Last week, I talked about “Udon”. Today I will talk about another popular lunch menu, “donburi”, though most of the time you will hear it as “__don” and see it written as “__丼”. It is an all-in-one rice dish with various topping and the name of the topping goes in front of “don.”

The following are popular variety in eateries in Japan.

牛丼（ぎゅうどん/gyuu_don）- beef (usually sweet soy flavour)

親子丼（おやこどん/oyako_don）- chicken bound with egg (thus the name “parent and a child”)

うな丼（うなどん/una_don）- grilled eel

カツ丼（かつどん/katsu_don）- crumb fried (usually) pork cutlet with or without egg

海鮮丼（かいせんどん/kaisen_don）- fresh seafood

天丼（てんどん/ten_don）- tempura

豚丼（ぶたどん/buta_don）- pork

In the picture

五目丼（ごもくどん/gomoku-don）- various topping

カニ丼（かにどん/kani-don）- crab meat

イクラ丼（いくらどん/ikura-don）- salmon roe

Specialised eateries serve “donburi” (pronounced as “domburi”) only but many udon eateries serve donburi as well. It’s called “Donburi” because it is served in a “donburi” which is a largish bowl, more often used to serve soup noodles.

They are usually delicious, inexpensive and nutritious. If you want to try real Japanese fast food, try one of these!