What you don’t know about ‘gyudon’

MANILA, Philippines - Who would not love a nice, steaming-hot gyudon on a large bowl after a hard day’s work?

While many are already familiar with this simple yet tantalizingly attractive dish because of the influx of so many Japanese-inspired restaurants in the metro, did you know that this appetizing dining fare, literally known as beef bowl, with gyu, which means “beef,” and don being the short version of donburi or food served on top of rice in a bowl, originated way back around 1800?

Gyudon is a mouthwatering dish, mainly a heaping mound of steaming white rice topped with beef and onion stirred in mild sweet sauce with fish, seaweed stock and sweet rice wine then served in a bowl.

It is believed that this famous Japanese dish was inspired by other regular Japanese dishes such sukiyaki-don and gyunabe or thin slices of beef cooked with veggies and then served in a bowl. 

Its earliest version became popular in 1862 but the year 1899 was when gyudon enjoyed its first taste of success when Eikichi Matsuda, the founder of the renowned Yoshinoya restaurant, opened its first Yoshinoya store at the fish market in Nihonbashi district in Tokyo. After it was hit by a devastating earthquake, Yoshinoya moved to the new Tsukiji fish market in 1926.

But the debut of food carts in the early 1900s made gyudon a buzzword meal in the streets of Japan — and from then on there was no stopping this dish from conquering the global gastronomic landscape.

Yoshinoya, Japan’s famous beef bowl, has been synonymous with gyudon. Of course, Yoshinoya has other special eats to offer but its gyudon fare remains unmatched in terms of taste, aroma and quality — in Japan and in other places around the world.

There are now more than 1,200 outlets of Yoshinoya globally, such as in the United States, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and of course, the Philippines. It will soon open in Thailand and Vietnam as part of its aggressive expansion program in Asia.

The Philippines was no exception to this gyudon domination. Its stellar rise in the country was attributed to the arrival of Yoshinoya primarily due to Yoshinoya Century Pacific Inc., which started its first store operations in the country in December 2001.

In 2011, the Century Pacific Group inked a partnership with Ihahat Foods Corp. that saw them expand their business under its president, Timothy James Yang.

And 2014 is no exception as Yoshinoya promises to make it another banner year for the brand, with the idea of making gyudon an accepted part of Filipinos’ daily meals. Now on its fourth year, Yoshinoya will again mount the “2014 Yoshinoya Gyudon Challenge,” an eating competition that will challenge Yoshinoya habitués on how much gyudon they can consume within a specific amount of time.

Will you be the next one to be declared the next “Yoshinoya Gyudon Challenge” champion? Watch out for details by visiting www.facebook.com/YoshinoyaPhilippines.