Can’t decide between tempura and pork cutlet? This restaurant lets you have both in ridiculously large quantities.
SoraNews24’s Mr. Sato isn’t one to be easily intimidated by generous portions of delicious food. This is, after all, the man who once ordered a 1,050-strip bacon burger, and whose face lit up like a happy toddler’s when we presented him with a pasty that was larger than his head.
So you might be surprised to hear that he enlisted the help of two friends to eat a single donburi (rice bowl), until you see that this was no ordinary donburi.
In the Chofu district of west Tokyo there’s a restaurant called Wakamatsuya. From the outside, it looks like any of a thousand other casual Japanese restaurants that serve noodles and rice bowls.
But Wakamatsuya is famous for its large portions, and Mr. Sato, accompanied by his pals Yuta Nakagome and Francisco Kobayashi (collectively known as comedy duo Niangia) were here to try the most ridiculously large thing on the menu, a combination tempura and pork cutlet rice bowl that weighs 3.3 kilograms (7.3 pounds)!
▼ Yuta Nakagome (left) and Francisco Kobayashi (right)
The gigantic rice bowl, called the “Try! Maaikeru-don,” must be reserved in advance, which makes sense, since no customer would want to have to sit around while the massive amount of ingredients get cooked. Having called ahead, Mr. Sato’s team’s order was just about ready when they walked in the door, and after a short wait, the waiter brought it over to their table and set it down with a mighty thud.
As we mentioned above, the Maaikeru-don has both batter-coated tempura, vegetables and prawn, and breaded pork cutlets (two of them, to be precise). It’s a combination of two of Japan’s favorite hearty donburi, and it’s glorious to look at.
▼ Crowned with a 30-centimeter (11.8-inch) prawn, this is truly a work of art/architecture that’s also edible.
▼ The giant donburi is a limited-time menu item that’s being offered until March 11.
Of course, with two friends to help Mr. Sato out, each of them would only have to eat 1.1 kilograms (2.42 pounds), which…actually, no, that’s still a ton of food to consume in a single sitting (though with that much food for 3,980 yen [US$36], it’s also a pretty good value). “With 3 people, I think we’ll be OK,” said Nakagome confidently, to which Kobayashi added “Yeah, no prob,” but Mr. Sato, an experienced veteran in eating way too much, was less confident. In gastronomic battles like this, it’s all too easy to fixate on the toppings and forget that there’s a thick strata of rice underneath that needs to be eaten too, and with two types of fried food above it, the rice would be absorbing all sorts of delicious drippings that would make the meal even heavier.
However, Mr. Sato knew that explicitly mentioning any of this would only serve to dampen his cohorts’ spirits, and so he silently picked up his chopsticks and began eating. To keep some semblance of good table manners, all three members of the group transferred the food into smaller personal bowls before eating it, and while they went after round one with gusto, when it came time for the first refills Mr. Sato noticed a change in Kobayashi’s expression.
Kobayashi had been washing his food down with frequent sips of tea and miso soup, which Mr. Sato has learned is counterproductive in this kind of gluttonous endeavor. To succeed, these men needed every square inch of stomach space for food, not liquids, but Mr. Sato’s left-hand-man’s countenance now clearly said “You know, I’m actually pretty full,” and his eyes no longer showed the ravenous sparkle they’d had when they first walked into the restaurant.
Calculating that Kobayashi’s liquid intake might limit his donburi capacity to less than his fair-share 1.1 kilograms, Mr. Sato did the only thing he could, and redoubled his resolve to eat more than 1.1 kilos, if need be.
So in the end, were Mr. Sato and his partners up to the task?
Of course they were! And now that they’d cleaned their plate, they were able to see two things. First, the bowl they’d been eating from was shaped like a heart, and second, it had a hidden message at the bottom!
“Wishing you happiness!!” it read, and if being full of great-tasting chow can be considered a form of happiness, Mr. Sato and his friends were already there.
▼ A video record of the team’s accomplishment
Restaurant information
Wakamatsuya / 若松屋
Address: Tokyo-to, Chofu-shi, Kokuryocho 1-13-4
東京都調布市国領町1-13-4
Open 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 5:30 p.m.-8 p.m.
Closed Fridays, third Thursday of every month
Photos ©SoraNews24
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[ Read in Japanese ]