Japanese Combo Dish: Teishoku(定食)

sushi combo dish
This place is written as [定食] in Japanese.

Teishoku(定食)

Teishoku means a combo, a combination meal, set meal, set lunch or set dinner. There are various teishoku menu and restaurant’s original teishoku. However, we don’t call a course menu such as French or Chinese as teishoku. Basically, many of teishoku consist of a soup(miso soup), a main dish such as fish/meat and a bowl of cooked rice adding other original combination at some restaurants. Pickles is a very popular item for teishoku. Most of pickles are salty taste, not vinegar. There are various original pickles in countryside. It is so fun to try them.

Japanese Style(和風定食)

  • Sashimiteishoku(刺身定食): sliced raw fish, miso-soup, rice and pickles.
  • Yakizakana teishoku(焼魚定食): grilled fish, miso-soup, rice, and pickles.
  • Donburi teishoku(丼定食): deep-fried chiken/poke/vegitables/marine products and so on, which are called ‘Tenpura’ over the rice, miso-soup, and pickles.
  • Gyudon teishoku(牛丼定食): soy-sauce-flaver cooked beaf like a ‘Sukiyaki’ over the rice, miso-soup, and pickles.
  • Butadon teishoku(豚丼定食): soy-sauce-flaver cooked poke over the rice, miso-soup, and pickles. Butadon in the city of Obihiro is very famous.

Western Style(洋風定食)

  • Hamburg steak teishoku(ハンバーグ定食): hamburg steak, salad, soup and rice/bread.
  • Yakiniku teishoku(焼き肉定食): grilled beaf/chiken/poke, salad, soup and rice/bread.

Other

  • Ramen and rice(ラーメン)
  • Sushi and Soba(すしとソバ): buckwheat nudle
  • Tenpura and Soba
  • Yakitori teishoku: grilled chiken which pierced with bamboo skewer, miso soup, rice.

Anyway, teishoku is basically a combination of some soup, a main dish and rice/bread and plus original pickles or salad. This is the very popular menu all over the country. It is served at Japanese style restaurant called ‘Shokudo'(食堂). If you find the name as ‘食堂’ in the town you traveled, the restaurant would be loved by local people. Unlike a urban stylish restaurant, Shokudo is plain but its taste is fulfilled with taste of mom’s home cooking.

see Donburi, Japanese all in one dish.