Which beef bowl shoud we eat? Reccomended Ranking of Fast Beef Bowl Restaurant

Beef bowls are loved not only by Japanese but by foreigners who visit Japan as well.
There are beef bowl franchises that have advanced into overseas markets and which have been introduced via video sites so that it seems like the beef bowl has acquired the “typical Japanese food” status.

 Here I present the 4 most popular “gyudon” chain stores in order descending recomended.

These all are low prices, but each tasts are differnt.

Which beef bowl do you want to try?

 

*all prices are as of 13 Feb.2016

 

1. YOSHINOYA

The best beef bowl franchise is “Yoshinoya”, an old-established restaurant.

It has a strong preference of using imported beef from the United States and selected seasoning to maintain the same recipe from the start, offering an unchanging product which seems to be the secret why it is so loved by the public.

 

 

2.MATSUYA

For those that know of Matsuya, they may think that is not a beef bowl restaurant,

yet more of a general eatery, however, Matsuya has its origins in beef bowls and is its flagship dish.

Yet they do have a wide variety of menus besides just beef bowls,

such as yaki-niku (grilled meat), hamburger steaks and curry,

and if you are eating in, they serve you miso-soup

even though you only ordered just a beef bowl.
By the way, for a little bit of trivia, in Matsuya they call it “gyu-meshi (rice with beef)” instead of calling it a beef bowl.

 

 

3.NAKAU 

“Nakau”: the restaurant with the catch phrase of serving “food topped rice bowls

and Kyoto-style noodles” has a variety of menus from noodles,

buckwheat noodles, katsu-don (bowl of rice with pork cutlets served on top), 

oyako-don (bowl of rice with egg, chicken and vegetables) to even curry rice.

Among those, the beef bowl of Nakau was improved in February, 2014

changing its name to “Gyu-suki don” (sukiyaki beef rice bowl).

My favorite in Nakau is not beef bowl but Oyako-don.

 

 

4.SUKIYA

The beef bowl of Sukiya has a variety of toppings and sizes.
There is a variety of green onions, ponzu mixed with grated radish, okra with grated yam, green onion with raw egg, pickled mustard leaf with pollack roe, 3 types of melting cheese mixed together, Korean pickles and vegetables with rich miso etc..
Other than just beef bowls, they also serve tekka-don (tuna bowl), sumibi buta-don (char-grilled pork bowl), yaki tori-don (grilled-chicken bowl), tori soboro-don (minced chicken bowl) and chuka-don (bowl of rice with stir-fried vegetables and seafoods, Chinese style).