Best Dishes at Yoshinoya

This is the bowl that built Yoshinoya's 125-year empire. Thinly sliced beef is simmered with dashi broth and onions until the beef is tender and the sauce clings to the rice. There's no technique to hide behind - the beef must be high quality, the simmering precise, the ratio of sauce to rice calibrated. The simplicity is deceptive. Yoshinoya serves roughly 25 million gyudon bowls per year across Japan, and this is why.

The 'large' version is not a bigger bowl - it's the same size, but Yoshinoya piles on double the beef. If the standard gyudon (500 yen) is lunch, the large gyudon is dinner. More beef, more sauce-soaked rice, more of what makes the bowl satisfying. At 700-800 yen depending on the cut, it's the choice for hungry workers or those eating just once a day.

For those avoiding beef, butadon follows the identical formula but with pork. The pork simmers in the same sweet-savory dashi, creating a lighter but equally satisfying bowl. Because pork is leaner than beef, the sauce clings slightly differently, creating a different eating experience. It's not a second-class option - it's an alternative formula that reveals how ingredient-agnostic Yoshinoya's technique truly is.

The set meal format is how salarymen eat breakfast before 6 AM. The raw egg yolk gets mixed into the hot rice and sauce, creating richness. The miso soup cleanses the palate between bites. Pickled ginger sits on the side. At 550-600 yen for the full set, it's the complete fast-food experience - no plate changes, everything comes at once, eaten in 3-5 minutes standing or at the counter.

A lighter option than beef or pork, tori teriyaki features grilled chicken breast brushed with a teriyaki glaze. It's a different cooking method from the simmered bowls - the chicken gets grill marks and some char, creating textural contrast. At around 600 yen, it's a healthy-leaning option that still delivers flavor and fills you up in minutes.