In all honestly, I haven’t had many donburis in my life (or at least near-authentic ones), so I was quite clueless as to what I should expect from this. It arrived at my table on a glossed rectangular wooden tray with a smaller bowl of miso soup and a mini jug of dark soy sauce.

It undeniably has its peaks and troughs, but I overall loved this. The yolk of the onsen tamago unfortunately wasn’t runny to my liking, but it still provided a smooth and marginally gooey texture to every bite. In fact, every mouthful from this rice bowl was immensely satisfying - the intermittent burst of savoury-saltiness from the miso soup, the honeyed taste of the sauce, the soft and fluffy, yet crispy texture of the tempura, and the chunkiness of the chicken; all these meshed into a wonderful flavour as well as taste that floored me from the introductory ingestion.

I haven’t had an array of Japanese food myself, but for a first-ish time, this was an exceptional meal that immediately etched in my mind for days. 🤤 (8/10)