Yoshinoya

[Tetsuzukiyama 0]

I saw that thread about Ichinoya and it got me thinking about gyudon. Now that the beef ban is over, has Yoshinoya survived on Salmon Roe and Natto bowls for two years? I left Japan a year and a half ago when the ban was just settling in but I was already really missing my raw eggs sizzling on Grade FFF- meat.

What's going on with Yoshinoya these days???

[Araiguma_Rascal 0]

Although I am not a regular customer because there is no Yoshinoya covienient to either where I live or where I work, I think they've managed to survive, but not thrive. I'm not sure if the gyudon bowls with American beef are back on sale yet or not.

[Hananotaka 8]

There is no 牛肉丼 at Yoshinoya right now; the best you can get is a 焼肉丼.

They have been able to pick up some of the slack through the use of the other white meat.

[Amanogawa 77]

There is no 牛肉丼 at Yoshinoya right now; the best you can get is a 焼肉丼.

牛すき鍋丼 is even better, IMO... (Whistling...)

[Hananotaka 8]

There is no 牛肉丼 at Yoshinoya right now; the best you can get is a 焼肉丼.

牛すき鍋丼 is even better, IMO... (Whistling...)

I'm a man of simple tastes. Give me nothing but rice and meat! (Sign of approval) I even pick out the ネギ in the 焼肉丼!

[Jonosuke 28]

Just in case you guys missed it, the ban is back again as a New York based meat packer shipped veal spinal column bone tissues, which Japanese consider to be a high mad cow disease risk. The packer claimed they weren't told by a Government inspector to take the parts out.

Aside from political implications on this, it puts very much negative picture with Japanese consumers as most of them didn't go back to buying US beef after the ban as they were still scared of their safety. The ban can be lifted eventually but to regain the confidence back among the consumers, the US will need a big PR job.

As for Yoshinoya customers, they all seem to be pretty happy with pork for now and have more or less adjusted to the reality since the ban.

[Higashimori 0]

As for Yoshinoya customers, they all seem to be pretty happy with pork for now and have more or less adjusted to the reality since the ban.

I don't think that's so true, as this recent article seems to suggest.

Of course it's crap like this that can't help but make a vegetarian like myself feel a bit smug :-)

[Sasanishiki 57]

Well, NZ meat producers have been doing quite nicely off the meat ban, so I guess that is good for my part of the world.

I love gyuudon and similar Japanese meat dishes. However, I find Yoshinoya pretty boring. I started eating gyuudon there about 13 years ago but that was because I was in teh centre of Tokyo and they were everywhere. When I lived in Chiba about 5-6 years later there was no Yoshinoya and I ate at Sukiya and Matsuya. The latter is the very best, IMO, as they have a number of different dishes to choose from and the sets come with a side salad (I even had a really good Japanese style breakfast with grilled fish, rice, pickles etc and a free mini side order of grilled meat!). I basically live off teh variety they have there when I am travelling on the cheap around Japan. Even thinking about it now gets my mouth watering! If you haven't tried it, give it a go. Sukiya has interesting stuff like gobo (burdock root) and pork on rice as well as kimchi, pork and rice. It's nice for something a little different from standard gyuudon.