How to Order Gyudon, Japanese Beef Bowl, at Matsuya - New Year's Japan Travel Day 3

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

How to Order Gyudon, Japanese Beef Bowl, at Matsuya - New Year's Japan Travel Day 3

      My husband and I traveled Japan during this New Year's holidays. As I mentioned in my previous entry, he purchased new eyeglasses at JINS. Until his eyeglasses were ready, we had gyudon, a Japanese beef bowl, at Matsuya because gyudon is one of my favorite Japanese foods. You can check out my previous entry, My Top 15 Must Eat Foods in Japan - My Favorite Japanese Foods.

      In Japan, there are some gyudon restaurant chains such as Yoshinoya (吉野家), Matsuya (松屋), Sukiya (すき家) and Nakau (なか卯). They serve affordable and delicious gyudon for around 300 yen. You might think, "Which gyudon restaurant should I try?" If you want to try original gyudon, go to Yoshinoya, which was established in Japan in 1899. However, I always choose a restaurant near me because all gyudon restaurants serve pretty good gyudon. ;)

The 4 Major Japanese Gyudon Restaurant Chains
*They have been engaged in a price war for many years. The price of gyudon sometimes goes up and down.

Yoshinoya (吉野家)
・380 yen for regular size gyudon
・original gyudon restaurant (since 1899)

Matsuya (松屋)
・290 yen for regular size gyudon
・free miso soup
・Their curry is also popular.

Sukiya (すき家)
・350 yen for regular size gyudon
・a wide selection of gyudon

Nakau (なか卯)
・380 yen for regular size gyudon
・high quality 　　　

How to Get Your Meal in Matsuya
    Anyway, I'm going to share how to get your meal in Matsuya with you.

1. Buy meal tickets with a ticket vending machine.

You can select a language preference from Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean at Matsuya, but if you want to try to order it in Japanese, you should understand these vocabularies.

店内 (For Here)
お持ち帰り (To Go)

牛めし (Gyudon, Japanese Beef Bowl)
カレー(Curry with White Rice)
定食 (Combo Meals)
丼 (Bowl Meals)
サイドメニュー (Side Dishes)
生ビール (Beer)

ミニ盛 (Small Size)
並盛 (Regular Size)
大盛 (Large Size)
特盛 (Extra Large Size)

とりけし, 全取消 (Restart)
戻る (Back)

2. Have a seat. A staff will take your tickets.

3. Your meals will be served. Enjoy!

Gyudon + Miso Soup, Raw Egg and Salad

I ordered a regular size gyudon (牛めし並盛), salad and a raw egg. What I liked about Matsuya is that when you order gyudon (and many other meals), they also serve a cup of miso soup for free of charge (in-store only). My order was 450 yen in total.

Matsuya Gyudon

I topped gyudon with beaten egg (with a little soy sauce), red ginger pickles (benishoga, 紅ショウガ) and shichimi peppers (七味コショウ). You might think eating raw egg is insane! Yes, it's a bizarre food culture in Japan, but I really love raw egg on rice and I think it's perfect with gyudon. You can check out my previous entry, How to Make Tamago Kake Gohan - Raw Egg on Rice.