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Food & Drink

Donburi

丼どんぶりdonburi

Rice, topping and sauce in a single bowl

Donburi are one-bowl meals of hot rice with a topping, such as simmered beef, chicken and egg, a fried cutlet, tempura or raw seafood, usually moistened with a sweet soy-based sauce. Quick, filling and cheap to make, they are staples of Japanese fast food and home cooking.

The word donburi refers both to the deep, lidded bowl and to the dishes served in it. The idea is simple: a topping cooked with a sauce is laid on freshly cooked rice so that the sauce soaks into the grains. The name of the topping is shortened and joined to -don, so that beef (gyū) becomes gyūdon and tempura becomes tendon.

The eel bowl, unadon, is usually considered the first donburi, dating from the later Edo period. Other bowls followed in the Meiji and Taishō periods as new ingredients such as beef and pork cutlets became common. Today donburi are served in specialist chains, in soba and udon shops, in canteens and at home, and fresh seafood bowls are a draw in fishing ports and markets.

Classic donburi

Many donburi are made in a small, shallow pan in which the topping is simmered in a sauce of dashi, soy sauce, mirin and sugar, sometimes with egg poured over and set just before sliding it onto the rice. The egg is left soft and partly runny.

  • Gyudon

    牛丼gyūdon

    Thinly sliced beef and onion simmered in sweet soy sauce; the basis of large fast-food chains. Often topped with red pickled ginger or a raw egg.

  • Oyakodon

    親子丼oyakodon

    'Parent and child bowl': chicken and onion simmered and bound with egg.

  • Katsudon

    カツ丼katsudon

    A pork cutlet simmered with onion and egg on rice; a traditional meal before exams because katsu sounds like 'to win'.

  • Tendon

    天丼tendon

    Tempura prawns and vegetables dipped in a sweet, thick sauce.

  • Unadon

    鰻丼unadon

    Grilled eel glazed with tare on rice, the oldest donburi.

  • Tanindon

    他人丼tanindon

    'Strangers' bowl': like oyakodon but with beef or pork instead of chicken.

Seafood bowls

Raw seafood on rice is served with soy sauce and wasabi rather than a cooked sauce. Rice may be plain or lightly seasoned with vinegar. Seafood bowls are particularly associated with fish markets and coastal towns, where they showcase local catch.

  • Kaisendon

    海鮮丼kaisendon

    Assorted sashimi on rice.

  • Tekkadon

    鉄火丼tekkadon

    Slices of raw tuna on vinegared rice.

  • Ikuradon and unidon

    いくら丼・うに丼ikuradon, unidon

    Salmon roe or sea urchin on rice, specialities of Hokkaido.

  • Shirasudon

    しらす丼shirasudon

    Tiny boiled or raw whitebait on rice, a speciality of Shōnan and Suruga Bay coasts.

Regional bowls

Several regions have their own donburi, and some are promoted as local gourmet foods. Variants of the cutlet bowl are especially diverse.

  • Butadon

    豚丼butadon

    Grilled pork in a sweet soy glaze, a speciality of Obihiro in the Tokachi region of Hokkaido.

  • Sauce katsudon

    ソースカツ丼sōsu katsudon

    Cutlet dipped in Worcestershire-style sauce on rice, without egg; known in Fukui, Komagane (Nagano) and Aizu (Fukushima).

  • Tenshinhan

    天津飯tenshinhan

    Crab omelette on rice with a thick sauce, a Japanese-Chinese dish.

  • Chukadon

    中華丼chūkadon

    Stir-fried vegetables and seafood or pork in a thickened sauce on rice.

Eating donburi

Donburi are eaten with chopsticks, lifting the bowl towards the mouth, which is acceptable for rice bowls. The lid, if there is one, keeps the food hot and is set aside upside down on the tray. Portion sizes are commonly offered as regular (nami), large (ōmori) and extra large (tokumori), and some shops add miso soup and pickles as a set.

In gyūdon chains, customers can often ask for more sauce (tsuyudaku) or less, add raw egg, cheese or kimchi, and eat at a counter in a few minutes, which made the beef bowl a symbol of quick, affordable urban dining.

Frequently asked questions

What does donburi mean?

Donburi is a deep bowl and, by extension, any dish of rice with a topping served in one. In names the word is shortened to -don, as in gyūdon or katsudon.

What is the most popular donburi?

Gyūdon is the most widely available thanks to large chains, while oyakodon and katsudon are among the most common home and canteen dishes.

Why is it called oyakodon?

Oyako means 'parent and child': the dish combines chicken and egg in one bowl.

Is the egg on donburi raw?

In oyakodon and katsudon the egg is cooked but left soft. A separate raw egg is sometimes added to gyūdon; eggs sold in Japan are produced to be eaten raw.

Related

Sources

  1. 1.うちの郷土料理 (opens in a new tab) — 農林水産省 (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries)
  2. 2.Japan National Tourism Organization – Official travel guide (opens in a new tab) — JNTO

Editorial team · Published: