Oyakodon

What makes it oyakodon

• Chicken thigh and onion simmered in dashi, soy and mirin.
• Egg beaten lightly and poured in at the end — left soft, never scrambled.
• Served on rice, often with mitsuba.

Where it comes from

Oyako means parent and child — the chicken and the egg, in one bowl. It's usually traced to Tokyo in the late nineteenth century, and Tamahide, a chicken restaurant there, is often named as where it began.

It's cooked a portion at a time in a small, shallow pan with an upright handle, so the whole thing slides onto the rice in one piece.

How it varies

Katsudon

The same egg and sauce over a sliced tonkatsu.

Tanindon

'Strangers' bowl' — beef or pork with egg.