By kyuyoun0702
Even though I am a Korean by nationality, I've spent a huge portion of my life in Japan. Therefore, I've always missed Japan, its atmosphere, its people and ... its FOOD. That's the reason that I was desperate looking for good donburi places when attending college in Korea, and even though some places were decent enough, they weren't fully satisfactory. Since Korea is renowned for its food culture and its ability to mimic foods of diverse countries, I thought they were the best Japanese food I could have in a foreign country.
But, I was wrong.
Right before I went to bed on Wednesday, my friend texted me and asked me whether I like Japanese food. I answered yes, and she told me she knew a great donburi place in D.C.. Despite the fact that she has lived in D.C. for more than 7 years, I was a bit suspicious because I've never tried any sort of Japanese food since my arrival here.
We met after class on Thursday in front of Gelman Library, and caught an Uber. We got off near Alex Morgan, where the streets looked so marvelous and Beverly Hills-like (where I've never been but I'm just guessing). The donburi place was pretty small, and the seats were full of people. However, we luckily got to get a seat within less than 10 minutes.
The restaurant was unique in that we paid for it beforehand. I picked Salmon Donburi without any hesitation.
I was astonished by their swiftness in processing orders! The donburi was in front of me within 3 minutes after my order.
Starving since 10AM in the morning, I couldn't wait to enjoy the meal. My trembling chopsticks carefully took a hold of a piece of fresh salmon. Right before it went into my mouth, my friend stopped me and told me that I should comply to the 'real way' of eating donburi. According to her, I was supposed to plaster a bit of wasabi on the salmon piece, dip it into soy sauce for a second and then take a bite of it. She was right. The donburi tasted so good I can't find a word to describe it.
Not only was the donburi incomparable to those I had in Korea, but it was also actually better than the ones I had in Japan. I really didn't want to admit it, but it was just the way it was. The salmon was so fresh I couldn't feel any greasiness (the phenomenon that often happens when eating too much salmon), and the sauce on the donburi matched both he salmon and the rice well.
It was surely the best meal I had in D.C. so far. So glad I took another step to mastering Washington D.C. attractions !