Kodoku no Gurume Ep.3: Steak Donburi (Bowl) Set

This week, Gorou-san went to Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture.  It's a mountainous area with lots of lakes near Mt. Fuji.   

Hakone (19c Ukiyoe by Utagawa Hiroshige )

After finishing his business in an art gallery-cum-cafe, Gorou-san orders Monaka (wafers with sweet sesame paste) in that cafe. It's a cute "gourd" shape.

This type of Monaka is extremely rare because, Monaka usually (or always)  has sweet paste already inside.  I have never had one like here in which a person must fill the paste to eat.  

Gorou-san, then, strolls around the area and gets tired.  Sure it's lunch time again.  He goes to an Izakaya.  It's a place to drink alcohol, but has good side dishes that go well with alcohol.  So, aside from side dishes, main dishes for lunch were only two on the day Gorou-san visited; steak Donburi (Bowl) and abalone Donburi (Bowl).

pic. 1

Pic. 2

It was very hard for Gorou-san to decide what to eat --- either steak or abalone.  After thinking for a while, he decides to have steak Don.  He also orders vegetables in season dressed with sesame sause (pic 1) and Japanese pond smelts marinated in spicy sauce (pic 2).  The fish is from Lake Ashinoko in Hakone.  Both dishes look so fresh.

The main course consists of steak Donburi, miso soup, Onsen Tamago (egg cooked in hot spring), and pickles (the yellow one is Takuan; Daikon pickles).  Steak is eaten with either steak sauce or ponzu (citrus soy sauce).

Onsen Tamago is not quite a pouched egg because its yolk is hard but the egg white is very soft.  It must be something to do with low temperature cooking.

I'm not a big meat eater.  All I can say is "I'm happy since Gorou-san is happy."  If I was there with Gorou-san, I would have ordered abalone Donburi.

Gochisou-sama-deshita.