Nakau, Affordable Japanese Beef Bowl Restaurant - New Year's Japan Travel Day 5

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Nakau, Affordable Japanese Beef Bowl Restaurant - New Year's Japan Travel Day 5

My husband and I traveled Japan during New Year's holidays. On December 31, we checked out a hotel, Mitsui Garden Hotel Shiodome Italia Gai, in Tokyo and walked to the next hotel, Hotel Villa Fontaine Tokyo Hamamatsucho. It took us about 15 minutes to this hotel from Mistui Garden Hotel by walk. Then, we went to Nakau (なか卯), a Japanese fast food restaurant, located near by the hotel. It only took us two minutes to Nakau from the hotel by walk.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, How to Order Gyudon, Japanese Beef Bowl, at Matsuya, In Japan, there are four major gyudon restaurant chains, Yoshinoya (吉野家), Matsuya (松屋), Sukiya (すき家) and Nakau (なか卯). Nakau has 470 branches in Japan. In Tokyo, they have over 80 restaurants, so you can find Nakau restaurant pretty easily. When my husband and I lived in Osaka, there was Nakau restaurant located very close to his former workplace. He sometimes went there to eat their delicious gyudon for lunch. I also ate out at the restaurant with him once in a while. I really loved Nakau's gyudon. In my opinion, their gyudon is better quality and has superior taste. ;) They also have some kinds of Japanese bowl dishes, Kyoto style noodles and more. By the way, their most popular one is oyakodon (親子丼), Japanese chicken and egg bowl.

Oyakodon (親子丼), Chicken and Egg Bowl

Nakau (なか卯)

In order to order your meal, you can buy meal tickets with a ticket vending machine. If you don't understand Japanese, you might find it difficult to buy meal tickets at most Nakau branches. However, some Nakau branches have English vending machines. You can check the locations from here. ;)

Nakau Meal Ticket Vending Machine

After purchasing meal tickets, take a seat and put the tickets on the table. A waiter will come and take tickets for you. Your meal will be served soon. :)

Nakau Meal Tickets

I ordered gyudon (和風牛丼), a raw egg (こだわり卵), deep fried chicken (唐揚げ) and salad with sesame seed salad dressing.

Regular Size Wafu Gyudon (和風牛丼並) for 380 yen

As you can see the photo above, their gyudon is a little different from ones other gyudon restaurants serve. Nakau's gyudon has white green onions instead of brown onion, and it also has konnyaku noodles, which is called ito konnyaku (糸こんにゃく) or shirataki (しらたき) in Japan. Their gyudon is slightly sweeter (It's because it's wafu taste.) than ones from other gyudon restaurants.

A Raw Egg (こだわり卵) for 70 yen

Like always, I added a raw egg over gyudon. ;) I always love a raw egg from Nakau. Usually, egg yolks are yellow, but their egg yolks are always orange and have richer taste. You might think eating a raw egg is insane because it might be contaminated with salmonella. However, most Japanese people have been eating raw eggs all their life with no problems. Japanese eggs are clean and safer. You can check out my previous entry, How to Make Tamago Kake Gohan - Raw Egg on Rice.

Five Pieces of Deep-Fried Chicken (唐あげ) for 150 yen

I also ordered their deep-fried chicken. These five pieces of delicious deep-fried chicken were only 150 yen! I really loved them. They were crunchy outside and soft inside. ;)

Salad with Wafu Sesame Salad Dressing (100 yen)

I ordered salad with wafu sesame salad dressing. You can choose salad dressing from wafu sesame dressing (ごま) and green shiso leave dressing (青じそ). Sesame dressing has savory and sweet taste and green shiso leave dressing has sour soy sauce taste.

Small Size of Soba Noodles with Duck Meat (鴨そば小) for 340 yen

He ordered gyudon there, and he also ordered small size of soba noodles with duck meat. On New Year's Eve, it's a Japanese traditional to eat soba noodles, which are called toshikoshi soba (年越しそば). The soup was really good! Actually, Nakau was originally founded as a noodle restaurant in Osaka in 1969. Their noodle menu is also pretty popular. (By the way, this duck meat soba was seasonal menu, so you cannot find one there now.) A few days ago, I watched Japanese TV show that Japanese curry udon is very popular for foreign tourists now. Nakau also has curry udon for 590 yen if you want to try one. ;)