The traditional chicken, egg and rice bowl is one of Japan’s finest comfort foods. This version is known as oyakodon, and the restaurant responsible for its creation is still mastering the dish to this day.
The name “oya-ko” translates as “parent-and-child”, representing the two key ingredients, plus “don” for donburi. Donburi is a Japanese rice-bowl dish, and this one consists of a bed of rice, topped with chicken and egg (hence the name ‘oyako’, meaning ‘parent and child’) and seasoned with soy sauce, mirin, and dashi.
Though lots of people now make it in Japan, the restaurant Tamahide in Tokyo is renowned for its devising and mastering the savory meal. It dates back to the 19th century, and the extensive line that forms outside the restaurant shows that it is worth the wait.
“During lunchtime, there is always a line for a taste of our oyakodon,” the restaurant’s owner, Konosuke Yamada, explained. “If you’re lucky, you can get in after a 30 minute wait. More often, you’ll wait over two hours.”
Yamada is now at the helm of Tamahide which has been passed down through generations. This is a key part of its storied history, and Yamada is desperate to continue the tradition by leaving the restaurant to his own children.
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Quality ingredients and preparation are at the heart of what set’s Tamahide’s recipe of the simple dish apart. The chicken is prepared in the same way it was when the restaurant opened. There are a few differences in the recipe nowadays, Yamada admits, but he maintains: “Our core spirit is in the dish, in its DNA. So I think maybe that is what we’re passing down.”
Despite the popularity of Tamahide and Yamada’s oyakodon, he has little interest in cashing in any further. “Expanding the business, making profits – these are not my priorities,” he reveals. “What is most important is I pass my vision on o my son and grandchild…I hope my restaurant will remain for another 50, 100, 200 years.”
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