Donburi

Japanese restaurants have been eating away (heh) at my food budget recently. In fact, when I do go out to eat, it's been almost exclusively at Japanese restaurants for the last two weeks.

There are a few reasons for this. Asian restaurants, and particularly Japanese and Korean ones, are by far the dominant takeaway option here. I'd say that Asian restaurants of one kind or another outnumber other choices (excluding kebab shops) by a ratio of 3-to-1, at least. A good portion of my recent Japanese food spree is due to my discovery of donburi.

Donburi is probably one of the simplest foods ever. Take a half-full bowl of rice. Fill up the rest of the bowl with veges (that's "veggies," for those of you playing along at home) or some sort of meat topping, if you're into that sort of thing. Pour some soy-based sauce on the top, and serve piping hot. It's probably the closest that Japan gets to comfort food, and I've never seen it sold in the US.

Donburi is also the ideal student food for three reasons: it's fast, filling, and cheap. One donburi costs me NZD$9 (USD$6.25) and comes with unlimited water and green tea. I've been to a few different donburi shops, but two stood out enough to warrant repeat visits.

Renkon is a tiny place hidden on an unlit pedestrian-only side street off Queen Street. I found it one day after I had already had dinner, and literally couldn't find it again to try it the next time I went out. Probably about the size of my dorm room, Renkon has a little bench with six seats along one side, and three small tables along the other. It's an authentic Japanese place (you can tell by the way they say "tofu teriyaki") and attracts a busy mix of white office workers and Asian students of various ethnicities. Their tofu teriyaki donburi is amazing, with two slabs of panko-crusted tofu on top of a little salad, complete with bright pink purple ginger. It's claustrophobic, but the food is awesome.

The other place I frequent is called Bian, which is located next to a kite shop up Symonds Street, the opposite direction from the university. I can't tell if it's a chain or not; there are a few other places in the city with the same logo (just a red background with "Bian" spelled out in Japanese and English), but those other places call themselves "Bien." Since the Japanese definitely spells out "Bian," and since "Bian" is cheaper than "Bien," I choose the former, thinking it's somehow more authentic.

Yet Bian, like most Japanese restaurants here, is run by Koreans. I get their Vege Ten Don, which is rice topped with nine-ish pieces of assorted vegetable tempura. The tempura can always use a few more seconds in the fryer, but Bian's portions are bigger and they serve better tea than Renkon. It's equally busy but larger than Renkon, so I take a seat at a small table flanked by little poster of a Mark Rothko painting and am able to enjoy my meal.

Unfortunately for my wallet, both of these places are in walking distance from both the uni and my residence hall. I'm meeting the other people here from AU for dinner tomorrow night...let's see if I can spread my donburi addiction onto others.