Gyuudon in
Japanese. Heard it was called a
beef bowl in
English speaking parts of the world.
A beef bowl is simply a bowl of rice topped with thinly sliced beef and onions which have been cooked in broth much like sukiyaki. Actually, in a lot of households, yesterdays sukiyaki leftovers become todays lunch as gyuudon. And just like sukiyaki, it is especially delicious topped with raw egg - a definite recommendation. Though don't worry about salmonella poisoning because eggs are very fresh and salmonella is especially rare in Japan considering how much raw eggs are eaten.
Most beef bowl shops, or gyuudonya are open 24 hours a day and located in convenient areas. The most famous shops in Japan are Matsuya and Yoshinoya. I have even been told that there are Yoshinoya in the US, where gyuudon is known as a beef bowl. It seems that most every station in Tokyo has a gyuudonya close by and since it is so cheap at 280 yen (@US$2.50)at Matsuya, you can't help but stop by.
Beef bowl is also one of those great traditional Japanese things to eat after drinking, just like eating ramen. But eating a beef bowl in a drunken state is not as satisfying as a bowl of Japanese ramen.
Gyuudon is written in kanji out of the characters for cow and bowl. Yeh, beef bowl, go figureE