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There are tons of beef bowl shops in Japan. Nakau (なか卯) is one of those beef bowl chains, though you may be more familiar with Yoshinoya which has stores in 10 countries, and counting? To give you an idea, I have likely passed by 50 beef bowl stores before I decided to eat at one. I always crave for sushi and not so much for beef bowls, but when I wanted something different for a change I went to Nakau.
The location was near Kanamecho Station in the Toshima Ward. Many of these stores are open 24 hours including this particular one. You’re likely to run into one without trying so just keep an eye out. When I walked inside I saw meal ticket vending machines. Unfortunately, nothing is written in English so I had to rely mostly on images. It wasn’t too bad here because the pictures clearly show what is chicken, beef, pork, rice, noodles, etc. The weird part comes when some items have a hot or cold option and I couldn’t figure out how to select that.
I ordered number one on the menu which was beef rice and a bowl of udon (¥490). The prices are generally very good for Japan. To purchase a meal ticket from their machine, you insert money first, then select dine-in (店內) or takeout (持帰り), select all your menu items, and collect your change and tickets which you will give the servers.
My meal, which came with a bowl of rice AND udon, was going to keep me full for sure. The beef bowl had mushrooms which were marinated in a tangy sauce that was very appetizing. In fact, I thought the mushrooms were the best part of the meal. The beef was drizzled with some sweet soy sauce and it was tender. Together with the Japanese rice, it was a comforting bite.
The udon came with some tempura flakes, green onion, and a slice of fish paste. The noodles had a koshi (elastic, chewy, bouncy, however you call it) texture and everything tasted acceptable, but I have no doubt this meal is full of MSG.
Nakau is a good place to be for food at 3 a.m. in the morning if ever needed. I think other than looking for a quick meal, accessibility is the only other reason I would return. Not that their stuff doesn’t taste good but I’m sure eating too much of it is no good for the body. I know, I’m quite the health geek and can’t help but ruin things. Enjoy!
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