Donburi-Ya

If you’re ever in the mood for Chinese food, you can always go to Chinatown to get your fill of congee, stir-fry, and dim sum (not great in the city, but still, it’s all in one area). Same with Korean food – it’s all along 32nd Street in the city (I’m not sure how authentic it is, but if I’m ever in the mood for kimchi chigae or dolsot bibimbap, I don’t need to look all over the city for it). However, if you’re in the mood for Japanese food, there is no such thing as “Japan Town,” unless you think St. Marks is the answer to your Japanese food cravings.

I used to work by a pocket of Japanese restaurants by Grand Central (they had the most amazing curry!) and last week, I found out Ken works by a bunch of Japanese restaurants as well. We decided to try Donburi-Ya for a quick bite to eat:

The restaurant is very low-key and actually reminds me of an izakaya in Japan – slightly dark, cute, and not very much like any other restaurant in midtown. Ken ordered the ramen:

And I went with the pork katsu donburi box:

The ramen was a bit on the salty side and the pork didn’t have that much flavor. The donburi was good, but the cut of meat was a little too fatty and deep fried, with not enough actual meat. Both were a bit disappointing (and slightly more expensive than other midtown Japanese restaurants).

We decided to get a bite of dessert since we were still a bit hungry after our dinner. We decided to get the matcha green tea mielle crepe:

It was delicious and reminded me of the creamy green tea mielle crepe I had the week before from Lady M!

As far as Donburi-Ya, I’d probably skip it and try another Japanese restaurant down the street.