Za Don: A Great Japanese Fast Food Chain

This Japanese fast food restaurant can actually be found all over Japan, not just Nagoya, but it’s one of those good and affordable places I’d like to share. Za Don specializes in serving up all kinds of donburi dishes, or rice bowls. From kaisen don (sashimi topped rice bowls) to fried dishes such as katsudon (pork cutlet rice bowl) and simmered dishes such as oyakodon (an egg and chicken staple in household cooking).

One of my favourites to order here is the tsukimi-saketoro don (¥630 plus tax). It consists of salmon sashimi that’s been chopped so fine it becomes almost like a paste consistency. I know that doesn’t sound appetizing but when you combine a bite of that with steamed white rice, a bit of seaweed and wasabi dashi soy sauce drizzled over, the combination is perfect! Since the salmon is minced it blends with the rice right when you take a bite and provides a nice texture. Even better, slicing through the runny onsen egg (egg cooked at low temperatures) with chopsticks makes the yolk ooze out and brings the already tasty combination up another notch! I always like to switch the miso soup for the asari or clam miso soup because the flavour of the clams adds another punch to the otherwise ordinary soup.

Tsukimi Sake Toro Don with Asari Jiru

Mike Popcorn: Kikyou Shingen Mochi Flavour

Shingen Mochi is a very Japanese style dessert. It is a very soft type of mochi that is shaped like a blob when taken out of its package. It is usually eaten with kinako (soy bean powder) and kuromitsu (dark sugar syrup). Kikyou is the name of a long time and well-known manufacturer of Shingen Mochi and they have teamed up with Mike Popcorn to make a shingen mochi flavoured popcorn.

It’s just as I expected, popcorn with a kinako powder flavour and a slight caramel-like sweetness!

Daidoko Mori: Special Miso Oden

Immediately when stepping into this restaurant I got a waft of fragrant red miso. The company is actually a sake brewer so they are masters at fermentation. The teacups and even water glasses resembled sake cups with that characteristic blue ring design on the bottom. As such, two of their lunch mains were marinated with sake lees. I however wanted to try their signature oden lunch set. Oden is often considered a warming dish of winter since it consists of ingredients simmered for a long time in broth.

The oden sauce that the restaurant uses is a rare 2 year fermented red miso. It had a really nice fragrant flavour; you might think by the deep colour and smell that it would be very overpowering but it was just perfect. The daikon was soft and flavoured all the way through, a result of long simmering. The red fish cake was not salty so it went well with savoury dark sauce. The konnyaku also had great flavour which is hard to achieve without it getting really rubbery. Grilled tofu and a hard-boiled egg were the other oden items. The accompanying soup was a clear dashi which is good so that you don’t get  an overload of miso were it to come with miso soup like the other set meals. The escabeche and the tomato salad were both good palate cleansers with light acidity of vinegar in the marinade and dressing. The amount of rice served was perfect for those wanting  a lighter meal.

My only complaint was that the restaurant was quite hot, I think they could have used some air-conditioning for a better experience.

Area: Nagoya Station, JR Gate Tower 12F 名古屋駅　JRゲートタワー
Restaurant: Daidoko Morita 厨 森田
Store info: https://r.gnavi.co.jp/gzje7dss0000/?sc_lid=smp_top_01
Hours: Lunch 11am-3pm (LO 2:30pm), Dinner 5-11pm (LO 10pm)

Gari-Gari Kun: Raisin Butter Sandwich Flavoured Popsicle

I'm a sucker for rum raisin and raisin butter anything, so when I saw this seasonal flavour in a Gari-Gari Kun popsicle I just had to try it! If you haven't read my first post about this ice cream popsicle, you can read about what makes it so special here.

After the first bite, the flavour of rum immediately comes out, it's quite a strong aroma. Then I got an almost butterscotch-like flavour which I assume was to emulate the butter. And lastly the sweetness from the raisins left a nice aftertaste, it was was actually packed with more raisins than I thought would be there! The bits of butter cookie in it gave it more of a nuttiness to it rather than buttery flavour, but it was quite nice.

Paseri: For a Japanese Tonkatsu Done Well

Tonkatsu is a very common dish that you'll see in Japan. Many restaurants and even cafe's have tonkatsu on their menu, and it even makes it's way onto the dinner table in many homes. It's the beloved pork cutlet. Thick pork steaks breaded in panko and fried until golden brown, served with a tonkatsu sauce (worcestshire sauce and ketchup) or a red miso sauce (in the Aichi area).

Tonkatsu is a popular lunch item because it is filling and very reasonably priced. Recently I was in the Tenpaku area of Nagoya and tried a tonkatsu specialty restaurant called Paseri パセリ. We entered at noon and the seats (counter seating only) were all full so we had to wait about five or six minutes. Most of the customers were male and when the food came, I knew why. The volume of the dishes was incredible, not only the thickness of the meat, but also the amount of accompanying cabbage, and the free refills of white rice. It's a meal that would satisfy any hungry business man.

Tonkatsu with daikon oroshi (grated radish) topping

I had a craving for katsu don which is tonkatsu with egg cooked in dashi and put on top of a bowl of rice. This restaurant uses a brand of pork called Sangenton. It is one of my favourite types of pork because there is a good balance of meat and fat. The tonkatsu was crispy and not oily at all, and most importantly, very tender. The dashi soup was seasoned nicely, making the dish light even though it's a huge slab of fried meat.

Overall, a great place when you need to satisfy a big appetite for a reasonable price.


Area: One block east of Shiogama Station (Tsurumai Line) Exit #2 鶴舞線塩釜駅2番出口
Restaurant: Paseri パセリ
Map: https://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230111/23006046/dtlmap/
Hours: Lunch 11:30am-2pm, Dinner 5-10pm, closed Saturdays