Dons For Days

Perfectly medium rare Joshu wagyu is paired with equally tender foie gras and an onsen egg to boot! The truffle oil is pungent but not too overpowering and goes nicely with the slightly sweet sauce over the rice. Fried garlic chips (my favorite) give a nice textural contrast to what would otherwise be a dish too “jelak”.

Overall, Don & Tori’s take on the Wagyu don is one that is well executed and generous with its ingredients, given the price point.

This chirashi don comes adorned with:

Salmon,
Chutoro (medium fatty tuna),
Hotate (scallops),
Kanpachi (amberjack),
Unagi (grilled eel),
Amaebi (sweet prawn),
Tamago (egg),
Ikura (salmon roe)

At a premium price point of $35, I ordered this with high expectations and a rumbling tummy.

First, the good: lots of ikura for all you roe lovers out there, chutoro was thick cut and luxurious and melted in your mouth, salmon was fresh.

Unfortunately, I felt let down by a few elements in this dish: kanpachi wasn’t fresh and was starting to break apart, thinly sliced tamago was limp and uninspired.

Overall, it was a decent chirashi don although I wished they had replaced the amberjack with my favorite swordfish instead.

Having read some good reviews, I decided to have lunch at DON and try this monstrosity of a rice bowl. Upon reaching, however, I realized that the price had since been raised from $28.90 to $38. Nevertheless, hungry and excited, I proceeded to order it and was told there was an expected waiting time of about 15-20 minutes.

Presentation wise, this humongous bowl would make a pretty addition to your aesthetic Instagram feed. The plethora of ingredients atop a generous bed of Japanese rice included:
- Thai green curry chicken & Garlic parm chicken 🐓: basically just (deep fried) karaage tossed in different sauces.
- Wagyu beef 🥩: thinly sliced and blowtorched, nothing spectacular
- Tempura 🍤: a light crispy batter encapsulating prawns, enoki mushrooms, long beans and soft-shell crab. Was not coated with any salted egg powder.
- Mentaiko salmon 🐟: was soft although slight fishy, blanketed in a mentaiko mayo that had a good char.
- Iberico pork belly 🐖: melt-in-the-mouth with crispy skin, arguably the best thing in this don.
- Sous vide egg 🥚: mix into the rice for best mouthfeel.

Overall, the Kyodai Don was palatable but not mind-blowing. It lacked depth of flavor and at $38 (from a previous $28), didn’t seem like value-for money.