gyuudon, miso soup, where to buy?

[deepbluevibes]

I live in california, modesto to be exact.

Ever since I went to tokyo, miso soup and gyuudon have been pretty much my favorite foods *ever*.

gyuudon = beef bowl, basically rice with some sort of sauce it seems like, plus roast beef, plus fried onions. it tastes AMAZING.

anyways, I can't seem to find ANYWHERE that sells just plain gyuudon, whether it's a supermarket, an eatery/place where you sit down and eat, a fast food place, ANYTHING in america.

I can find things similar, but they typically have a shitload more things on them (peppers, broccoli, etc.).

So does anyone in the california area or wherever know of anywhere to get gyuudon? (I found a place for miso soup recently, but i'd still like to know where I could buy it in stores.)

Also, it would be good if you've actually *ate* either of these products in their real, authentic forms, so you'd know what they actually taste like.

Some brands sold in stores of miso soup are vomit-worthy.

[dj Outlaw]

Go to a Trader Joe's. I went there a month ago and got an "Annie Chun's Miso Soup" bowl and it wasn't half bad, but a little pricey at $2-$3 bucks a bowl.

Also, go to someplace like Chinatown or an asian grocery store. They'd probably have something pretty close.

It also sounds like you want GOOD versions of this food. That means you're either gonna have to find decent restaurants or cook it yourself. Trust me, cooking from scratch is very rewarding though. You only have yourself and your choice in ingredients to blame if it sucks. =)

[MC Malicious Gravy]

Back when I lived in Los Angeles, Dowtown's Little Tokyo was the jackpot for anyones packaged Japanese food needs. Suffice to say, I'm not sure if buying some old favorites warrants a Modesto-to-Los Angeles trip. But if you're interested, let me know and I can hook you up with some supermarkets there. Maybe there's some OC members in here that can also let you know about the markets in Costa Mesa/Garden Grove.

[WiLLiSTER]

Isn't there a... Marukai near you somewhere? I could be mistaken.

Yea, Little Tokyo should be able to help you, even though it's far.

EDIT: lol, there's a marukai in little tokyo, wtf...

http://www.marukai.qpg.com/

[MC Malicious Gravy]

Little Tokyo has both Marukai AND Mitsuwa markets. If you do go, careful because there are 2 Marukais, but one is a supermarket and the other is like a 99 Cents store version, no food stuff, just kitchen and home things.

Also, if anyone's interested in store that sells anime dirt-cheap ($12/disc, $15/disc for hentai) and has merchandise (DDR soundtracks, artbooks, cosplay merchandise, figurines, etc), feel free to ask (Unless you already know about Casa Manga).

[megadan123]

My family and I eats Miso Soup at a Restraunt called "Tempura", also, We can make Homemade Gyudon at home.

[WiLLiSTER]

Originally Posted by .fetus

Also, if anyone's interested in store that sells anime dirt-cheap ($12/disc, $15/disc for hentai) and has merchandise (DDR soundtracks, artbooks, cosplay merchandise, figurines, etc), feel free to ask (Unless you already know about Casa Manga).

Is that the place upstairs? Those soundtracks are expensive >_> $45 for RED (I still bought it though, lol)

I Knew they had a Mitsuwa, but I didn't realize that the other place I had been going to was a Marukai, hahaha. I love Marukai.

[MC Malicious Gravy]

Originally Posted by Anti_gilbert

Is that the place upstairs? Those soundtracks are expensive >_> $45 for RED (I still bought it though, lol)

No, you're probably thinking of the Kinokuniya bookstore. Casa Manga is this one place on Boyd St and Wall St, a ways away from Little Tokyo. It's around those wholesalers, in the "Toy District." It's recognizable because of the anime characters painted on the front.

[WiLLiSTER]

Ohh alright. I'll have to check that out.

Haha, we're so off topic.

[MC Malicious Gravy]

WAY off topic. We were talking about Evangelion, right?

*just waits for the D to tha B to tha V*

[noisy doll☆]

There's an okay recipe for gyuudon on About.com

http://japanesefood.about.com/od/bee...m?terms=gyudon

I would say that you can do without the mirin. This recipe is a good place to start, though I pretty much just put what I felt would taste good in there. I used amakuchi soy sauce as well as regular soy sauce, since I didn't have mirin, sake or the dashi broth.

The things you really need to worry about are how long you cook the onions and the beef though. You want the onions to get caramelized and sweet, and you don't want the beef to get too dried out, so spend more time cooking the onions. And use good rice. Bad rice will just ruin the whole dish. I use Kokuho Rose, which I think is pretty decent.

[seiya256]

Originally Posted by noisy doll

And use good rice. Bad rice will just ruin the whole dish. I use Kokuho Rose, which I think is pretty decent.

Kokuho Rose is a good staple rice. I also find Nishiki to be a nice everyday rice. Don't use American long grain rice, especially not the boiler bag/instant type. They're generally too dry and not sticky enough. Chinese style short grain rice tends to be too glutenous and sticky for Japanese cooking, so I would stay away from those.

[deepbluevibes]

Originally Posted by dj Yuz

Go to a Trader Joe's. I went there a month ago and got an "Annie Chun's Miso Soup" bowl and it wasn't half bad, but a little pricey at $2-$3 bucks a bowl.

No offense but have you ever tried miso soup for real?

this stuff is as close to miso soup as say mcdonalds fries are to home grown potatoes. and that's really not even as far off as miso soup is to that trash, it seriously made me sick trying it >< not trying to diss you but yeah

Originally Posted by megadan123

My family and I eats Miso Soup at a Restraunt called "Tempura", also, We can make Homemade Gyudon at home.

Really, what do you use to make it? :O (i saw the link lower down, just curious)

Originally Posted by noisy doll

I would say that you can do without the mirin. This recipe is a good place to start, though I pretty much just put what I felt would taste good in there. I used amakuchi soy sauce as well as regular soy sauce, since I didn't have mirin, sake or the dashi broth.

The things you really need to worry about are how long you cook the onions and the beef though. You want the onions to get caramelized and sweet, and you don't want the beef to get too dried out, so spend more time cooking the onions. And use good rice. Bad rice will just ruin the whole dish. I use Kokuho Rose, which I think is pretty decent.

Ok so something i'm confused about; When I ate it in tokyo, why did the rice seem to be like more.. i don't know how to say it, not as "dry" and "sticky" as normal rice was when you just ordered that (rice by itself)?

Was it some sort of special rice, or a type of sauce, or?

Also, doesn't look *anything* like the gyuudon I ate.

The gyuudon I ate was strips of roast-beef type stuff (think Arby's), mixed all throughout the bowl, with the rice taking up the majority of the bowl, and the onions mixed in all through the bowl as well, and *nothing* else (besides that mystery sauce).

Any idea if that's true gyuudon or a speciality or? (again this was in Shinjuku so..)

[dj Outlaw]

Originally Posted by deepbluevibes

No offense but have you ever tried miso soup for real?

this stuff is as close to miso soup as say mcdonalds fries are to home grown potatoes. and that's really not even as far off as miso soup is to that trash, it seriously made me sick trying it >< not trying to diss you but yeah

XD Never assume an "instant" version of food is going to taste like the traditional version. It'll always be a dissapointment.

This reason is exactly why I always make my own chicken soups.

[noisy doll☆]

Originally Posted by deepbluevibes

Ok so something i'm confused about; When I ate it in tokyo, why did the rice seem to be like more.. i don't know how to say it, not as "dry" and "sticky" as normal rice was when you just ordered that (rice by itself)?

Was it some sort of special rice, or a type of sauce, or?

Also, doesn't look *anything* like the gyuudon I ate.

The gyuudon I ate was strips of roast-beef type stuff (think Arby's), mixed all throughout the bowl, with the rice taking up the majority of the bowl, and the onions mixed in all through the bowl as well, and *nothing* else (besides that mystery sauce).

Any idea if that's true gyuudon or a speciality or? (again this was in Shinjuku so..)

This is pretty much a replica of the gyuudon that I got everywhere I went in Japan, including Yoshinoya, the biggest gyuudon chain restaurant around. What you're describing sounds like the same thing, but just mixed around.

Yes, it is definitely because it's different rice.