The curry at Matsuya is on the watery side for a spice curry, but it's quite spicy. It's just a regular curry, nothing special. I thought I would use this as a standard for my own review ratings. Matsuya's curry is like a 3.0 in terms of a regular dish. If we're talking about gyudon, Yoshinoya is average, and for set meals, Miyamoto Munashi is average.

Welcome. ---------- December 2021 ---------- Nihonbashi Area 5-lane one-way |o| °д°)ﾉ Automatic doors~ Fast food is essential even when traveling (maybe because there are many breaks?) Unlike Matsuya, you can't get extra rice and soup, so that's a downside. The "Angus Beef Yakiniku Rice Set" and "Kalbi Yakiniku" are a different level of brand beef with lots of fat, but a refreshing taste. When combined with the BBQ sauce and yakiniku sauce on the table, the meal is satisfying, but the rice was a bit dry. The miso soup with fried tofu was good. Matsuya not having a breakfast set is a downside. In the end, it was all about the beef bowl, wasn't it?

This is a chain restaurant of beef bowl located 1-2 minutes walk from Kintetsu Nihonbashi Station. (Visited on October 18, 2021) Due to a human accident at Toyohashi Station, the Shinkansen was stopped. Finally able to move, but the delay to Osaka was significant. Although the state of emergency has been lifted, restaurant operations have not fully returned to normal, so this was a pinch. I moved near the hotel and slipped into this place that was still open. Entered around 8:30 PM. There were about 5 customers already there. It had been a while since I last visited Matsuya, so I decided to treat myself a bit and ordered the Beef Bowl Set with Pork Soup and Raw Egg, as well as a side of domestic grated yam. In total, it was 760 yen. The pork soup was full of ingredients and delicious. The beef bowl after a long time was tasty. Thank you for the meal.

The limited-time menu at Matsuya disappears quickly, so I decided to go try the Bolognese & Mascarpone-style hamburger before it's gone. I opted for the set meal with salad, priced at 690 yen, and took advantage of the free extra rice promotion. The salad was delicious with pickled ginger, shichimi spice, and ponzu dressing. The hamburger, filled with Bolognese sauce and Mascarpone-style cheese, was flavorful and satisfying. The spoon provided made it easy to enjoy every bite. I managed to finish the meal just as the large portion of rice was running out.

"It's like a side menu at a ramen shop." That's what I thought when I tried the braised pork belly bowl at Matsuya this time. Initially, I was planning to have the refreshing "Yamagata dashi three-color bowl" that I had tried at another store before, but I noticed a menu that caught my eye at the entrance, along with the three-color bowl. It was the "Beef and Flavored Egg Braised Pork Belly Bowl" that I ordered that day. While it was my first time trying this, this menu seems to have been available in 2019 as well. It consists of the signature "gyudon" with braised pork belly and seasoned egg added, and personally, it gave me more of a impression of a side menu often found at ramen shops, or similar to the Taiwanese dish "lu rou fan," rather than a beef bowl. In reality, the beef plays a supporting role, and the braised pork belly takes the spotlight with its impactful taste. Personally, I've had steak or steak bowls a few times as stamina dishes this summer, but I found this bowl with tender braised pork belly to be easier to eat. It seems like a good stamina dish to get through the lingering summer heat, so if you're interested, give it a try.

I visited the restaurant at 9:20 because I had a ¥100-off coupon from LINE. There was one group of 3 customers before me and one person after me. While waiting for my takeout order, they served me warm tea. I ordered one serving of pork miso soup, which had a rich flavor with plenty of ingredients like burdock, lotus root, sweet potato, carrot, tofu, and pork. Thanks for the ¥100-off coupon from LINE.

Located right by Namba Station in Osaka, along Sakaisuji Avenue, is Matsuya. Matsuya is probably the least popular among the three major gyudon (beef bowl) chains. One of Matsuya's characteristics is that it is cheap, comes with miso soup, and you purchase your meal with a ticket. The taste is lighter compared to others, and the meat tends to be fatty. On this day, I had the regular beef bowl for lunch. It was delicious.

While walking around the Nihonbashi area, I came across a large poster of mapo tofu set meal at the usual Gyudon Matsuya store front, which looked very delicious, so I decided to go inside the store immediately. I purchased a meal ticket at the automatic vending machine and placed my order. This shop always has many foreign tourists, and on this day, the majority were Asian tourists. First, a vegetable salad came, followed by the main dish of mapo tofu, egg, rice, and miso soup. The taste was slightly spicy, similar to authentic Chinese cuisine I've had before, and mixing it with the egg made it a bit milder. It had a lot of minced meat and would be recommended for those who like spicy food. I look forward to trying new menu items in the future. Thank you for the meal.

I used this place for a late lunch. I arrived around 3:30 pm on a weekday and about half of the seats were filled, but it seemed like I was the only Japanese customer. I used shareholder benefit coupons to pay, but the Asian-looking staff seemed a bit confused, so a veteran Japanese staff member came to help. Finally, my favorite menu item, the "Chunky Chicken Curry," which had been temporarily brought back, was served to me in a large portion without much of a wait. Literally, there were big chunks of chicken in it, and the volume was quite substantial. As far as fast food curry goes, it's probably the best I know of, with a spicy and flavorful curry that pairs well with Matsuya's curry. The large chicken pieces... were clearly tastier than last year. Matsuya's chicken in other set meals was a bit dry, but the chicken in this curry was tender, juicy, and had just the right amount of fat, making it a delicious meat that you can taste the tenderness, sweetness, and umami. Eating the curry and chicken together with the rice makes it even more delicious. I enjoyed finishing the large portion of rice and once again being impressed by the Chunky Chicken Curry this year. I wish this menu could be made a regular item instead of limited time only. Maybe together with the Tofu Kimchi Hot Pot meal? Well, I plan to enjoy it a few more times before the end of the offering period. As I said "thank you for the meal" to the Asian staff member and got up from my seat, the staff member smiled and cheerfully replied, "Thank you very much!" Such interactions also make you feel warm inside. Thank you for the meal!

The curry at Matsuya has become thin and tasteless, and new menu items have been disappointing. The quality of the meat also dropped for a while. Maybe the management team is lost and unsure of what to do. Has the management team changed recently? And now, a restaurant offering teppanyaki has appeared. Matsuya fans will definitely check it out! The food is piping hot and delicious. It can also be used as a bar! If you order without rice and miso soup, you get a 110 yen discount. A medium-sized bottle of beer with pickles costs 420 yen, but I don't need pickles, so I asked for it to be 390 yen, but it's still a good deal (laughs). In the end, I had tonkatsu hamburger, rice, miso soup, salad, and two bottles of beer for only 2160 yen. Too cheap! Matsuya fans are lucky (laughs).

Delicious.

I went to see the play "Another Way to Walk on Another Earth" by the fictional theater company led by Naofumi Kono at ABC Hall. It had been a long time since I last watched a play. I received tickets from someone and decided to go. I had a front-row seat, so I could feel the actors' energy directly. The idea of combining artificial intelligence and Amakusa Shirou was interesting. Now, today I went to Nipponbashi 1-chome in Chuo-ku, Osaka. I visited a restaurant called "Matsuya Nipponbashi" near Nipponbashi Station on Sakaisuji, which serves rice bowls and set meals. Originally, I was aiming for the newly opened "Osaka Osho Nipponbashi" which opened last December, but it was quite crowded, so I changed course to the neighboring "Matsuya" instead. I decided to try the Cheese Taccarbi Set Meal (730 yen) from the limited menu. Until February 6, rice was offered in a larger portion for free, but I didn't notice at the ticket machine and ended up with a regular serving. It was a shame, but there was nothing I could do. Ah, it arrived in a round gratin dish-like plate. Under the melted cheese were diced chicken thighs, cabbage, carrots, onions, and more. The sweet and spicy gochujang sauce and the rich taste of cheese brought out a new charm. Finally, I poured the remaining sauce over the rice and enjoyed it. I like this. The taste was good. Thank you for the meal. I will continue on the path with diligence, quietly, without regrets.

Title: "Osaka Trip with Seishun 18 Ticket in Summer 2016 Part 1, Beef Bowl on the First Day" This is the first day of my Osaka trip using the Seishun 18 Ticket. I left home at 8:30 in the morning and arrived in Osaka around 7 pm. After checking into the hotel, I headed to the Nipponbashi area. I finished my errands in Nipponbashi and started to feel hungry, so I ended up at Matsuya restaurant right in front of me. It was past 9:30 pm when I entered, with a few customers and about three staff members. Since I had a Jeff Gourmet Card, I used it to pay for my meal. I sat at the counter and handed over the card, then verbally ordered "Spicy Negi-tama Gyudon, regular size." The order process can be a bit cumbersome if it's too long. The food arrived in less than 3 minutes! The Spicy Negi-tama Gyudon looked lavish with plenty of leeks and a soft-boiled egg surrounded by beef and rice. I mixed the egg and leeks, then took a bite with beef and rice. The beef slices were long, making it a bit difficult to eat in one bite. The flavors of the dish were rich and spicy, especially when combined with the egg and leeks. The soft-boiled egg was almost raw, resembling tamago kake gohan. The miso soup was simple with seaweed and diced fried tofu, slightly low on miso but with a slightly high saltiness. I added shichimi pepper for extra flavor. Towards the end, I added pickled ginger and shichimi, enhancing the complexity of flavors. Overall, the meal was delicious, especially considering its price of 400 yen. With the Jeff Gourmet Card, I could enjoy it at an even lower cost. The portion size was a bit small for a full meal, but it was just right for a satisfying meal.