops offer beni shoga (pickled red ginger) and shichimi (red chili mixed with other seasonings) as condiments. Many diners add both, as well as a bit of extra soy sauce. Some people also order a raw egg that is served separately but added to the finished product.

Yoshinoya: “Tasty, Affordable, and Fast”

Yoshinoya was founded in 1899 as a family-run restaurant in the Nihonbashi Fish Market in Tokyo. After the Great Kanto Earthquake destroyed that market, Yoshinoya moved with it to Tsukiji in 1926. When the wholesale market moved again to Toyosu in October 2018, the original Tsukiji shop closed after 92 years, and the No. 1 store reopened inside the new Toyosu Market.

The restaurant specializes in serving up gyudon fast and cheaply. The restaurant is mostly frequented by the salaryman type. Walking by a Yoshinoya at 10:00 p.m. is a surefire way to see a full house of exhausted office workers grabbing a late dinner.

On the menu at Yoshinoya are several classic beef bowls as well as some limited-time-only dishes that change with the season, breakfasts, children’s meals, and, as an alternative to beef, some eel bowls. The restaurant takes pride in evolving with the times by regularly introducing new beef bowls and other dishes to its menu.

Other Places to Try Gyudon

Yoshinoya is one of the most popular gyudon restaurants in Tokyo, but it’s far from your only option. 

Sukiya

Almost as large a chain as Yoshinoya, Sukiya has around 2,000 locations throughout Japan. A great thing about this restaurant is that you can customize your dish with various toppings, including kimchi, radish, cheese, and grated yam. The beef bowls also come in six sizes to suit your appetite.

Matsuya

Another chain with more than 1,000 restaurants is Matsuya. For foreigners, a selling point to this fast food chain is the system to place your order: at many branches, you order on a touchscreen near the entrance. Choose the language you want, select dine-in or takeout, scroll through the meals to find the one that appeals most, add any sides, and pay. Your food will be ready at the counter when your order number appears on the display. Not needing to interact with anyone and being able to browse the different beef bowls on a screen is more comfortable if you have yet to master the Japanese language.

Your Own Home

You can also prepare your own gyudon at home. The most important ingredient is, of course, beef. It should be paper-thin with some fat to ensure the end result isn’t too dry. You’ll also need a yellow onion, a green onion (scallion), and cooked short-grain rice. For the sauce, you’ll need dashi (make it from scratch or purchase instant dashi powder), sake, mirin, soy sauce, and sugar. Lastly, use some pickled red ginger to garnish. One option is this recipe. The webpage also offers some variations to create a gyudon to your tastes.

KKPCW (Kyu3), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons