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Sukiya (restaurant chain)
Encyclopedia
Gyudon
, , is a Japanese dish consisting of a bowl of rice topped with beef and onion simmered in a mildly sweet sauce flavored with dashi , soy sauce and mirin . It also often includes shirataki noodles, and is sometimes topped with a raw egg...
, other donburi
Donburi
Donburi is a Japanese "rice bowl dish" consisting of fish, meat, vegetables or other ingredients simmered together and served over rice. Donburi meals are served in oversized rice bowls also called donburi...
, and curry
Japanese curry
is one of the most popular dishes in Japan. It is commonly served in three main forms: , karē udon and karē-pan . Curry rice is most commonly referred to simply as ....
. , Sukiya has over 1000 restaurants throughout all 47 Japanese prefectures
Prefectures of Japan
The prefectures of Japan are the country's 47 subnational jurisdictions: one "metropolis" , Tokyo; one "circuit" , Hokkaidō; two urban prefectures , Osaka and Kyoto; and 43 other prefectures . In Japanese, they are commonly referred to as...
as well as six in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, China; two in Suzhou
Suzhou
Suzhou , previously transliterated as Su-chou, Suchow, and Soochow, is a major city located in the southeast of Jiangsu Province in Eastern China, located adjacent to Shanghai Municipality. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Taihu Lake and is a part...
, China; and three in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, Brazil. Sukiya's owner, , is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
Tokyo Stock Exchange
The , called or TSE for short, is located in Tokyo, Japan and is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies...
and had sales of ¥282 billion in 2007.
Its slogan (printed in romaji outside the restaurant) is "save time and money". According to the publicity printed in English on the walls of the restaurant, it originated in Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
. Unlike Yoshinoya
Yoshinoya
Yoshinoya is the largest chain of beef bowl restaurants and one of the Japanese chains of fast food, which was established in Japan in 1899. Its motto is "Tasty, low-priced, and quick"...
, Sukiya did not stop serving gyudon during the ban on American beef imports
US beef imports in Japan
US beef imports in Japan were a contentious issue after BSE was detected among cattle in the US.-Import ban:In late 2003, Japan suspended all imports of American beef due to a single BSE case in Washington. Japan had been the largest export market for US beef, valued at $1.2 billion in 2003. In...
, instead switching to beef imported from Australia.
In response to Yoshinoya's butadon (pork bowl, a substitute for gyudon, "beef bowl"), Sukiya began serving its own version, tondon.